116 Worm-baiting for Clear-water Fishing. 



Or better thus : 



2. Take your worm and insert your hook a quarter 

 or half an inch from the tail, according to the size of the 

 worm, run it up to about the knot of the worm and 

 bring the point out ; then take the head of the worm 

 and run it on the point of the hook over the barb up the 

 bend, and to the knot of the worm, where the point was 

 previously brought out, and thus you will not only have 

 the hook properly covered, but the point protected from 

 catching at any weeds, moss, &c. which is a very great 

 desideratum. Fish, too, almost always take any bait by 

 the head, and most frequently a worm ; consequently, by 

 baiting in this way you will have a greater chance of 

 hooking your fish well This method may curtail the 

 life and action of the worm sooner than when the head 

 is not injured ; but that is not a sufficient set-oif against 

 its manifest advantages. It requires baiting a little 

 more frequently, as a maimed or dead bait few trout will 

 snatch at. 



3. Some persons employ tackle similar to the May-fly, 

 before described, with two hooks, and link the worm on 

 both hooks. 



4. Some use four hooks, as shown in Plate ix. 3. 

 The second method of baiting is most approved by 



professed Worm -fishers, who use only a single hook, but 

 the reader may adopt that which best suits his own 

 fancy. Your rod should be stiffer in the butt, by some 

 degrees, than your fly-rod, and the top should not be so 

 fine, though it should neither be heavy nor exceed thirteen 

 feet in length, that is, if it be a one-handed rod, and 

 you wish to use it with any comfort and command. 



Fishing the worm in clear water is best done without 

 shot or lead, in consequence of such getting fast among 

 stones, &c. In fact, in all bait-fishing it is better to 

 dispense with lead altogether, where the strength of the 



