204 TROUT FISHING 



would have been about two inches long. 

 Then arose an original thinker, Mr.W. C. 

 Stewart, to proclaim a better way. It 

 was surely obvious, he reasoned, that the 

 bent and rigid appearance of a worm on 

 such a hook must render the trout 

 suspicious. A free worm in the water 

 might not be always straight. It would 

 wriggle. Still, its general aspect would 

 be more nearly straight than curved. 

 Accordingly, Mr. Stewart invented the 

 tackle, a flight of three little hooks 

 whipped to the gut one above the other, 

 with a small space between the first and 

 the second, and another between the 

 second and the third, which made his 

 name famous among fishermen. The 

 upmost hook was slipped through the 

 worm at the head, the second at the 

 middle, and the other towards the tail. 

 It was held that on this tackle the worm 

 had a less unnatural appearance than it 

 could have when impaled on a single hook. 

 That was true ; and thenceforth every 

 fisherman in the land, or at least in those 



