Other Methods. 213 



the same way as with the worm; and though, as 

 I have said, its greatest use is during a flood, it 

 is sometimes very effective in a low clear water 

 during the cold days of early spring, and indeed 

 till the end of June. The dead minnow is some- 

 times also baited as a worm on a single hook, and 

 used in streams during summer ; but none who have 

 tried its merits have much to say in its favour. 



Some fish with minnow as a live bait after much 

 the same style as we adopt in pike-fishing. Only 

 one hook No. 6 is necessary, and it is fixed into 

 the back of the minnow at the dorsal fin, or passed 

 through the upper lip alone. The gut-line, which 

 requires to be two or three yards long, is shotted 

 twelve inches or so above the bait to keep it sunk 

 perpendicularly. This tackle requires a float, which 

 should be placed on the gut a yard or more from 

 the hook, according to the depth of the river. A 

 ready one may be made out of a common cork, 

 either by boring a hole through it in the line of its 

 axis, through which the gut is passed, and in which 

 it is fixed by a wooden pin, or by making an in- 

 cision of half an inch or so in the cork in a similar 

 direction to receive the line, which is then kept in 

 position by giving it one or two turns round to the 

 other side. The proper places to fish with this lure 

 are the deep pools. An advantage which it pos- 

 sesses over the spinning bait is that, from the way 



