136 ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM. 



requires more force and a more sudden impulse to 

 cast a certain length of line with a stiff rod than 

 with a moderately supple one. As you cannot cast 

 a long line, keeping out of the trout's sight must 

 be managed by length of rod, not by length of line ; 

 and a single-handed rod can never accomplish this 

 properly. The rod should not be shorter than from 

 fourteen to sixteen feet. This, with a line from 

 once to once and a half as long as the rod, is suffi- 

 cient to keep the angler out of sight in the clearest 

 water. The rods made in the fishing-tackle shops 

 for bait-fishing are generally very well adapted for 

 the purpose, and are not, like the fly-rods, made 

 too supple. 



The reel, line, and casting-line should be the 

 same as those used for fly-fishing ; and the hook 

 should be joined to the latter by seven or eight 

 lengths of picked gut. The gut used for this 

 purpose, as well as for dressing the hooks on, 

 should be the very finest that can be had. An 

 opinion is quite current among anglers, that fine 

 gut is by no means necessary for bait-fishing ; and 

 when assorting a hank, they lay aside the fine 

 threads for fly, and the remainder for bait. This is 

 a great mistake fine gut being equally necessary 

 for both methods. We once, on passing over a 

 bridge, when returning from a day's fishing, ob- 

 served a trout of about a pound weight basking in 

 the sun, in water not half-a-foot deep. Wishing to 

 ascertain if he was inclined to take a worm, we 



