88 SXIGGLIXG FOR EELS. 



' wheels,' which are baited with worms, &c., and set under 

 banks, or in the runs between weeds. In the winter time 

 they are speared, a spear being thrust into every likely 

 looking spot in mud banks, where they are thought to be 

 concealed, and occasionally an eel comes up hanging 

 between the teeth, fished out of the seething flood by a 

 demon prong, like one of the unhappy peculators in the 

 boiling pitch of Malebolge, described in the ' Inferno ' of 

 Dante. They are also taken on set-night lines. But all 

 these methods have nothing to do with angling. 



From an angling point of view, they are taken im- 

 primis, with the rod and line, a worm On about a No. 6 

 or 7 hook being the favourite bait. It matters little 

 whether a float be used or not ; the only requisite is to 

 allow the worm to lie upon the bottom, whence it will be 

 picked up by the eels, and as certainly devoured. It not 

 unfrequently happens that one will take the worm in 

 barbel or trout -fishing, when it becomes a very great 

 nuisance, and if not very speedily unhooked, twists the 

 line into knots, and covers it with slime. As soon as the 

 eel is landed, the angler should set his foot firmly upon 

 the body, and with his penknife sever the vertebras at the 

 bark of the neck, when its struggles will almost entirely 

 cease. Eels have been known not only to run at and take 

 a spinning bait, but even to rise at and take an artificial 

 fly. I am informed by a friend that he often visits a 

 large pool which is full of large eels, and where they spin 

 for them constantly. 



SNIGGLING is a most ingenious method of catching eels. 

 The tackle required for sniggling is simply some half- 

 dozen yards of water cord, with a large darning-needle 

 lashed on crosswise by the middle, at one end of the line. 

 This of course is easily carried in the creel, and when the 

 trout will not rise, and the angler is at a loss for amuse- 

 ment (if the river presents facilities for it), he may kill 



