HAND LINES 329 



Swivels should always be used, whether for bottom 

 fishing or trolling, between the running line and the 

 trace. 



Leads for trolling should be boat shaped or drain -pipe 

 shaped preferably the former if at all heavy. For 

 bottom fishing a conical lead is as good as anything 

 else ; this should be attached to the trace by a snood 

 of such strength as to break before the trace, if the lead 

 gets jammed in a crevice among rocks or wreckage. 

 It is advisable in bottom fishing to have a swivel 

 between the trace and the lead-snood. A line rigged 

 as in Fig. 209 permits the lead to be kept on the 

 bottom at whatever depths the hooks are fishing, and 

 render it easy to detect any inability on the lead's part 

 to hold the line straight against tides or currents. 



Spinning-baits, both natural and artificial, are num- 

 berless ; we believe the best natural bait to be a strip 

 of skin and flesh from the tail of some silvery and 

 tough-skinned fish (e.g., a mackerel) or a small silvery 

 fish used whole. Of artificial baits two standard and 

 useful forms are (i) a piece of black, white, or red 

 rubber tubing, and (2) a triangular or fish-tailed piece 

 of bright metal, with its edges turned so as to make it 

 spin. Red worsted, also, has its merits, especially if 

 used in combination with a bright metal spinner. 



Fishes which swim and feed in shoals may often be 

 caught by a " jigger " ; this is a piece of lead shaped 

 like an ordinary sounding lead, and 6 inches long or 

 less, armed according to fancy with bare hooks. The 

 load must be scraped bright before use, and is then 

 worked rapidly up and down, so as to hook any fish 

 attracted by curiosity or the prospect of its proving 

 edible. 



The above remarks apply generally to hand lines, 

 but such lines must, of course, be considerably heavier 



