132 



THE EIRE, &C 



account of the breadth of their figures ; but to either of these, 

 and to the roach particularly, it can be readily and conve 

 niently attached. Choose a fresh dead roach, of from three 

 to five ounces ; insert the small hook of the spring as above 

 directed for the common snap, but a little deeper, so as to take 

 a firmer and deeper hold, than when applied to the living 

 one. If the apparatus, from its size, must project beyond the 

 line of the fish form, let it be above ; but by no means allow 

 the bend of the hooks to appear under the ventral surface. 

 The figures Nos. 4 and 5 on Plate No. 2, exhibiting the snap 

 sprung and unsprung, furnish a sufficient exemplification of 

 its mode of action ; in seizing of the bait, the pike or jack 

 draw the hooks out of the detaining frame, and in conse- 

 quence they immediately expand and fix themselves into the 

 jaws of the fish which has seized it. 



" Of the Hooks in Snap-Fishing. We must again say, it 

 is of great consequence that those to strike the pike be so 

 placed as to easily clear themselves ; if, therefore, it is ex- 

 pected of these hooks that they shall support and play the 

 fish, and yet be ready at a moment to disengage themselves 

 from this attachment, then too much is expected of them ; 

 and when they ought to be free, to strike at once into the 

 mouth of the pike, they are apt to be buried deep in the body 

 of the bait. It was purposely to relieve this strain on the 

 bait that we added to the traces a small hook, which then 

 left the large hooks at liberty to disengage themselves : for 

 on the small hooks the stress of the action of playing the fish, 

 was then altogether placed. It is on this principle that the 

 snap-baits in general should be formed, and where they have 

 not some sustaining hooks, independent of the snap-hooks, 

 then they ought never to pass through the centre of the body 

 of the bait-fish, but superficially under the skin only, so that 

 when the pike strikes, the skin of the bait may readily tear 

 away by the united forces of the stroke of the Angler and his 



