84 ANGLING 



hollow cylinder, to the upper end of which a shank of wire 

 is cast, which passes through the loop of the hook-shank, 

 B, and ends in a loop, D, to which the ordinary gimp-trace 

 is attached. The manifest intention of the contrivance is 

 to cause the hooks, A, on the fish being struck, to fly out- 

 wardly, as in fig. 24, and so prevent the possibility of his 

 releasing himself except by the failure of the tackle. I 

 can see that the objection, in practice, to this otherwise 

 excellent contrivance, would arise from the difficulty of re- 

 leasing the bait from the body of the fish, the possibility 

 of the spring giving way and showing the hooks too pro- 

 minently after a long cast, and stretching, if not tearing 

 open, the jaws of the bait, and catch every weed and 

 obstruction in its path. On the other hand, there can 

 be no doubt, that if the jack once got the head of the bait 

 inside its mouth, it would not easily escape. There is 

 some difference of opinion and in practice respecting the 

 trace of the gorge-hooks. For many years I used, and many 

 at the present time continue to use, about a foot of gimp, 

 whipped permanently to the gorge-hook ; then they attached 



Fig. 25. 



a swivel, more gimp, sinker, and then the reel-line, if not 

 another swivel. If the troller wishes for the sinker and 

 the swivel, one made in this fashion (fig. 25) will be found 

 better than merely running the wire through the middle 

 of the lead. The swivel of the best form is shown at A. 

 it should be of blue steel, and always kept well oiled. The 

 lead, B, should be cast on brass or iron wire, C, and a 



