52 CATCHING THE WILY SEA-TROUT 



Should you intend to try your hand when the water is 

 low and clear, finer tackle is more serviceable, and I 

 recommend a " gut bottom " with a gauge of 3x, but 

 you will have to be alert and strike quickly, so as to 

 circumvent the nibbles of eels. A sea-trout usually 

 takes the baited hook unhesitatingly and darts away, 

 but an eel starts on the head or the tail of the worm and 

 quietly gorges both worm and hook. 



There are many ways of fishing with worms, and I 

 will deal briefly with a few of them. 



When employing a float, sufficient split shots should 

 be squeezed on the gut, so that the float assumes 

 a perpendicular position : in other words the float 

 cocks. In arranging the split shots, place one about 

 a foot from the hook and add more at intervals of three 

 or six inches until the weight is sufficient to cock the 

 float. 



This float tackle can be used either stationary in a 

 backwater, or by allowing it to drift with a very slow 

 current. In both these cases the worm should clear, by 

 two or three inches, the bed of the river. 



If no float is attached to the gear, less split shots are 

 necessary, and the baited hook should either lie on the 

 bottom of a backwater, or move with a strong and fast 

 current. 



Ledgering and upstream casting are other methods of 

 worming. 



In a similar manner to the use of worms, other natural 

 baits such as a bunch of maggots or wasp grubs may be 

 employed ; while various preserved baits, including 

 prawns, can be purchased. 



Live baiting with a natural minnow finds favour on 

 certain waters, and spinning with a like bait is also 

 practised. 



Thus, what with patent lures, there seems to be no 



