90 



head j for fishes in general swallow worms tail foremost. 

 This is not the case with dead laits, for all fish swallow 

 them head foremost. 



It is for this reason that, in dipping, and in trimmers, 

 the hook is passed in at the mouth 5 whereby the point is 

 not felt until too late, when, in the fruitless endeavour 

 to cast out the bait, the fish generally urges the hook 

 into his own throat. 



Your hooks for night-lines ought to be good $ that is, 

 they should be of a proper substance, well tempered, 

 with good barbs, and with their points rather standing 

 outwards from the perpendicular. By this form they are 

 sure to fix, whenever the attempt is made to throw the 

 bait out. 



Try the temper of your hooks with your finger and 

 thumb ; if, when smartly pulled therewith, they resist, 

 and are elastic, they will do : if they do not spring, they 

 are bad. But they may be improved by being heated to 

 nearly a white heat, and instantly put into a small quan- 

 tity of flowers of sulphur, which they will kindle* and 

 by that means receive a quality that may, perhaps, be 

 too much inclined to render the hooks brittle. This you 

 must try, and correct, by heating the hooks again, pnly 

 until they change colour, when they should be immedi- 

 ately plunged into soap, or tallow. 



By this means you will get good eel-hooks, which are 

 really very scarce j so much so, that 1 have had whole 

 grosses, not one of which could be trusted until I tem- 

 pered them myself. I can safely say, that I have had at 

 least 10O eel-hooks drawn straight by the exertions of the 

 fishes, which, no doubt, were very large and powerful, 

 but could not have got away had the hooks been good. 



Of 



