1 84 THE FRESHWATER EEL. 



ness at the bottom and three-quarters at the top, where a small 

 hole should be bored, and afterwards burned out with a red- 

 hot wire, through which the line is to be passed : as the line 

 will run easily through this hole, you can adjust it to the depth 

 of water. The boat should be moored with two anchors in the 

 following manner : first drop one anchor and push the boat 

 about twenty yards down the stream ; now drop the other, and 

 gather on the first, until the boat is midway between the two, 

 with the bow up the stream ; haul in the rope of the second 

 anchor taut, and your boat will now ride fair with the tide, and 

 will not sheer about, which is of the first importance. 



Regulate your line that it may be three or four inches less 

 than the depth of the water, and sound the bottom with your 

 bob every two or three seconds, lifting it off the bottom, and 

 sounding again until you have a bite, which is easily perceived, 

 as the Eel tugs very strongly : raise your line quickly but 

 steadily, and your fish in dropping off will fall into the boat ; 

 great numbers are taken by this method. Always bob in 

 shallow water from two to six feet in depth, for if it is much 

 deeper a great many will fall off. 



N.B. If you use worsted, which is preferable to thread, as 

 it gets entangled more readily in the teeth of the Eels, draw it 

 three or four times over a piece of soap, and you will thread the 

 Worms more easily. 



I have usually had greater sport on the flowing than during 

 the ebbing tide. 



Clotting for Eels. Clotting for Eels is very similar to 

 Bobbing, and is adapted for rivers and brooks, where a boat is 



FIG. 50. Baited Clotting Pole. 



not required. Your pole should be ten or twelve feet in length, 

 to the top of which a piece of iron wire of the thickness of a 

 quarter of an inch is to be fastened, eighteen inches in length, 

 having an eye turned at the end, to which eye you attach your 

 clot of Worms (fig. 50). The best time is immediately after 



