164 SEA-FISH. 
am told that more than one gimp impervious to 
the attacks of sea-water has already been put on the 
; market, but it is my misfortune never to 
GimP have come across sO priceless an invention, 
so that, save for a day’s work and then to limbo, 
my faith in gimp for sea-fishing remains shaken. 
The patent “ Hercules” gimp is not a bad material 
for short service in the sea, and I have recently 
had traces of a still softer and equally power- 
ful twisted wire from Little, of the Haymarket. 
Swivels on drift-lines are a matter of taste ; 
personally, [ never use them, having a notion 
that they are more likely to interfere with the 
natural movement of the line than anything else. 
In railing, they are of course indispensable, but for 
the drift line I think them superfluous, if no worse. 
As to lead, the amount used, if any, should be very 
slight. The exact depth at which, not 
alone the fish are feeding but the bait is 
working, must, as in railing, be ascertained by 
actual experiment on the spot. The best form in 
which to add lead in case of need is, I have always 
found, the foil or wire already mentioned, as it is 
inconspicuous and interferes little with the straight- 
ness of the line, which should cant away from the 
boat to the hook as rigid as a wire. It will easily 
be understood that this condition is impossible of 
attainment if a single heavy pipe-lead or bullet be 
used, as the lighter gut below the lead_ will 
inevitably sheer away at an angle with the main 
line above; but with three or four fragments of 
foil bound at intervals along the line, the whole is 
taken to the necessary depth without any abrupt 
change of direction along its course. A single 
hook only should be used in connection with each 
Swivels 
Lead 
