SIZE AND KIND OF MINNOW. 139 



extent, as to prevent perplexity to the line, a mishap 

 always consequent upon its omission. In trouting with 

 the minnow, two, sometimes three swivels are em- 

 ployed by anglers. The lowermost of these should be 

 fixed at the head of the gut-strand third from the 

 hooks, or at a distance of nearly three feet from the 

 bait. Another ought to have its position immediately 

 below the higher casting-line, and in connection with 

 the uppermost length of single gut. A third, if 

 reckoned of use, may find place a yard beyond it, about 

 the centre of the line alluded to. The size of the 

 swivel ought, of course, to be regulated by its position 

 and the description of tackle it is employed to assist. 

 Very small ones, I find, are apt to become rusted and 

 stiff in the axis. They are not so secure or perfect as 

 those of the medium size, which, in addition to their 

 other advantages, subserve, as leads or weights, in 

 default of a sufficiency of these requisites. 



Having exhausted all that at present is necessary to 

 be said with regard to the tackle used in angling with 

 the minnow and parr-tail, I proceed, before giving 

 instructions as to the manner of employing these baits, 

 to acquaint the reader with the kind and size of min- 

 now reckoned enticing, its substitutes, and the simplest 

 methods of procuring this favourite lure. Early in the 

 season, that is to say, during the months of March and 

 April, trout, in swollen or partly discoloured waters, 

 provided these are not greatly impregnated with dis- 

 solved snow, are in nowise shy, should it pass across 

 them, of darting even at the largest and least captivating 

 description of minnow ; but at the period alluded to, it 

 is both against the habits of true sportsmen to angle 

 for them, seeing that they cannot be expected to have 

 acquired as yet anything like condition, and also, there 



