THE COMMON BROWN TROUT. 265 



(of the best gut) ought not to be less than four feet. Four double brass 

 swivels, at intervals of a foot, are affixed, and each end terminates 

 with a well tied, or whipped and tied, loop. The weight already indi- 

 cated by me is to be used, and experience will dictate the size of this 

 and its position on the line. It is readily fixed, and thus the entire trace 

 is complete. 



It is not easy to over-estimate the value of a movable sinker in trout 

 spinning. One begins fishing, perhaps, in a pool of eight or ten feet of 

 water, where a weighty trace is required to sink the bait to its proper 

 place in relation to the position of the trout therein. Of course, in 

 such an instance, a heavy lead is advisable ; but, if the particular trace 

 of the ordinary immovable lead pattern be in use, delay must ensue 

 before another trace can be affixed. Perhaps, in a few moments after 

 the pool has been well tried with the proper sort of trace, the angler 

 wishes to pass on to a shallower part of the stream below. A change of 

 trace is again necessary, and so on this is, be it understood, with the 

 ordinary trace as now sold. But my lead can be attached or detached as 

 inclination and judgment prompt. Hence its superiority. Of course I 

 am now referring to those traces whereto the lead is not attached, but 

 placed in the bait. In the case of the latter the 4ft. trace may be still 

 used, as well as the double brass swivels. Gimp need never be used as a 

 material for the trace. 



The various tackles all possessing excellencies of design are in 

 number legion. I give illustrations of the best of them in Tackle 

 Making. I give preference to the Walton H., the Pennell, and the 

 Francis, but the one which has most unfailingly brought me sport is 

 what I call the Keene arrangement. This may be an invention of my 

 own, for I never copied it, but I am assured that the design is old ; 

 anyhow, I have never seen it figured before in any angling book, so I 

 claim it. Perhaps I cannot do better here than give a general description 

 of the characteristics of the various tackles figured. 



Stewart's is one of the oldest and best of methods for the natural bait. 

 It consists of a large hook at the end of the gut, and about two inches 

 above that a small one ; attached also to the gut near the small hook is 

 a "flyer," or a length of gut, to which a double loop or triangle is 

 attached, so that it hangs a considerable way behind the bait. This 

 is to insure the hooking of a short-biting fish, and is by no means beloved 

 by me in consequence. I confess I do not like fly triangle hooks, or, 

 indeed, any flying hooks at all, for the matter of that ; they savour of 

 catching a fish without bait the foul-hooking business. This is how it 

 is baited, as described by Mr. Stewart himself : ' ' Take the large hook, 

 and entering it at the mouth of the minnow, run it right through the 



