20 ANGLING. 



bait is put upon a single hook, or a small triangle, and, 

 with two or three shot, just enough to sink it to mid- 

 stream, line is paid out, and the bait allowed to go where 

 it wilL This is chiefly done in trout fishing. 



The next division in mid-water fishing is in the arts of 

 spinning and trolling. Spinning is practised thus : a 

 small fish is taken minnow, gudgeon, bleak or dace 

 chiefly, and is fixed upon a series of hooks called " the 

 flight," so that the tail is slightly crooked. These are 

 then hung on to a tackle, divided in short lengths by two 

 or more swivels, which is called the trace. This is 

 weighted with lead to sink it to mid-water. The tackle is 

 then jerked to a distance into the stream, and is drawn in 

 to the shore or boat by short draws of the left hand, the 

 right holding the rod; and as the bait comes shooting 

 along through the mid- water, the crook in the tail causes 

 it to revolve rapidly, the swivels permitting it to do so 

 easily without twisting up the line. This attracts the fish, 

 who dash at the bait and are caught by the hooks. 

 Trolling or dead gorge fishing is a method employed 

 exclusively for pike ; and that, too, only when they are in 

 large weed beds or places so obstructed with rubbish that 

 neither of the other methods can be employed; a long 

 thin plummet of lead is used with a twisted wire running 

 through it, to one end of which is a loop, and the 

 other a pair of hooks opening di Tersely. The loop end of 

 the wire is then thrust into the fish's mouth, down through 

 its stomach, and out at the tail. The hooks stand out 

 pretty close on each side of the mouth. The tail is tied 

 on to the wire by a lap or two of silk, and the lead, <fcc., 

 is concealed in the belly of the bait. This is hung on to a 

 tackle by a swivel, and is dropped here and there into 

 the holes between the weeds, and played up and down by 



