324 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



ance of a man and lad to manage it, in the course of half an 

 hour I was busy at work among the marauders. 



The tackle usually employed by me, I may here mention, con- 

 sists of a set of tinned hooks (which not only show better, but 

 take on the rust less speedily than the ordinary steeled wires) 

 corresponding in size to Nos. 14, 15, and 16 Adlington, and 

 tied on triple or strong single gut. The rejected threads of a 

 salmon-hank are reserved by me for this or a similar purpose. 

 Several slips of white feather, two inches, or two inches and a 

 half in length, from the quill of a goose or swan, are fastened to 

 the shank-end of each hook ; nor is it a bad plan to attach these 

 again by a turn of white thread to the bend of the wire, or im- 

 mediately above it. Linen-thread is commonly made use of for 

 this purpose. The body of the lythe-fly, when mackerel are 

 reported to be off the coast, is sometimes made of crimson or 

 orange-coloured wool, laced with tinsel. I prefer it plain white, 

 but have no objection to its being wound over with silver-twist, 

 or, what is still better, a thin stripe of skin taken from the belly 

 of the gurnard. This skin is remarkable for its lustrous purity 

 and toughness. It is frequently made use of as a lure, inde- 

 pendent of feather, and might be employed with advantage in 

 the fabrication of the artificial minnow for trout-fishing. The 

 simplest, and not the least deadly way of using it, is to cut it 

 with the penknife or a pair of scissors into the shape of a small 

 fish, the size and figure of which find their best representative 

 in the old-fashioned mother-of-pearl card-counter. In baiting, 

 thrust the tinned-hook through at the eye-point, allowing the 

 piece of skin to dangle from the bend. Another method is to 

 insert the hook about two-thirds of the way down, and tie up the 

 skin at its shank-end. 



In fishing with the lythe fly, although the hand-line will gene- 

 rally answer the purpose, it may be found more convenient, 

 especially in shoal water where rocks and tangles abound, to 



