66 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



abomination of abominations in practice. It is the pater- 

 noster of tackle makers made to sell, not to catch fish. 

 Paternostering properly followed is a very skilful and not 

 particularly easy branch of angling, and as far as my experience 

 goes, not one angler in a thousand knows how to make or fish 

 a paternoster properly. You cannot fish too fine for the perch 

 in season ; and the finer you fish, the more and better fish you 

 catch. To put a great coarse hog's bristle, with a cumbrous 

 paraphernalia of shots and bone, under a perch's nose, is a 

 downright insult to his common sense of self-preservation ; 

 and, if he condescends to take your minnow at all, he will take 

 it probably without the hook. 



Now, this is the way I make a paternoster, and this is the 

 way that some old friends of mine, who are by far the best 

 paternoster fishers on the Thames or anywhere else that ever 

 I saw or heard of, taught me to make it. Make a long noose 

 for the loop on which to fasten your lead, and in this 

 loop, or immediately above it, tie another loop, by the 

 simple process of doubling the gut and tying it ; about nine 

 inches above this repeat the process, and tie another loop, 

 and at the same distance above that, tie another. This fashion 

 of making the loops may be thought dangerous to the knot, 

 but in reality it is not so when the gut is wet ; and it has the 

 advantage of always standing out at right angles, and so 

 keeping the hook from the line. Into each of these loops 

 slip the end of the hook gut, which should have a knot tied 

 in the extreme end to prevent slipping, and secured by the 

 hitch shown in Plate III, Fig. 5 ; a hook is thus appended 

 to each loop, the gut to each hook being about seven inches 

 long ; the lowest one need not be so long. Persons who have not 

 a great deal of experience in paternostering will object to the 

 lower hook being so low down, urging that it is liable to take 

 hold of weeds, etc. ; practice, however, will change their opinion. 

 The hooks are of Nos. 6 and 7 and of moderately fine wire, 

 stoutish in the shank, and roundish bend, and are tied upon 

 fine round gut, the main line being a little stouter. The lead 

 is pear-shaped, and varies in weight to suit the stream ; and 

 even with this tackle, I do not find that I hook all the perch 

 that come at it. A sketch of this paternoster may be seen 

 in Plate II, Fig. 10, page 49. If any other form is wanted 

 the angler must go to the tackle shops, for no other in my 

 opinion is worth a straw. 



To use the paternoster, first be sure your baits are alive, 



