CHAPTER XV. 

 THE ART OF SPINNING. 



Justification of spinning Taking on ambition A four- 

 pounder Tackle Rods Traces Leads The Thames 

 flight How to adjust it The fan-flight Artificial 

 minnows How they should be mounted Dead baits 

 How to catch and pickle baits Salting them Casting 

 from the reel Its difficulties Casting from the coil 

 Coiling line on the hand. 



I HAVE before mentioned the cannibal trout and 

 suggested how he may sometimes be deluded with 

 a big fly, or live-bait, but I now come to what is un- 

 doubtedly the best way of attacking him. In its 

 demands upon dexterity and what I may call 

 water-wisdom the art of spinning is not a whit 

 less exacting than fly-fishing, and so far it 

 is entitled to rank with it. Its inferiority from 

 a sporting point of view lies in the facts that 

 a fish hooked on spinning tackle has far less chance 

 of escape than one hooked on a fly, and that the 

 angler is taking advantage of what one must 



