350 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



answer very well indeed. I lay some stress on the shank, as the 

 reader can try the following experiment, suggested some time 

 since in the Field. Take a long-shanked hook and tie three 

 pieces of gut to it, at three different points along the shank, 

 fix the point, and then pull each gut alternately, and it will be 

 at once perceived how much more advantage there is in a 

 tolerably lengthy shank than a short one. Of course it would 

 not do to have it too long. If roach are shy and are biting so 

 badly as that they only nibble and do not take the hook into 

 their mouths at all, it matters very little what shape the hook 

 is. The barb should not be too rank, as it is not only quite 

 unnecessary but requires a harder stroke than should be given, 

 and is liable to be broken in the frequent unhooking and 

 occasional contact with bones, etc. All this is of the more 

 consequence in roach-fishing because so many anglers fish 

 with a single hair, when the object is to fix the hook with the 

 lightest possible stroke, and this with the present shaped hooks 

 is very difficult. The best shaped hook of this kind I ever saw 

 was a French hook, manufactured in the Pyrenees ; and much 

 as we look down on French tackle, our hook makers might take 

 a lesson from that hook. Some roach-fishers use sneck bent 

 hooks, and if Mr. Pennell's opinion of sneck bends should 

 prevail, they ought to be the best shaped hook for the purpose. 

 I, however, have used them in roach-fishing many times (that 

 is, my fishing companion used them and I used some other 

 form), but I never discovered that it actually hooked any 

 appreciable percentage of fish more than the ordinary hook 

 in use. 



The scales of small hooks which I have given were lent to me 

 by Mr. Farlow, and were made by Messrs. Bartleet and Sons, of 

 Redditch. 



BAIT TABLE 



The Red Worm. This is a very general favourite with 

 fishermen. In the Nottingham district it is called the cock- 

 spur. It will kill almost any fresh-water fish, but is used 

 chiefly for roach, gudgeon, dace, tench, and carp. It is found 

 in heaps of dead and decaying leaves, or vegetable matter, in 

 rotten dung or dead wood. The best way to procure and keep 

 a stock of them is to put a little manure, mould, a few cabbage 

 stumps or mowed grass and dead leaves, with a bit of rotten 

 matting or old carpet, and water it well now and then. This 



