The practical angler : or, The art of trout-fishing, more particularly applied to clear water by Stewart W. C. (William C.)

Author:Stewart, W. C. (William C.)
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Trout fishing
Publisher: London : A. & C. Black Ltd
Published: 1907-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The advantages of this tackle are—that a trout can hardly take hold of the worm at all without having one of the hooks in its mouth; that the worm lives much longer, and being free to wriggle itself into any shape, is more natural-looking and consequently enticing; and lastly, that it is much more easily baited, particularly if the worms are fresh. Its disadvantages are—that it is more difficult to extricate from the trout's mouth; that it requires to be baited afresh every bite; and that the exposure of so many hooks is calculated to scare away some trout that would otherwise take the bait. But, upon the whole, the advantages preponderate considerably over the disadvantages, particularly when trout are biting shy.

From using this tackle occasionally and finding it answer, we were led to think that by using it continually more trout might be captured than with the common bait-hook. We resolved to devote three successive days in order to test this, and to

ON ANGLING WITH THE WORM 129

fish one half-hour with the common hook, and the next with three or four small ones; varying the number and size to suit the worms. The first trial was in Gala, between Bowland and Stow, where the trout are of good size and remarkably wary; so that the exposure of the hooks would tell with full force. On this occasion we captured 20£ lbs. of trout, of which 9J lbs. were taken with the common hook and 11 lbs. with the tackle. The next trial was in Leader, between Earls ton and Lauder, when we captured with the common hook 14<£ lbs., and with the tackle 17£ lbs. The third day was also in Leader, when the result was with the common hook 12£ -lbs., and with the tackle 13J lbs.—making a total during the three days of 36| lbs. with the common hook, and 42 lbs. with the tackle; leaving a difference in favour of the latter of 5| lbs., or about fifteen per cent. Had we been fishing all these days with the single hook, we should only have had 19 lbs., 29 lbs., and 25 lbs. respectively; whereas, had we fished continually with the tackle, we should have had 22 lbs., 35 lbs., and 27 lbs.—no small difference. All these trials were made in the middle of July, when the waters were very small and clear, and consequently when every objection that can be urged against the four hooks was likely to tell with full force; added to which, the stones, as is frequently the case after long-continued dry weather, were covered with green slimy vegetable matter, which stuck to the small hooks whenever they came in contact with it, and occasioned considerable loss of time,

A brother of the writer made the same trial, with the same result. He also observed that with the tackle he got fewer trout, but larger ones, which seems surprising, but may be accounted for by supposing that though some trout had been alarmed

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