SNIGGLING EELS 61 



and occasionally an eel comes up hanging between the teeth, 

 fished out of the seething flood by a demon prong, like one of 

 the unhappy peculators in the boiling pitch of Malebolge, 

 described in the Inferno of Dante. They are also taken on 

 set night lines. But all these methods have nothing to do with 

 angling. 



From an angling point of view, they are taken, imprimis, 

 with the rod and line, a worm on about a No. 6 or 7 hook being 

 the favourite bait. It matters little whether a float be used 

 or not ; the only requisite is to allow the worm to lie upon the 

 bottom, whence it will be picked up by the eels, and as certainly 

 devoured. It not unfrequently happens that one will take the 

 worm in barbel or trout-fishing, when it becomes a very great 

 nuisance, and if not very speedily unhooked, twists the line 

 into knots, and covers it with slime. As soon as the eel is 

 landed, the angler should set his foot firmly upon the body, 

 and with his penknife sever the vertebrae at the back of the 

 neck, when its struggles will almost entirely cease.* Eels have 

 been known not only to run at and take a spinning bait, but 

 even to rise at and take an artificial fly. 



SNIGGLING is a most amusing method of catching eels. The 

 tackle required for sniggling is simply some half-dozen yards of 

 water cord, with a large darning needle lashed on crosswise by 

 the middle, at one end of the line. This, of course, is easily 

 carried in the creel, and when the trout will not rise, and the 

 angler is at a loss for amusement (if the river presents facilities 

 for it), he may kill half a dozen pounds or more of eels easily, 

 and so, as I have said, amend his feed without wasting his time. 

 He must cut a sniggling-stick or rod, from eight to ten feet 

 long, or longer, with a curved or bent top a hazel, alder, ash, 

 or other twig will do. Taking then a lob worm, he must thrust 

 the needle into the worm, until it be hidden within it (see Plate 

 VI, Figs. 5 and 6, p. 93) ; then sticking the point of the 

 needle lightly into the end of the stick, and holding one end of 

 the string in the left hand and the stick in the right, the angler 

 must " prospect " and look out for some hole in the bank, 

 under a stone, or the side of lock walls, etc., which may be 

 likely to hold an eel ; and directing the worm at the point of 

 the stick towards the hole, it should be thrust as far as practic- 

 able into it. If an eel be there, he will immediately seize it, 



* A simpler and more effective way is to lay the eel's tail on a stone or the 

 thwart of a boat and give it a severe blow with a cudgel or stone. This 

 paralyses the creature. ED. 



