116 ART OF ANGLING. 



plate of it, would be difficult, if not impossible.* 

 After all, however, knowing how to bait the 

 hook is the chief art; and even after being 

 shown, requires practice on the part of the fish- 

 erman who adopts it. After chusing a white- 

 bellied minnow, of rather small size, and hard- 

 ening it in bran for an hour or two, first draw 

 back the plummet, or cap, and put the large 

 hook into the minnow's mouth, and out through 

 the right gill, taking care not to tear the mouth 

 or any part of the bait ; then draw the line three 

 or four inches to you, so as to be able to et 

 the hook back again into its mouth. Then take 

 the minnow between the finger and thumb in the 

 left hand, and the large hook in the right hand, 

 and run the hook all down the back, close to the 

 bone, to the very end of the fish, and let it come 

 out about the centre of the tail Jin. Then with 

 your right hand pull the minnow out as straight 

 as it will lie, and press it into natural form with 

 the finger and thumb. Afterwards nip off the 

 upper half of the tailjfin, in order to prevent a 

 counteraction to the spinning of the minnow. 



Having done this, draw down your plummet, 

 or cap, again, and see that your branch-line falls 



* '['lie bottom consists of two lengths of gut, the one shorter than 

 the other; to the shorten piece a ]\u 1 hook is uttached, and to the 

 oilier a triangle of thiee No. 7 hooks tied hack lo back, to hang about 

 throe incites ht low the larger oue when baited; another triangle of 

 three hooks, tied to th same gut, should be suspended at the side of 

 tiic minnow. This bottom must be affixed to the line by a small box 

 swivel ; the plummet or cap nil tided to, is a hollow bit of lead, which, 

 when itruwu. upon tike he:id of the minnow, will cover the half of it. 



