CHAP. VIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 227 



thus, do you no good, jet I am certain this direction, 

 How to roast him when he is caught, is choicely 



this is looped another such link, but both so loose that the hook and the 

 lower link may have room to play. To the end of the line, fasten a steel 

 swivel. 



To bait the hook, observe the directions given by Walton. 



But there is a sort of trolling-hook different from that already de- 

 scribed, and to which it is thought preferable which will require another 

 management : this is no more than two single hooks tied back to back with 

 a strong piece of gimp between the shanks. In the whipping the hooks 

 and the gimp together, make a small loop; and take into it two links of 

 chain of about an eighth of an inch diameter, and into the lower link, 

 by means of a small staple of wire, fasten, by the greater end, a bit of lead 

 of a conical figure, and somewhat sharp at the point. These hooks are to 

 be had at the fishing-tackle shops ready fitted up ; but see the form of 

 them Plate XI. Fig. "5, 



This latter kind of hook 5s to be thus ordered, viz. put the lead into the 

 mouth of the bait-fish, and sew it up ; the fish will live some time ; 

 and though the weight of the lead will keep his head down, he will swim 

 with near the same ease as if at liberty. 



But if you troll with a dead-bait as some do, for a reason which the 

 angler will be glad to know, viz. that a living bait makes too great a 

 slaughter among the fish do^it with a ht>ok, of which the following 

 paragraph contains a description. 



Let the shank be about six inches long, and leaded, from the middle, 

 as low as the bent of the hook, to which a piece of very strong gimp 

 must be fastened by a staple, and two links of chain ; the shank must be 

 barbed like a dart, and the lead a quarter of an inch square : the barb of 

 the shank must stand like the fluke of an anchor, which is placed in a con- 

 trary direction to that of the stock. See Plate XI. Fig. 6. Let the gimp 

 be about a foot long; and to the end thereof fix a swivel. To. bait it, 

 thrust the barb of the shank into the mouth of the bait-fish, and bring it 

 out at his side near the tail: when the barb is thus brought through, it 

 cannot return, and the fish will lie perfectly strait, a circumstance that 

 renders the trouble of tying the tail unnecessary. 



There is yet another sort of trolling-hook which is, indeed, no other 

 than what most writers on this subject have mentioned ; whereas the 

 others, here described, are late improvements and this ig a hook, either 

 single or double, with a long shank, leaded about three inches up the 

 wire with a piece of lead about a quarter of an inch square at the 

 greater or lower end; fix to the shank an armed-wire about eight 

 inches long. To bait this hook, thrust your wire into the mouth 

 of the fish, quite through his belly, and out at his tail; placing the 

 wire so as that the point of the hook may be even with the belly of 

 the bait fish ; and then tie the tail of the fish with strong thread to the 

 wire, some fasten it with a needle and thread, which is a neat way. 



Both with the Troll and at the Snap, cut away one of the fin* of 

 the bait-fish close at the gills, and another behind the vent on the 

 contrary side ; which will make it play the better. 



The bait being thus fixed, is to be thrown in, and kept in constant 

 motion in the water, sometimes suffered to sink, then gradually raised ; 

 tow drawn with the stream, and then against it ; so as to counterfeit the 



o 3 



