202 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



To bait a single hook with two brandlings, put the point of 

 the hook in at the head of the worm, and bring it out about 

 the middle ; pull the barb through, and draw the worm up 

 the shank of the hook out of the way ; * then take the second 

 worm, put the point into the middle of the worm, and thread 

 it on the hook up towards the head, leaving about half an inch 

 of head beyond the point of the hook ; draw down the first 

 worm until it meets the second, and the hook is baited. 



To fish, however, with small worms, as brandlings or red 

 worms, requires a neat touch and a light hand, as the slightest 

 snap from a trout, such as none but a very practised worm- 

 fisher would detect, is sufficient to tear and spoil the worm ; 

 and the young hand had better graduate at tough dew-worms 

 until he acquires skill. 



To bait Stewart's tackle, take a worm (or even two if needed), 

 and stick the small hooks through it in various places, taking 

 a turn of the worm round the gut between each hook, as shown 

 in Plate IX, Figs. 2 and 3, page 211. 



When the big hook is used, the trout often takes the bend 

 or only the shank in its mouth, and either feels the steel within 

 or the drag upon the worm, and quickly rejects it, and as the 

 point is not in his mouth, a strike merely alarms him without 

 hooking him ; but it is next to impossible for a fish to take 

 any part of the worm in his mouth with Stewart's tackle with- 

 out having one or two of the hooks in his mouth. 



In worm-fishing, it is often indispensable to wade. Indeed, 

 in nine times out of ten, particularly in fine water fishing, the 

 angler will have to wade more or less. In thick water he may 

 avoid this somewhat. He must, of course, wade up-stream, 

 casting into every likely spot as far as he can above him, allow- 

 ing the bait to roll down-stream until it travels down level 

 with him. The side of a big stone or rock, the edge of sharp 

 streams, narrow runs between weeds or stones, the gravelly 

 tails of pools or just before a rapid, under bridges or by bridge 

 piers, by over-hanging banks, and at times even in deep holes, 

 are all places to be fished carefully. In what I have called 

 " the eye " of a stream (i.e. the first eddy off the commence- 

 ment of a rapid or stream on the side towards which the stream 

 bends), the experienced worm-fisher will always look for a 

 bite, if he has one in the stream at all, as here the trout always 



* In baiting a worm, a small bag of sand to dip the worm into will greatly 

 facilitate the operation by enabling the thumb and finger to take a firm 

 hold. F. F. 



