MAKING THE GORGE-HOOK. 181 



of wire, looped at the end. The shanks of the 

 hooks, and a portion of the wire, are embedded in 

 a piece of lead, rounded thickly at the shoulder, 

 and tapering off towards the tail. Some persons 

 make the lead of an octagon or quadrangular shape, 

 which is objectionable, and not by any means so 

 proper as lead roughly rounded, to make it 

 steadily inherent in the interior of the bait. 

 About a foot of gimp is to be neatly attached to 

 the loop in the wire, and when the gorge-hook is 

 baited, the gimp is to be fastened to the hook of 

 the first swivel on your trace. Two good swivels 

 are generally sufficient for your trace. 



The gorge -hook is baited thus : The loop of 

 the gimp is placed in the eye of the baiting- 

 needle, which is inserted through the mouth of 

 the bait, and the point brought out at the middle 

 of the fork of the tail. Draw the gimp towards 

 you until you find yourself stopped by the bends 

 of the hooks being arrested by the mouth of the 

 bait. The points of the hooks are to be in an up- 

 ward direction, as you see in the illustrated figure. 

 A thread of white silk, whipped round the bait 

 close above the tail, will attach it firmly to the 

 gimp within, and prevent the bait from having 

 its tail part injured, by being dragged backwards 

 during its progress towards the water. 



Many persons do not allow the wire that is 

 attached to the hooks to project beyond the fine 



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