TO MAKE A PATERNOSTER. 95 



you fish, the more and better fish you catch. To put a 

 great coarse hog's bristle, with a cumbrous paraphernalia 

 of shots and bone, under a perch's nose, is a downright 

 insult to his common sense of self-preservation ; and if he 

 condescends to take your minnow at all, he will take it 

 probably without the hook. 



Now, this is the way I make a paternoster ; and this is 



the way that some old friends of mine, who are by far the 



best paternoster-fishers on the Thames or anywhere else 



that ever I saw or heard of, taught me to make it. Make 



a long noose for the loop on which to fasten your lead, 



and in this loop, or immediately above it, tie another 



loop, by the simple process of doubling the gut and tying 



it ; about nine inches above this repeat the process, and 



tie another loop, and at the same distance above that tie 



another. This fashion of making the loops may be 



thought dangerous to the knot, but in reality it is not so 



when the gut is wet ; and it has the advantage of always 



standing out at right angles, and so keeping the hook, 



from the line. Into each of these loops slip the end of 



the hook-gut, which should have a knot tied in the 



extreme end to prevent slipping, and secured by the 



hitch shown in Plate III. fig. 5 ; a hook is thus 



appended to each loop, the gut to each hook being about 



seven inches long ; the lowest one need not be so long. 



Persons who have not a great deal of experience in pater- 



nostering will object to the lower hook being so low 



down, urging that it is liable to take hold of weeds, &c. ; 



practice, however will change their opinion. The hooks 



are of Nos. 6 and 7 and of moderately fine wire, stoutish 



in the shank, and roundish bend, and are tied upon fine 



round gut, the main line being a little stouter. The lead 



is pear-shaped, and varies in weight to suit the stream ; 



and even with this tackle I do not find that I hook all 



the perch that come at it. A sketch of this paternoster 



