168 AN ANGLER'S YEAR 



light rod and line in order to thoroughly enjoy the 

 capture of heavy fish, how much more is this so when 

 the average is only lib. apiece ? Therefore a light, 

 limber weapon, certainly not heavier than a light modern 

 pike spinning rod is to be recommended. My own rod 

 is a light Thames punt rod weighing six ounces. 



In using this rig it will be often found that the 

 presence of a fish on the tail hook is not known, save 

 when one gives a slight draw, and this draw also will 

 often cause an otherwise hesitating fish to seize one of 

 the shrimps. The superiority of live shrimps over 

 boiled, I am inclined to think, is threefold, viz., they are 

 lively, darting and kicking ; they are the colour the fish 

 is accustomed to find shrimps to be ; and, thirdly, they 

 are of the right consistence, and crumple up on a bite 

 taking place, while, at the same time, they last better on 

 the hooks than do the cooked. 



Dead and unboiled, I personally have never had any 

 success with them, and think they are certainly useless 

 for the Thames estuary. 



During the past year or so the tackle used has still 

 further been lightened, the line has been reduced to a 

 No. 2 silk Nottingham line, and a Nottingham roach rod 

 has been substituted for the pike rod with excellent 

 results. 



The reasons for the changes here enumerated are as 

 follows : 



In the course of several seasons it has been gradually 

 forced upon one that in clear, shallow water the simplest 

 of fish must be, to a certain extent, scared by any com- 

 plicated tackle being within sight, and that even the gut 

 used might, with advantage, be lightened. Further, it 

 was found that flounders so frequently took the hook 

 very quietly and thus swam upstream, thus not giving 

 any sensation of a bite until they had pulled the bait off, 

 or had swallowed bait and hook both, By the reduction 

 of the weight the least touch was transmitted to the rod 

 point, and, if a light rod be used, to the hand of the 

 angler. Thus a light lead necessitated a thin line; and a 

 thin line required a light springy rod, which permitted of 





