478 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



yards in length, not too thick, thoroughly waterproofed, and 

 well made and substantial in quality and strength ; for it 

 must be borne in mind, that it has to undergo more friction 

 in the length used for casting than any other running line. 

 The length named will be found amply sufficient for 

 ordinary waters, such as the Thames or Trent, where the 

 fish taken are usually of the ordinary size, though were I 

 fishing some of the Irish lakes, or the private inland waters 

 of England, where the fish have the reputation of being 

 monstors, I should perhaps take care to have a bit more 

 on the reel. The winch to be used is really very much a 

 matter of fancy, although, for my own part, I prefer the 

 plain wooden Nottingham reel to any other, for its ease in 

 manipulation, and the rapidity with which one can reel up 

 slack line. A reel I have lately seen, and one of the most 

 recent manufacture, is a Nottingham reel combining two 

 actions the one being the smooth, easy run so necessary 

 in " long corking," the other attained by pressing a spring 

 on the reverse sides of the handles by which a cog is set to 

 work giving check action instantaneously. The " flight " 

 mounted upon fine gimp should have a set of three or four 

 triangles and one moveable single hook. In baiting this 

 flight of hooks, care should be taken to use dace, gudgeon, 

 roach or bleak, whichever may be preferred, of a size 

 proportionate with the length and fit of the flight of hooks 

 used, as nothing tends so much to the ugly " wobbling " of 

 a bait in the water as an over-sized fish badly mounted. 

 Supposing then that a suitable bait is found, the bottom 

 triangle is firmly fixed by the penetration of one of the 

 hooks only in the extreme root of the tail, just where the 

 flesh joins the rays; then, holding the dead fish firmly 

 between the thumb and fingers of the left hand, so bend 

 or curve the body that the tail assumes a clear and 



