SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING, 367 



prawn. In big rivers, where wading is impossible, it must be 

 dorie-out of a boat either by casting or trailing. At Castle 

 Connell on the Shannon they spin it ; at Galway, where during 

 the spring months nothing else is used but the prawn from 

 9 A.M. to 6 P.M., they let it drag with a heavy weight on the 

 bottom as they would do when worm fishing. At Killaloe on 

 the Shannon I have caught several fish by working the prawn 

 " sink-and-draw " fashion, as if I were fishing with a gorge hook 

 for pike. There was, opposite the marble works, a large pool 

 with a very strong backwater, which always held a number of 

 salmon, and part of the programme when fishing the pool was 

 to use the prawn in this backwater in the sink-and-draw fashion. 

 I seldom tried it without catching a fish. This is the only 

 place I ever saw it tried, but I have no doubt it would be 

 equally successful elsewhere. 



' The pleasantest way, however, to work the prawn is from 

 the bank, or when wading, on a warm day when there are 

 plenty of fish within easy reach. It is to me the most fasci- 

 nating of all bait fishing, but it does not give me the same 

 amount of pleasure or excitement that fly fishing does. The 

 mode of proceeding is as follows : Reel up your line to within 

 about six feet of the top of your rod ; swing (not cast) it out at 

 an angle of about 45 down stream, and let the prawn come 

 slowly round to the side you are fishing from, keeping your rod 

 in the same position. If the stream is rapid let out a yard or 

 two of line by degrees as the bait works round, which will 

 prevent the action of the stream stripping off the scales of the 

 prawn ; and for the same reason wind up slowly before making 

 a fresh cast. When the stream is very slack it will, on the 

 contrary, be as well to gradually wind in a few yards of line to 

 prevent the prawn catching on the bottom. 1 



1 A recent writer, under the signature of 'Sentry,' in an angling journal, 

 who says he has used the shrimp or rather prawn bait with great success for 

 many years, recommends that ' If used in slow-running water, it should he 

 tied on the hook so as to " spin," the point of the hook being inserted through 

 the head, brought out near the tail, and tied at each end with a little red thread 

 or silk ; in that way it can be used trolling in both slow and running water. It 



