16 COARSE FISH. 



off. I always take the greatest care to keep the 

 hook point just in the flat tail of the lob, and even 

 then miss fish. I have tried Stewart tackles, but a 

 lobworm is strong enough- to loop himself about 

 unless on a long-shanked hook, and thus throws the 

 hooks out of their proper position (for Stewart 

 tackle, see p. 243). I do best with brown-stained 

 gut when legering, and hold with stained gut, not- 

 withstanding all that has been said against it I 

 find I kill more fish with stained gut than I do 

 with the natural gut, and simply state what is my 

 own actual experience. I vary the shades accord- 

 ing to colour of the water, and only use perfectly 

 plain gut when trouting in the white water of weirs, 

 and fishing near the surface. This question will 

 always be a disputed one. A rather small triangle 

 should be used for fishing with a bunch of gentles, 

 No. 10 being a good size (see p. 77). The gut can 

 be varied in strength according to the style of swim 

 fished ; and it is useless, or next to useless, to use gut 

 like gossamer in a heavy weir run or with a stiff rod. 

 As previously mentioned, Thames anglers usually 

 keep the bullet a long way from the hook when 

 legering in straight runs, simply passing the running 

 line through the bullet and knotting on a swivel in 

 the gut loop. In strong curling, eddying water, the 

 weight is best at eighteen inches, or a foot, from the 

 hook, as the worm may be swept to one side or 

 other of the bullet, and the tackle does not fish so 

 well. The bullet, in this case, should run on stout 

 gut, stopped by a shot or small piece of stick from 

 getting down to the hook, the gut above the bullet 

 being at least two feet in length. A greater 

 length of gut above the bullet is sometimes' a 

 help, for it does not hold the water so much as 



