THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 129 



but more usually at a worm, and then most usually at a lob or 

 garden-worm, "which should be well scoured, that is to say, kept 

 seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them : and if 

 you double your time of eight into sixteen, twenty, or more days, 

 it is still the better ; for the worms will still be clearer, tougher, 

 and more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook ; and 

 they may be kept longer by keeping them cool and in fresh moss, 

 and some advise to put camphor into it. 



Note also, that many use to fish for a salmon with a ring of 

 wire on the top of their rod, through which the line may run to 

 as great a length as is needful when he is hooked. And to that 

 end, some use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or near their 

 hand ; which is to be observed better by seeing one of them, than 

 by a large demonstration of words.* 



fully from all particles of blood, and then separating the grains. Over the 

 whole pour a strong brine, made of common salt and saltpetre in equal 

 parts, then let it remain six hours ; then drain it thoroughly, and place 

 the whole in a slow oven, till it assumes a toughness. After which, pot 

 the whole down sd as to exclude the air, and it is fit for use." {Sports- 

 man in Ireland a7id Scotland, vol. i., 41, Lond., 1S40.) It is on sale in 

 the London shops, and is equally good bait for trout. — Am. Ed. 



* Neither Walton nor Cotton seems to have understood the use of the 

 reel well, and probably the instrument at that period was very im- 

 perfect. Theophilus South (Chitty) gives a clear and good description 

 of the proper salmon rod: "It should consist of four parts: First the 

 butt of solid ash ; the first and second joints of hickory ; the tip, or 

 top joint, of several pieces, the first next to the upper (or second) 

 joint, of lancewood, then two or three pieces of East India bamboo 

 split out of a thick stock, and lastly a splice of whalebone for the 

 point ; these being spliced or snared together." It is better, as with the 

 trout rod, that the joints should be spliced or snared together instead of 

 being united by ferules, though the method is rejected as being more trou- 

 blesome. The rod should be eighteen, certainly not more than twenty feet 

 long, the former length being the best ; and of such elasticity that a half 

 pound weight attached to the tip will bring the eighteen feet rod five feet 

 ten inches and a half out of the straight line (that is, the tip so much 

 lower than the butt), held horizontally. 



The reel should be single, if you choose with a click, but not with check 

 or multiplier ; the barrel of from a half of to a full inch diameter, the 

 plates and the width between them proportionate. The closer the plates 

 are together, the more rapid will be the winding of the line. It should be 

 made as solid as possible without being too heavy, and no screws used, 



