BAITS. 79 



a freshly-caught eel makes a tough and lasting lure ; 

 which, having also a very life-like appearance, often 

 proves a very deadly bait 



When fishing Corrib, I caught a very large pike 

 with an eel tail. To construct this lure, get an 

 eel eighteen inches long, and cut off eight inches of 

 its tail, turn back the skin for two inches, and cut 

 through the exposed flesh ; form the head by 

 straightening the skin and tying it round with a 

 waxed thread closely up to the flesh ; again reverse 

 the skin over the ligature and sew it round to the 

 body of the bait, and then place it on a flight in 

 the way already described for the mounting of 

 other spinning baits. Salted eel tails last a longer 

 time, and are useful when fresh ones are not to be 

 got. Whole eels of eight or nine inches in length 

 make capital pike baits. I have constructed imi- 

 tations of them in india-rubber, which kilt almost 

 as well as the natural, and have patented them, 

 under the name of " Convolute Eel Baits," of which 

 the illustration is one-third the size of the baits. 

 The wire in the centre of the rubber allows them 

 to be lengthened or shortened in the coil, thus 

 altering the rapidity of spin. In small sizes, 

 three or four inches long, they are deadly baits 

 for fishing weirs, &c., for large trout ; also for 

 pollack, bass, and other sea fish. 



The next illustration is a representation of the 

 " Collapsible Convolute Bait," in which the india- 

 rubber bends under the pressure of the fish's jaw 

 and the hooks are very firmly fixed. The 

 " Helix," another india-rubber spinning bait I have 

 lately invented, is a very tempting lure. In 

 this bait, the spin or rotary motion can be instantly 

 reversed by unfixing the rubber from the end 



