278 SPINNING FOR TROUT. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

 SPINNING FOR TROUT. 



FOB LABOB TBOUT SPIJOCIXO FOB TUOt'T IN SMALL 8TRBAV8 - 

 THB PAR-TAIL TUB GRAYLUfO. 



I NOW come to spinning for trout. The very best spinners 

 for large trout in the world are Thames fishermen. It is 

 tight worth seeing to watch a well-practised hand stand- 

 ing on a weir-beam, and working his bait into every eddy, 

 behind piles, and under the apron or sheathing: now 

 sending it far away down the stream by a light swing of 

 the arm, now pitching it dexterously under the broken 

 water of the fall, and skimming along from bay to bay, 

 HO that not one inch of likely water remains unfished ; all 

 the while gathering the line up in the palm of his left 

 hand and giving it out thence, so that no slack hangs 

 about anywhere. 



The way of casting a spinning-bait Thames fashion has 

 already been described in jack-fishing, and need not be 

 repeated here, as the modus operandi is the same for 

 trout as for pike. The rod should be a little longer than 

 that used for jack-fishing, but not so stout. Thames 

 trout-rods are usually of bamboo, the favourite length 

 from fourteen to fifteen feet, and as the whole tackle is 

 lighter, the rod is a trifle more limber. The line is of 

 well-dressed fine eight-plait silk. The commonest kind 

 of tackle in use among the Thames trout-fishers precisely 

 resembles that used for jack-fishing, shown in Plate IV. 



