TACKLE FOR SPINNING AND TROLLING. 



419 



additional triplet near the head of the bait is mine, and a great improve- 

 ment it will be seen to be, if any of my readers 

 care to make the flight up and thereafter adjust a 

 bait upon it. I found on using the tackle without 

 this addition that, after a time, the water enter- 

 ing the mouth and stomach of the bait, and passing 

 through the vent, very soon rendered it sodden 

 and, of course, soft. Indeed, this deterioration 

 cannot be avoided, but the result can. The sodden- 

 ing of the bait allowed it to bend and warp in 

 a most unattractive way; in fact, it was not 

 an uncommon thing to see an erstwhile firm and 

 glistening dace in a few minutes reduced to a sort 

 of Quasimodo of fishes. It follows necessarily that 

 the bait was of no, or very little, use after- 

 wards. The addition remedies such demoralisa- 

 tion, and retains the fish in its place, if firmly 

 adjusted in the shoulder, mouth, or any other part 

 near the head. 



Another amazingly good style of tackle, which can 

 hardly be termed an artificial bait, is the eel tail 

 tackle. I have before referred to it at page 200, 

 and it is therefore necessary for me to give an illus- 

 tration. 



If the shot or weight be made large enough, 

 no weight is required on the trace. This bait is Vt.Sl 

 exceedingly nice for working on Nottingham tackle, 

 and very destructive. 



The following is the method of preparing it, 

 given by the author of the "Modern Practical 

 Angler " : " Take an eel of from llin. to 14in. in 

 length, and skin it to within four inches of the tail, 

 cutting off the skin and flesh neatly at this point. 

 Then cut off with a sharp pair of scissors the turned 

 over portion of the skin half way down. Next insert 

 the hook in the centre of the flesh at the upper end 

 of the bait, and run it through as one would threddle 

 a worm, until the point is brought out at about an 

 inch and a half from the tail end, curving the bait. 

 Having adjusted the bait neatly with the fingers, 

 turn the loose skin up again, and with strong waxed 

 silk or fine twine, tie it up tightly above the shot ; then turn it down 



EE2 



