182 GORGE-HOOKS FOR WEEDS, ETC. 



end of the lead, where they attach the gimp and 

 bait, as above. They contend that gorge-hooks 

 are too heavily wired, causing the bait when cast 

 to sink too deeply in the water and make too 

 large and loud a splash. The gorge-hooks, with 

 little wire projecting beyond the lead, are very 

 fit for trolling amongst weeds, and in foul places, 

 but they do not act so well in wide, clean waters, 

 as they have not the necessary stiff and firm hold 

 on the bait, and the baits are apt to be disfigured 

 by crumbling in the cast. For ponds and lakes 

 the long wired gorge-hooks are the best. 



Neither barb of the gorge-hook should project 

 too widely from the sides of the mouth of the 

 bait. If the points of the hook do project too 

 widely the fish may perceive them, but at any 

 rate they will be likely to get foul of obstructions 

 in the water. Nobbs, the father of trolling, re- 

 marks : " I commonly made use of a single gorge- 

 hook, which strikes as sure as the other. The 

 double hook hath one advantage above the other, 

 that if it meets with such resistance in the water 

 that it loses one side of it, the other part, with a 

 little filing, may be still as serviceable as it was 

 before ; it is more troublesome than the single 

 hook in the water, and more apt to stick and take 

 hold of the weeds and roots ; it is best for a great 

 bait, for if you put a small and slender bait on a 

 double hook, it will hang out and bear off so 



