. SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 4TI 



The difficulty has ahvays been to find a tackle which — 

 whilst placing the lead in the bait, and at the same time 

 obviating the necessity, common to most minnow tackles, of 

 detaching the flight from the trace before baiting — will 'arm 

 and spin the natural minnow to sufficient perfection. Figs, i 

 and 2 represent a tackle which I believe will be found to 

 fulfil the required conditions. 



It is a miniature edition of the flight recommended for lake 

 spinning, pp. 381, 407, where also some further remarks upon 

 it, and instructions for baiting, will be found. 



This flight not only gives a very perfect spin to the minnow, 

 when employed as in stream fishing — that is, with a short line, 

 and 'in-and-out' casts — but it combines simplicity and 'fineness' 

 with hooking power. The lead lying in the bait's belly also 

 puts the weight exactly in the place where it is most wanted and 

 least seen. As there is no lead on the upper part of the trace 

 to counteract the rotatory action of the bait and to oblige the 

 swivels to act, so to speak, it will very often be found (unless 

 a ' swiver-compeller ' is used) that after a good long 'draw' 

 through the water the twist of the bait has more or less im- 

 parted itself to the line, and when this occurs a second or two 

 should be allowed for the line to untwist before the next cast 

 is made. This is, of course, equally the case in spinning with 

 the artificial minnow. By the recent addition of a sliding 

 ' lead-loop ' and the substitution of a movable for a fixed lip- 

 hook, the necessity of carrying several different sizes of tackle, 

 to fit different sized minnows, is practically obviated. This was 

 the only objection I have ever heard made to the flight as it 

 was originally published. 



Another excellently good flight is that already described 

 for salmon river spinning, substituting a smaller bait and a 

 corresponding lead. (See cut, the ' Dee ' flight, figs. 3 and 4.) 

 Here, however, the hooks require to be detached from the 

 trace. 



One or other of these arrangements can be recommended 

 as realising in different ways what are very likely the attain- 



