Chapt. xiii. Artificial Otter. 181 



cords are not of exactly equal length, it will not sit 

 true, and consequently will not have so good a hold of 

 the water. If the cord from the stern is too short, the 

 otter will have a tendency to come in to you, and will 

 not keep away enough to keep the line taught. In such 

 case let out the stern cord a little, and try again. If you 

 lengthen the stern cord too much, the angle of the plank 

 will be too great, and the otter will pull away from you 

 too much, and in consequence will not keep pace with 

 you, but will lag behind. You must therefore humour 

 this stern cord till you have got it to work nicely; and 

 that attained, knot all three cords together in one simple 

 knot, such as is usually tied at the end of the lash of a 

 whip by non-whip makers, so that they may not slip; 

 and leave a loop over to which to attach your towing 

 line with the hooks on it. This adjusting of the stern 

 line of the otter is rather a nice operation, but once done 

 it lasts for ever. 



The towing line can be used with flies, or spinning 

 bait, just as you like; though if flies are used the drop 

 lines should be shotted. 



The usual way is to attach the tow line to the loop, 

 where the three other plank cords are knotted together, 

 which three cords we will call the bridle; but a much 

 better plan, as suggested by Mr. Wilcocks in his "Sea 

 "Fisherman," is to tie the tow line primarily to the staple 

 at the stern of the otter plank, and connect it with the 

 bridle by a piece of fine twine. When a fish is hooked 

 you will then, by the act of striking the fish, break the 



