TROLLING WITH A DEAD GORGE 77 



You must not use your light spinning rod for this work. 

 A strong four-inch plain wood reel will do, and the line can 

 be fifty yards of strong tanned, plaited hemp, costing a 

 couple of shillings or so ; everything must be pretty strong. 

 The usual gorge hook is simply a double hook of the shape 

 known as a parrot beak, securely fastened to a short length 

 of twisted brass wire ; hook and wire should be about six 

 inches long over all. A bit of lead is cast round the shank 

 of hook and the wire, the whole thing weighing about one 

 and a half ounces ; the wire and all should be as long as 

 the bait you propose to use, and very stiff and rigid. A 

 two-foot length of No. i copper gimp, or a similar piece of 

 the Hercules wire gimp, securely fastened to the wire eye 

 at end of the gorge, will be quite enough for a trace, the 

 main object of this tackle being to do away with any ob- 

 structions that are likely to catch hold of weeds and boughs. 

 A plain brass swivel can be employed between the gimp 

 and the main line, as this will prevent the line from kinking. 



In baiting a gorge hook, use a baiting needle, and drive 

 it down the throat of the bait, keeping it as near the back- 

 bone as possible, down the centre, so that the leaded wire 

 will have a good and solid foundation. Bring the needle 

 out between the forks of the tail, and draw the gimp after it 

 until the lead and wire are completely hidden in the bait, 

 with the bends of the hooks close up to the nose (some 

 trollers tie the tail fast to the wire, others clip the tail off 

 altogether with a pair of scissors), then Join the gimp to 

 the main line, and all is ready. 



The best bait for trolling is a five-inch dace ; a small 

 roach will do, so will a large gudgeon, but a dace seems to 

 be the best and most lasting. 



Where trolling with a dead gorge differs from spinning 

 with a dead bait is the fact that any preserved or pickled 

 fish will do for the latter, the former must have a bait 

 perfectly fresh. When a pike runs at a spinning bait and 

 lays hold, he has not much chance as a rule to reject it, 

 whereas if the taste of a dead gorge bait was not to his 



