206 TROUT FISHING 



because I had noticed that a trout taken 

 on Stewart Tackle was nearly always 

 caught by only one of the three hooks, 

 and that the upmost one. This brought 

 to mind a statement that the trout invari- 

 ably seizes its prey by the head. It 

 suggested that the only use of the two 

 other hooks was that they might possibly 

 catch by the outside of the mouth a trout 

 that missed or managed to eject the first 

 hook. Otherwise considered, they were 

 rather worse than unnecessary, to some 

 extent hindering the lively movement of 

 the lure, and at the same time showing, 

 as it were, the cloven hoof. Thus, a small 

 single hook in the head of a worm should 

 be sufficient, and the bait should be the 

 more attractive in that it would be almost 

 untrammelled. On being put to the test, 

 this reasoning was justified beyond ex- 

 pectation. The trout came very readily ; 

 and, stiU more gratifying, the single hook, 

 so small that it could scarcely be seen 

 when baited, almost always held. 



On the English chalk-streams, the 



