72 SEA FISH; 



Night Lines. 



The largest eels, which usually remain in their 

 lurking-places during the day and only prowl 

 abroad during the night, are generally taken with 

 night lines, which should be set in such places as 

 afford the greatest amount of shelter and conceal- 

 ment. The back or main line should be composed 

 of strong, well-prepared whip-cord, of length pro- 

 portioned to the number of hooks it is intended to 

 carry from six to twenty and if a greater number is 

 thought requisite, it will be better to lay out more than 

 one line. The hooks should be of the pattern known 

 as swivel heads (vide cut), mounted on fourteen 

 inch snoods, composed of two strands of fine copper 

 wire plaited with one strand of prepared line, No. 

 6; bearing in mind, that each snooding must be 

 sufficiently wide apart to prevent the hooks when 

 baited from touching each other. Tie a knot in the 

 head line for every snood to be firmly secured to, by a 

 loop made large enough for both hook and bait to 

 pass through, as the hooks should be all baited before 

 looping on. The best bait for large eels is small fish, 

 either loach, gudgeon, small dace, smelts, or roach, or, 

 in the absence of these, large lob- worms or fish 

 entrails. In baiting with small fish I use a baiting 

 needle, which I hook on to the loop of the snood, pass 

 it through the mouth and out at the tail, allowing the 

 hook to lie in the bait's mouth with its point turned 



