THE CHUB. 79 



twang that electrifies you. With a great length of 

 line out, perhaps fifty yards, a gentle lift of the rod 

 is useless ; and as strong tackle is best for chubbing, 

 your gut length will bear the 'strain. One yard of 

 gut is quite sufficient for a weir tackle ; fix two BB 

 shot fifteen inches from the hook or triangle, three 

 or four a foot higher, the same number eight inches 

 from these ; pass the running line through the 

 bullet or corking-lead before knotting on the gut 

 length, and you have a tackle which I have always 

 found will kill fish when they will feed at all. 

 Baits for weir-fishing must be of a tough nature ; 

 cherries are most excellent ; mutton fat, the skinny 

 part, sticks on well, and lobworms prove their 

 value as chub-bait in weirs. With respect to the 

 last mentioned, one of the most killing " dodges " I 

 have ever tried for chub is to put the lobworm on 

 the hook tail first. I had so many misses of bites 

 when baiting with lobs that I was quite puzzled ; 

 one afternoon, while examining a bitten worm, the 

 secret came out. I noticed the head of the worm 

 showed the bite, while the tail end was untouched. 

 Dipping a big lob in the sandbox, I put him on the 

 hook, tail first, running the barb of the hook close 

 under the head of the worm. I hooked a fine chub 

 almost immediately, and since then I always bait 

 for chub in this way, and meet with far better 

 success. (For baiting with worm, see p. 233.) 



To place a cherry on a triangle, I split the fruit 

 by pressure, squeezing the stone out, inserting the 

 triangle in its place, and pulling the fruit together 

 again over the barbs. There is no more excellent 

 bait. The white-heart cherry shows well in the 

 water ; it is tough without clogging the hooks, and 

 being hollow, collapses entirely when seized by a 



