CASTING OF PIPE-LEADS. 145 



pipe-lead which runs easily over the armature of the 

 large hook d, up to its bend, as well as over c, which is 

 a knot in the line, or the shank of a small fly-hook 

 snapped off with a very small portion of the bend re- 

 maining, against which the loop a is arrested and securely 

 retained ; when the pipe-lead and the piece containing 

 the lip-hook and triangle are pulled down into their 

 places, the whole will appear precisely as in Fig. 19. 

 It may be well to whip the whole of the gut between c 

 and the shank of the large hook with silk to protect it 

 from being chafed by the pipe-lead. 



In applying the minnow, it is only necessary to slide 

 the triangle piece and the pipe-lead down the line, and 

 insert the hook d down through the mouth and out at 

 the tail of the bait, as above directed, and then slip the 

 lead down the minnow's belly, and attach the triangle 

 and the lip-hook in their proper places, when the whole 

 will be completed. 



Pipe-leads may be easily cast by excavating a mould 

 of the proper size and shape in a lump of dry chalk or 

 plaster of Paris, or by boring a hole with a middle- 

 sized gimlet of the required depth in a piece of dry 

 wood ; in either case, a smooth wire of moderate thick- 

 ness (a steel knitting-needle answers admirably) must 

 be stuck vertically in the centre of the mould, to form 

 the pipe of the lead, when it is withdrawn. Should the 

 wire become tightly fixed in the lead after casting, and 

 refuse to leave it, a few gentle strokes with a light ham- 

 mer given all round the lead, while the latter is resting 



H 



