72 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



The most sportsmanlike way of fishing for pike is certainly 

 by spinning, which is thus practised. The angler takes a 

 small fish (gudgeon, dace, or bleak are preferable if these 

 cannot be obtained, he may use any other small fish which 

 he can get), he then hooks the fish on to his line by a certain 

 arrangement of hooks called a flight or set, so that by com- 

 municating a crook to the body or tail, it may, when drawn 

 through the water, revolve rapidly on the screw principle. 

 In order to permit the bait so to revolve without twisting 

 the line, a tackle called a trace is used. This is about four or 

 five feet long, and consists of a few strands of stout salmon 

 gut, or of gut twisted, or even of gimp, linked together with 

 a couple of swivels at intervals, about eighteen inches apart, 

 a third swivel being sometimes used, to connect this part of 

 the tackle with the running or reel line ; a good large loop 

 being left at the other end of the trace to loop the flight of 

 hooks on, or for the purpose of changing them at pleasure. 

 A drawing of a trace may be seen surrounding the spinning 

 flights in Plate IV. The trace should not be less than from 

 a yard to four feet long, and not more than five, or it will 

 be found awkward in casting. Between the swivels the lead 

 or sinker is to be fastened. In ponds, where the weeds 

 come very near the surface, a sinker may be dispensed with, 

 and the bait be allowed to run almost along the surface 

 of the water. In this instance, the simpler the arrangement 

 of hooks and the fewer there are of them, the better. 



The sinker most usually adopted is the long, round, per- 

 forated lead, which is shown in Plate IV, Fig. 6, and through 

 which the gimp is run. Some anglers use large shot ; these 

 are sometimes squeezed or bitten on to the line, and the gimp 

 or gut thus so forcibly compressed cannot but be damaged 

 and weakened. Others use a set of perforated shot with 

 loops at each end, which is linked on in the middle of the 

 trace between two swivels ; but perforated shot cut the 

 gimp in time, while some bite a number of shot on to a loose 

 piece of gimp or gut, and then lash the set of shot on to the 

 trace. But all these plans have this objection the lead 

 turns with the line, the twist, in spite of any number of swivels, 

 is communicated to the running line and thus, when the 

 twist gets into it it snarls, and kinks, and tangles, so that it 

 will not run through the rings, which is very trying to the 

 temper. Mr. Pennell, in order to prevent this, brought out a 

 means of fixing the lead to the line, which certainly has the 



