FEBRUARY 49 



found where it is almost impossible to use a paternoster 

 in the manner previously spoken of, although they can 

 be reached easily with ledger tackle. Thus bushes may 

 densely overhang most desirable eddies ; a ledger, run 

 gently down with just enough lead to sink it, if carefully 

 worked by means of lifting the rod-point, can be made 

 to cover every inch. Again, a deep hole may exist 

 some distance from the bank, and here the paternoster 

 would lie at too great an angle, although the ledger will 

 work admirably. 



Worming with the ledger, a maiden-dew or a marsh- 

 worm has accounted for many a good perch on this 

 river during the winter months ; one old angling friend 

 used to always count on at least a dozen good fish by 

 this means in the day's fishing. 



No matter how your perch is hooked, whether by 

 means of paternoster or ledger, I am inclined to think 

 the important matter is to get his head down stream : 

 and here, undoubtedly, lies the great superiority of the 

 paternoster. In ledgering, the fish always starts the 

 battle down stream below the angler, and further has 

 the advantage that it can always get a bit of slack line 

 below the lead, consequently it can rush one side of a 

 weed bed and leave the lead behind, so that the angler 

 pulls against the lead, impacted in the weeds, and the 

 fish gets a chance to get the hook out or break away. 

 With the paternoster, on the other hand, the pull is 

 direct on the fish, and if the lead catches which is 

 hardly possiblethe thin gut by which it is suspended 

 breaks, and the fish and the angler are left fighting 

 without impediment, each at one end of the line. 

 Hence arises my objection to the second hook, although 

 it occasionally takes a fish. What is an extra odd fish, 

 compared with the chance of losing the perch of a life- 

 time, through the spare hook catching the weeds? In 

 conclusion, it may be said to those who have never tried 

 a day's perching with the tackle suggested, that three 

 good perch taken each after a good fight in which 

 victory has inclined sometimes to one side end some- 

 times to the other give nearly as much satisfaction to 



B 



