Part III

bows, which fit on the finger and thumb. The gag is kept open by means of the steel extender B, the teeth of which are made to catch on the screw C, but when not in use this portion D shuts up on one limb of the gag, the notch fitting on the screw E, and keeping it secure. The Pike-gag can also be used as scissors, being very strong, and made sharp for the purpose. TROLLING. CHAPTER VIII. -- TROLLING THE ROD, WINCH, LINE, AND TRACE-- -- GORGE-HOOK, AND HOW TO BAIT IT WEED-- -- HOOK SPEAR-GORGE GORGE-BAITS. This was formerly considered the highest branch of the art of Jack-fishing, and is still -- considered so by some anglers, although not much practised in general, live-bait fishing and spinning being decidedly the most popular, as well as the most successful. It takes its name of trolling from the troll or rolling motion communicated to the bait when in the water. The rod, winch, and line used for trolling are the same as for spinning. The line should neither be less than sixty yards, nor too stout, as I consider that the finer the angler's tackle the greater chance there is of finding fish. The trace used when fishing with the dead- bait is of moderate-sized yellow gimp, with two or three swivels, and no lead, the whole of the weight being on the gorge-hook. Some troll entirely without swivels or trace, but it is evident that so doing is a decided impediment to the spinning or revolving of the bait, and, therefore, by all means use the trace ; by using the hook-swivel at the end, the gorge hook can be readily disengaged. : ; THE GORGE-HOOK. 55 We now come to the gorge-hook, which is of the following shape : The shank of a double hook is attached to a twisted brass wire, having a ring at the end it is then covered with lead as in the sketch; to the ring is fastened a piece of yellow gimp, having a loop at the end, which, when the hook is baited, is attached to the hook-swivel at the bottom of the trace. The gorge-hook is baited thus The loop of the gimp is fastened on the U hook of the baitin g needle, which is then inserted in the mouth -Cr^-^^ te 56 BAITING THE GORGE-HOOK. of the bait and run through, bringing the point out in the centre of the fork of the tail. The gimp is then drawn through till the bends of the hooks fit close on either side of the mouth of the bait, as in the sketch, the points of the hooks having an upward direc- tion. Some anglers tie the tail of the bait to the gimp with white silk or thread, so as to keep the bait steady, and also to prevent it tearing, and having the tailpart injured by catching against the weeds, etc. The size and length of the hook will vary according to the length of the bait, which should be from four and a half to five and a half inches in length ; this should, of course, be regulated according to the size of the Jack or Pike likely to be met with in the water in which you are fishing ; the wire should be just long enough to keep within the bait, and the points and barbs of the double hook should project as little as possible from the sides of the mouth, but should lay very close ; for if the points project, besides catching every bit of weed that comes near the bait, they are very likely to be felt by the Jack when changing the position of the bait in order to pouch it. In the former case, the bait will most likely have half its scales rubbed off; and in the latter, if the Jack feels the hook, he will certainly drop the bait immediately. As regards the question of cutting off the BAITING THE GORGE-HOOK. 57 jfins of the bait, I think it is decidedly the best to cut them all close, although some anglers leave a pectoral fin on one side and a ventral fin on the other, cutting off all the rest; but the reader will find that with the fins off the bait revolves more freely in the water, when sinking or being drawn up, than when the fins are left on ; the bait will also last much longer without them, as they often catch or hang to weeds, and when this happens the bait is generally torn so as to be almost useless. This is of some consequence to the angler who is short of baits, and is at a distance from any place where he may replenish his bait-box; for if the bait is in good preservation, I have often known a brace of Pike to be taken with one bait when used with care and skill. There is another description of gorge-hook, known as the weed-hook, which is used in weedy places, and is very successful in finding fish. The hook is the same shape as the ordinary gorge-hook, but it has no wire to it, the gimp being fastened to a ring at the end of the lead, which is about an inch and a half in length ; to bait it, the gimp is turned back on the lead, which is then pushed into the mouth of the bait, the points of the hooks fitting close to the sides of the mouth, and the gimp coming out between the hooks ; the lips are then sewn up with a needle and thread, to prevent the lead coming out; it is then 58 THE SPEAR-HOOK. fastened on the hook-swivel at the end of the A trace, and is ready for use. sketch is given at page 70. The reader will observe that when baited the bait sinks in the water head-first, and when drawn out comes up head-first, thus keeping clear of all weeds, amongst which it may be used with impunity. When you have a run, after giving him time to gorge, (from ^si^ to ten minutes, according as the Jack seem on the feed or not,) strike sufficiently sharp to break the thread with which the mouth was sewn up, so as to allow the hook to turn inside the Jack ; a sharp strike will accomplish this. You have now only to play and land him as usual. Another description of gorge-hook for use among weeds is the spear-hook ; the shape is the same as the first, the only difference being that there is a pointed steel wire barbed like a harpoon projecting from the lead, instead of the twisted brass wire shank. The gimp is fastened to a ring between the hooks. The spear-hook is baited like the weed-hook, the barbed point is run through the bait, entering at the mouth, which is generally sewn up, the hooks fitting close on either side. The barb keeps the bait firm on the wire, still the sewing makes it safer; the gimp comes from the mouth. This hook is used precisely like the one last mentioned, but is not always so suc- cessful, the Jack frequently feeling the point or ; WORKING THE GORGE-BAIT. 59 barb of the wire when turning the bait in his mouth, and consequently dropping it. The best baits for trolling are gudgeons, which may be carried in bran in a tin box having divisions in it; next to gudgeons in value as a gorge-bait are dace and roach. CHAPTER IX. HOW TO WORK THE GORGE-BAIT--DISTANCE TO -- THROW TIME TO ALLOW FOR POUCHING, ETC. The gorge-bait is thrown precisely in the same manner as the spinning-bait, therefore follow the directions given, as regards throw- ing, in Chapter IV. There are various methods of handling the gorge-bait when in the water, but the following will be found the best. Begin by trying a few yards only from the shore ; let the bait sink nearly to the bottom ; now draw it gradually upwards, by raising the point of the rod and drawing in the line slowly, till the bait is near the surface of the water let it sink again ; now draw it up a little to the left or right ; again let it sink, and draw it up slowly, and, stepping back a little from the water, work the bait nearer the shore. The next cast, throw a little farther out, working the bait up and down as before. Try near all 6o WORKING THE GORGE-BAIT. beds of weeds and rushes, and in the quiet corners where there is little or no stream. With a twelve-feet rod the bait can be thrown sixty yards, or even more ; but these long throws are in general of no practical use, and are often done merely for the sake of showing off; while the bait is often injured, and for some time after it has fallen in the water cannot be worked in anything like natural motion ; therefore shorter throws are generally more effective. Thirty yards will be quite long enough to throw, unless you wish to reach a particular spot a long way out which has some special attraction. This distance you can manage easily, causing the bait to enter the water in a slanting direction, and you can commence gathering up your line before the bait has got injured by hitching in any obstruction at the bottom of the water. When you have a run, which you can soon tell by feeling the line pulled or tugged rather sharply, lower the point of the rod towards the water, and at the same time draw the line with your left hand gradually from the winch, so that nothing may check the Jack, or stop him running. When he stops, give him from seven to ten minutes to pouch the bait ; but if the line shakes after he has laid still a few minutes, and the fish makes another run, wind up the slack line and play him secundu77i artem. If he has pouched the bait some time, it will probably be out of reach, and you must either cut it out ; SNAP-FISHING. 6l after knocking him on the head, or bait another hook ; the latter is decidedly preferable, as in cutting out the gorge-hook you generally dis* figure the fish, besides being a great loss of time if the Jack are on the feed. CHAPTER X. SNAP-FISHING--THE ROD, WINCH, LINE, AND TRACE --THE LIVE- BAIT SNAP, SPRING SNAP, DEAD SNAP^ ETC. Snap-fishing is usually practised at those seasons when Pike do not feed with sufficient eagerness to pouch the bait quickly but the great advantage this style of fishing possesses in the eyes of the true angler is that it enables him. to return to the water all under-sized fish, which if taken with the ordinary live-bait tackle, he would be obliged to kill in consequence of their having pouched the hook. Unfortunately a large majority of fishermen seem to prefer quantity to quality, and bag every fish taken, no matter how small, regardless of the fact that by so doing they are spoiling all future sport, both for themselves and others. The rod should be rather stiff, to enable you to strike sharply ; the winch and line ; 62 LIVE-BAIT SNAP-HOOK. have been already described ; the trace and float are the same as in ordinary live-bait fish- ing. Many anglers prefer twisted gut for the trace instead of gimp, as it is much stronger and does not show so conspicuously in the water ; others, myself among the number, con- sider salmon-gut quite strong enough for any Pike. Snap-hooks may be divided into two classes, those used with a live-bait and those used with a dead bait, (the former require a float, but the latter are generally used without one,) and these are again divided into those that spring open when the fish is struck and those that do not. Of those that are used with a live-bait, and that do not spring open, the following is the best; and is known as ** Otter's live-bait snap." _^^^^^^^ 3 ^ It consists of four hooks, two large ones brazed back to back, and a smaller one brazed about the middle of the shanks of the larger ones, and pointing straight out from them as above FRANCIS SNAP--PENNELL SNAP. 63 these are all mounted on a piece of yellow gimp, with a lip-hook made to slide up and down at pleasure on the gimp, so as to accom- modate a bait of any length. It is used thus --the small hook is inserted under the back fin, the point coming out at the other side ; care must be taken that it does not go in so deep as to injure the bait ; the large hooks lay on the back of the bait ; the lip-hook is then run through both lips, and the bait is ready for use. If carefully done, the bait will swim as strong as in ordinary fishing. When the Pike seizes it let him run a yard or so to make sure, and then strike sharply the con- trary way. The *' Francis'' snap is similar in form, having a triangle at the end; but the hooks are all of one size ; and the small lip-hook, instead of sliding, is fixed ; this is hooked under the back fin of the bait, and the triangle hangs down at the side. The *' Pennell " snap is in the same form, but instead of being hooked under the back fin, it is threaded across the side of the bait with a needle under the skin from belly to back, and the triangle hangs below the bait. The objection appears to be that if there is a weed it must be caught, and if the bait has to be thrown far, the skin of the bait must be torn off. The ** Francis" style of baiting is by far the best. Another style of snap, much liked by some -- 64 SPRING SNAP. anglers, is formed of two triangles tied a couple of inches apart at the end of a foot of gimp. The upper one is fixed under the back fin, and the end triangle is hooked, sometimes under the shoulder of the bait, and at other A times under and behind the ventral fin. handsome Pike of thirty- five pounds was shown at the Westminster Aquarium Exhibition, which was caught on this tackle. The *' Saddle " snap is shown in the sketch, as baited. It is a very effective tackle : the bait hangs on the small hook which is inserted under the back fin, and a triangle is suspended on either side of the bait. The next we come to is the Spring snap, of which this is a sketch On examination, you will observe that the two large hooks have their shanks flattened, and the shanks lay one over the other between two steel wires; the ends of the shanks are riveted together, and have a small hook fastened to them, also a narrow band which ; DEAD SNAP. 65 encircles the wire pillars ; these last are fastened together at one end by a steel band, through which the shanks of the hooks slide, when they spring out on a fish being struck ; the other end of the pillars is formed into a ring, to which is attached the gimp, having a loop at the end ready to fasten to the hook-swivel of the trace. To bait the spring snap, the small hook is inserted under the back fin of the bait, and the large hooks hang at the side. When the Pike takes the bait, strike sharply, and the large hooks fly out, the flat shanks sliding easily between the pillars. This snap may be used either with a live or dead bait. We now come to what are called the Dead -- snaps that is, those that are used with a dead bait. Of these the first is the dead-snap with one hook ; to bait this you require a baitingneedle. The hook, a long-shanked No. i, is tied to a foot of stout gimp, looped as usual at the end ; attach the loop to the needle, and enter the point of it in the side of the bait about the end of the back fin, bringing it out about a quarter of an inch from the gill ; enter the point again at the gill, and bring it out at the mouth ; draw the gimp through till the hook lays close to the bait, point upwards now take a pointed bead-lead with a ring at the end, pass it down the gimp, and place it inside the mouth of the bait; sew the mouth up, and it is ready for use. 5 ;; 66 HOWSE SNAP. A very neat and effective snap may be made by using another hook in addition to the last, to be employed on the other side of the bait the second hook to be on short gimp just long enough when looped to reach to the nose of the bait. The short hook is threadled first, in the same manner as the dead-snap, with one hook, leaving the loop just inside the mouth the long gimp hook is then to be threaded in the same way on the other side, and the needle passed through the loop of the short hook, so' that when the gimp is drawn up and the long book is in its place, the loop of the short hook is secure on the gimp of the long one ; the bead-lead is then run down the gimp, and sewn in the mouth of the bait as before. The next is the dead-snap with two hooks, which is used thus : take one of the ordinary double hooks used in live-bait fishing, and, attaching it to a needle, enter the point at the vent of the bait, and bring it out at the mouth ; fix the bead-lead before described in the mouth, and sew it up ; it is now ready to fasten to the trace. The next is the snap with three hooks, which is baited the same as the one last mentioned the triangle lays inside the vent, the hooks projecting on either side. This is known as the **Howse" triangle, and in lakes containing large Pike will be found very effective as soon -- as the weeds get rotten ; use rather a large bait either roach or dace. HOWSE SNAP. 67 The dead-snap with four hooks is used in the following manner : at one end of a piece of stout gimp is seciirely tied a No. i hook; an inch further up the gimp tie another hook of the same size ; loop the end of the gimp. Now take a piece of the same gimp four inches long, and tie two other hooks to it the same as the first two ; loop the end of this also. To use this, put the loop of the short gimp under one gill of the dead-bait, and bring it out at the mouth ; now do the same with the long gimp at the other side of the bait, running that, however, through the loop of the short gimp also; now run a bead- lead down the long gimp, and sew it in the mouth of the bait as usual. 68 SPINNING FOR TROUT AND PERCH. CHAPTER XL -- SPINNING FOR TROUT AND PERCH THE ROD AND TACKLE REQUIRED--BAITS, ETC. The Trout {Salmo Fario). This style of fishing is much practised in the Thames, with occasionally great s-uccess; early in the morning, and towards sunset, are gene- rally the best times. When dropping down the stream quietly in a punt on a fine summer's evening, while the setting sun tinges the distant water with gold, the Trout may be observed feeding on the shallows, and driving the minnows and other small fish in shoals towards the shore, being as voracious in that respect as their mortal enemy the Pike ; their mouth is admirably adapted for the purpose, the jaws and tongue being studded with small teeth ; they are thus enabled to destroy multitudes of small bleak, minnows, and gudgeons. Next to the lordly Salmon, to which, to m}^ mind, it is quite equal in beauty, the Trout may be considered the most game of freshwater fish. The reader should observe a first- SEASONS, ETC. 69 rate Thames spinner standing on the top of a weir, (which requires a strong head and good nerves,) casting his bait into the foaming waters below him, then gathering up the line with the thumb and little finger of the left hand, throwing out the spinning bait from a twelve or thirteen feet rod with the right hand, at the same time letting the gathered line go, and spinning the bait across the eddies in a masterly manner, while the left hand is again collecting the line for another throw. All this should be seen to be admired and imitated, for no description can do it anything like justice. Who that has ever experienced it can forget the first rush of a noble Thames Trout in full season, especially if the angler be spinning from a weir ? He dashes down the run, some sixty yards or so, like a flash of lightning, making the line whistle through the rings, and as if determined to carry all before him ; now he rises to the surface, and, springing out full a yard, throws a somersault in the air, and tries by that means to rid himself of the hooks ; but the skilful angler frustrates this little device by lowering the point of the rod, and meeting him half-way. By careful management he is at last tired out, and his captor, taking advantage of a moment's quiet, descends from his position on the weir, and safely lands his prize on the grassy bank below. The law allows Trout to be taken in the Thames after January; but they are not in ^ TRA CE. season until April, on the first of which month the spinning season commences, and ends in September. In the Lea, and almost all other rivers, the season does not begin till the first of May. In nearly all, the Perch season commences in June. Spinning for Trout and Perch is practised in precisely the same manner as for Jack ; finer tackle, and much smaller baits and flights of hooks, must, of course, be used. The rod I use is of mottled cane, about twelve feet in length, in four pieces, and with extra tops. The rod should be light, and rather springy, as the bait and trace being rather light (unless when fishing the tails of weirs), the spring of the rod will be found of great assistance in throwing the bait. The bronzed check-winch is the best for spinning ; it should be sufficiently large to carry eighty or a hundred yards of fine prepared running-line, which should be as fine as possible, having due regard to safety ; in the Thames, and similar large rivers, a hundred yards will not be found too much, but in small rivers the length of the line may be propor- tioned to the water. We now come to the Trace : this should be of gut, with four swivels, and from eight to thirteen or fourteen shots (according to the depth of the water and strength of the stream) in the middle of the trace, which in length should be a couple of yards. In the Thames *^:r^^'' �(-.^ & ^ TROUT FLI CHT WEED HOOK FOR PIKE FLIGHT OF HOOKS, ETC, I should recommend the same