128 Different ways of live-baiting. Chapt. ix. 



you may frequently see them roaming about near the 

 surface. 



A good reason for fishing near the surface, in prefer- 

 ence to fishing deep, is to be found in the position of the 

 murrel's eye, which is placed very high in the head, and is 

 calculated for looking upwards, rather than downwards; 

 so that a murrel, even when concealing himself, by ly- 

 ing on the very bottom, can well see what is passing over 

 his head, and between him and the light. 



There are two or three ways of live baiting. These 

 are the ordinary English ways of running the hook just 

 under the back fin, or through the upper lip. Through the 

 lip is unsatisfactory to my mind, both because it gives a 

 very tender hookhold, and is liable to give way when 

 taking your bait in and out of the water; and also be- 

 cause it interferes, I think, with the breathing of the bait, 

 and kills it sooner than it need. Of course you should 

 not adopt the clumsy way I have seen some follow, of hook- 

 ing the bait right through the body near the tail, for you 

 thereby make its movements in the water unnatural ; and, 

 I should think, soon kill it, for I am free to confess I never 

 tried it myself. Then again there is the somewhat cruel 

 way not unfrequently used with trimmers in England. 

 Just slit the skin, with a penknife, on the side, half-way 

 down the fish, close to the gills, insert a baiting needle, 

 and pass it carefully down the fish only just under the 

 skin till about over the anus ; when you bring it out, and 

 draw the loop of the hook after the baiting needle till the 

 hook is home to the entrance, and lying close against the 



