52 TROULING, ETC. 



with one of the two hooks at the end of the trace, bring 

 the treble hook along the side of the fish, then hook in 

 the largest, so that the two small ones will lie close to the 

 side of the minnow ; put the ead into its mouth, then 

 with the moveable hook (that is the single one), button 

 its mouth up by hooking it in the bottom jaw and out at 

 the top ; see that the minnow lies straight on the trace, 

 with the exception of a small curve in the tail to allow it 

 to spin round, which it will do when it is in the water 

 and humoured a little with the hand. Some anglers will 

 cut off one of the gill fins and one of the ventrail fins at 

 the opposite side of the fish. These kinds of traces I 

 have found the best for snap-fishing , but I shall treat 

 more largely on the snap under the head of "pike- 

 fishing." 



There is another trace which I shall here describe, 

 which is little inferior to the last, of which I shall give 

 you a design in the engraving. In this method 

 you only use three hooks, as follows. Provide a length 

 of strong and round silk worm-gut, then at the end whip 

 a No, 9 hook ; then a little higher up the line whip on 

 a No. 6 hook, so that the bent will come within a quarter 

 of an inch from the shank of the other hook ; then higher 

 up the line whip another No. 6 hook, which will move up 

 or down the line as in the other method, so that you can 

 accommodate it to any size of a bait, either minnow or 

 gudgeon, for you may not always be provided with the 

 former, then you must use the gudgeon, which is little if 

 any inferior to the minnow, and may be taken in almost 

 any river or canal, and are easily caught, by the means 



