BARBEL AND BREAM. 49 



Making due allowance for the lightness of the tackle, be 

 particular to strike hard enough ; the mouth of a Barbel 

 being very leathery, a sharp jerk is required to fix the hook 

 firm. Lose a fish and you disturb the swim, and unless they 

 are very strongly on the feed, they will take a little time to 

 recover from their fright. 



HE Leger is very good when the water is colored, or if 

 you are fishing ground of too uneven a nature for the 

 float ; such as the side of a tumbling-bay or similar 

 ^ place. It is made in the following manner : a long- 

 shanked No. 1 gut hook is attached to the leger line, the 

 bottom part of which is composed of two pieces of gut, so as 

 to leave the bait about a yard below the bullet ; at the upper 

 end of the gut is a small swivel, above which is a foot of 

 yellow gimp, on which the bullet runs, a drilled shot being 

 on the gimp next the swivel to act as a stop to the bullet. 

 Many Barbel fishers use a leger-hook of this description >- 

 about two inches from the end of the shank of a No. 1 gut 

 hook, a small lip hook is whipped on the gut ; when the lob- 

 worm is threaded on the larger hook, the worm is drawn up 

 the gut and the head is placed on the small hook. When 

 legering, many Barbel take the head of the worm and I have 

 caught numbers with the small hook which I should probably 

 have missed had I not used that useful little addition ; the 

 worm also is kept much straighter than when without it. 



To use the Leger, we will suppose that the place has been 

 well ground-baited as before described. If you are fishing 

 from the bank, throw the Leger lightly and steadily a little 

 across and down the stream, as near as you can to where 

 you suppose the ground bait has collected. Lower the point 

 of the rod, holding it in such a manner as to keep the line 

 taut to the point of the rod, so as to be able to feel the 

 slightest bite, and remain perfectly quiet. The bite of a 

 Barbel at a Leger may perhaps be best described as a double 

 knock, two distinct little jerks directly following each other, 

 and requiring an instantaneous strike in reply. 



If you do not have a bite in ten minutes or so, draw up 

 and make a fresh throw, longer or shorter, according to cir- 

 cumstances, but always in the direction of the ground-bait ; 



