146 PREPARATION OF BAITS 



on an anvil or some hard body, will cause the lead to 

 expand, and immediately release it. 



Large hooks of the Limerick shape are less obtrusive 

 in appearance, and less likely to arouse suspicion in the 

 fish, when fixed in the minnow, than the round bend, 

 but they are much more difficult to apply without injury 

 to the bait from the narrowness of the bend. 



The foregoing is an excellent set of spinning-tackle, 

 and one I prefer above all others, for the ease and ex- 

 pedition with which the minnow may be applied, the 

 true and rapid manner of its spinning, the freedom from 

 anything conspicuous to arouse the suspicions of the fish 

 as the plummet is entirely concealed within the body 

 of the bait and the almost utter impossibility of a fish 

 attempting to mouth it without being secured. 



When I am compelled to use fresh-caught minnows 

 with this set, full of food or spawn, I always empty their 

 bellies of their contents, air-bladder included, by intro- 

 ducing a pin with a minute portion of its point bent at 

 right angles into the vent, squeezing them moderately at 

 the same time, when the whole will be evacuated, and 

 room thus made for the introduction of the lead without 

 danger of bursting them open. 



The following set, it will be observed, is furnished 

 with a brass spinner, e, attached by a short loop of gut 

 to the bend of the lip-hook, a this piece of brass (which 

 must be sufficiently thick towards the fore part to act 

 efficiently as a plummet) is twisted towards the left hand, 

 into the proper curve to cause the bait to revolve in the 

 water ; and is to be thrust right along by the side of the 



