230 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



one, there is less danger of a break, as the reel will respond 

 at once. In pike fishing the strike should be a strong one, 

 as sometimes this fish gets the bait across his mouth, and it 

 has to be pulled round to get the hooks into the jaw, which 

 is a hard one. If the trout rod is whippy, when the hand or 

 wrist moves to strike, the angler will notice that although 

 he raises the butt with his hand, yet the point depresses for 

 a moment, which slacks the line in place of tightening it, 

 so that he must humour the motion of his stroke to prevent 

 this very often the result of an involuntary downward 

 motion of the wrist before the upward motion takes 

 place, as if the angler wished to emphasize his striking by 

 backing, so to speak, on his ground before he made the 

 jump. With a stiff-topped rod this downward bending is 

 not so apt to occur, and, as a rule, a stiff rod will strike 

 quicker than a whippy one. More fish are lost, especially 

 trout, by slow striking than by quick. 



Swims are chosen portions of any stream or river 

 where it is desirous to congregate fish by feeding them 

 with ground bait, thus giving the angler a better chance 

 of capturing them with his artificial bait or other lure. It 

 is usual to bait these swims over night, and barbel, chub, 

 gudgeon, and other ground fish may be caught in numbers 

 by judicious management. The ground bait should be 

 thrown in above the swim, after judging how the current 

 will carry it, so as to allow it to settle on the bottom of the 

 chosen spot, and not be carried past it by the stream. 



Swivels are indispensable articles used in spinning 

 tackle, for attaching the various artificial and live baits to 

 the traces, and preventing the main line getting twisted. 

 Among the varieties, the most useful and common are 

 box, hook, spring, buckle, and watch spring. These are 



