FLOAT LEDGER. 163 



of bait and fishing tackle which would do credit to 

 many anglers, who often insult a perch's intelligence 

 by fishing for him with a monstrous apparatus of 

 hog's bristles, shots, and bone which they have 

 bought at a tackle-maker's, and fondly believed to 

 be the " right sort " of paternoster. As Mr. 

 Francis rightly observes about such abominations, 

 " if he (the perch) condescends to take your 

 minnow at all, he will take it probably without 

 the hook." 



Where there are slow eddies and deep holes, 

 with but little stream, some of the largest perch 

 are frequently caught by using a float ledger made 

 thus : Attach a gut bottom of a yard length to 

 a Nottingham running line of fine silk ; fit up a 

 long cork float on the silk line with a small bullet 

 having a hole drilled through it in which the line 

 runs easily and freely ; the drilled bullet is, of 

 course, below the float, and a split shot is pinched 

 on the line just above the gut to prevent the bullet 

 slipping lower. Selecting the hole or eddy you 

 intend to fish, arrange the float so that the bullet 

 just rests on the bottom, and thus find the proper 

 depth. Then select a fat luscious-looking lob, 

 one with a red vein running down to its tail if pos- 

 sible ; put the barb in an inch below the head, and 

 " threadle " the worm until the shank of the hook 

 is just covered. Worms put on in this manner 

 show much better than when looped on in a bunch, 

 and must be more attractive baits. Cast out your 

 tackle, and when the bullet reaches the bottom, 

 draw it towards the point angled from, until the 

 gut length is likely to lie straight on the bed of 

 the river, and if there is any current the float 

 must be held back, the thin silk line between the 



M 2 



