WORM-FISHING FOR TROUT. 67 



various bends of hooks. It gives me much plea- 

 sure to comply with this request. 



" The easiest way of explaining the form of the 

 tackle will be by a diagram, but before doing this 

 it may perhaps be desirable to preface my remarks 

 by a few observations on the views hitherto pre- 

 vailing on the subject of Trout worm tackle. 



" With one exception, no writer on fishing that I 

 am acquainted with has ever suggested the use of 

 more than a single hook. On looking through the 

 modern school of angling authors, I find the follow- 

 ing recommendations and instructions on the sub- 

 ject : Bowlker, in his ' Art of Angling/ recom- 

 mends a single No. 5 or No. 6 hook ; Mr. Stoddart 

 advises, in his ' Angler's Companion,' single hooks, 

 sizes No. i o, II, or 12, 'according to the dimen- 

 sions of the stream, its condition, and the kind of 

 Trout inhabiting it.' Mr. Bailey, in his ' Angler's 

 Instructor,' suggests a single No. 7 ; Otter's 

 ' Modern Angler/ a No. 5 ; 'Glenfin' ('The Fish- 

 ing Rod, and How to Use It/) a 6 or 7 ; 

 'Ephemera/ Hewett Wheatley, and some other 

 authors, either simply recommend ' a single hook/ 

 without naming the size, or omit the question 

 altogether whilst Mr. Moffat, whose 'Secrets of 

 Angling' burst upon the world since all the fore- 

 going works appeared, of course hits upon a com- 

 bination the very worst possible, and one which 

 would be tolerably certain to lose three out of 

 every four fish run i.e., one small hook, extra fine 

 in the wire ! The ' member for Finsbury/ as this 

 author, with the detestable slang which some 



