VARIOUS SOKTS OF SPINNING TACKLE. 199 



fugitive, his ferocious courage apparently being 

 excited by the timidity of the weaker vessel. It 

 happens thus, I fancy, with fish. If a mixed shoal 

 of minnows, bleaks, gudgeons, dace, roach, and 

 small trout were to surround daringly a pike, 

 defy him, jump upon his back, I fancy he would 

 look somewhat foolish, like a stripling Lothario in 

 the midst of a couple of score mocking school 

 girls in their teens. Let either beast of prey, 

 however, meet with one lonely timid creature, 

 fluttering to escape, and then see how his ardour 

 will be excited by its efforts to get away. This, 

 indeed, is little more than a fancy ; still it makes 

 me think that the spinning-bait is rushed after by 

 fish the more eagerly, because they conjecture (if 

 they can conjecture) that it is some more than 

 usually dazzling object of prey, striving strangely 

 to escape. Hence the more ardent they are to 

 arrest it in its flying course. 



Various indeed are the sorts of spinning tackle 

 recommended by anglers. The great merit for 

 which they are recommended, is generally that 

 they spin well, that is, that you can show them 

 in the most seductive run-away shape to the fish 

 you wish to beguile. The second merit is, that 

 the flight of hooks is so well placed, as to prove 

 a deadly thorn to the gentleman that dares to 

 pluck your rose. I can scarcely recollect exactly 

 the varieties of spinning tackle that I have seen ; 



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