1 66 WINTER ANGLING 



time. Get a number of stout sticks about eigh- 

 teen inches long, and boring through the centre 

 of each at right angles, thrust about one foot of 

 thick iron wire through, and turn a loop in the 

 end (Fig. 76). When this line is set, the stick is 

 laid crosswise over the hole, with the rod and loop 

 downward (Fig. 76). Of course if the ice is 

 likely to be thicker than a foot, this wire ought to 

 be longer. It should reach into the water at least 

 three inches. To it is attached the line, which, 

 when you are setting it, is first wound up round 

 your thumb and finger in a figure 8 fashion, and 

 then attached, as shown (Fig. 77), to the pieces of 

 wire shaped as in Fig. 78. I think the diagrams 

 quite explain themselves. 



The ice-fishers in Canada, and on Champlain 

 and the other large lakes, make a large revenue ; 

 but it is not to that class that I am addressing 

 myself. On Champlain, when fishing for perch, 

 the eye of the fish is used almost exclusively ; but 

 for ordinary fishing for ling, burbot, wall-eyed 

 pike, perch, and pickerel, small fish are the bait 

 and very excellent bait they prove to be. Spear- 

 ing and netting through the ice are also practised ; 

 but I find little sport or pleasure in this, and do 



