CHAPTER VIII 



SPINNING FOR TROUT 



Spinning for Large Trout Spinning for Trout in Small Streams The 

 Par-Tail The Grayling 



I NOW come to spinning for trout. The very best spinners 

 for large trout in the world are Thames fishermen. It is 

 a sight worth seeing to watch a well-practised hand 

 standing on a weir beam, and working his bait in every 

 eddy, behind piles, and under the apron or sheathing ; now 

 sending it far away down the stream by a light swing of the 

 arm, now pitching it dexterously under the broken water 

 of the fall, and skimming along from bay to bay, so that not 

 one inch of likely water remains unfished ; all the while 

 gathering the line up in the palm of his left hand and giving it 

 out thence, so that no slack hangs about anywhere. 



The way of casting a spinning-bait Thames fashion has 

 already been described in jack-fishing, and need not be repeated 

 here, as the modus operandi is the same for trout as for pike. 

 The rod should be a little longer than that used for jack- 

 fishing, but not so stout. Thames trout-rods are usually of 

 bamboo, the favourite length from fourteen to fifteen feet. 

 The line is of well-dressed fine eight-plait silk. The commonest 

 kind of tackle in use among the Thames trout-fishers precisely 

 resembles that used for jack-fishing, shown in Plate IV, Fig. i, 

 p. 76. It is very seldom indeed that more than three triangles 

 and a lip-hook are used, and, of course, the flight of hooks 

 is tied upon gut, and not gimp ; and, being intended to take 

 a smaller bait, the hooks are smaller and tied on closer to- 

 gether. Some people occasionally use a reverse hook to 

 secure the bend next to the last triangle, but, though useful, 

 it is not indispensable. Some, again, use a single hook at the 

 tail. This hook, being a size or two larger, is hooked into the 

 tail, so as to make the bend of the hook form the crook. I 



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