the Minnow, if in still, deep water, let it sink a little at first,
then draw it quickly towards you, making the bait spin well and
briskly, which is effected by the swivel. In streams, especially if
they be rapid, cast up and down, but chiefly athwart, by so doing your
bait shows greatly to advantage. Trolling in the Tees is not much
practised; the difficulty of procuring Minnows at the precise time when
wanted, is I suppose the reason. But there are artificial Minnows which
in heavy waters will kill well; those sold by Frederick Allies, South
Parade, Worcester, and by Farlow, Tackle Maker, in the Strand, London,
are excellent, the price for Trout reasonable, two shillings and six
pence. The former is styled the Archimedean, the latter the Phantom
Minnow, which collapses when struck by a fish. The best river I have
ever trolled in, and I do not suppose there is a better in England, is
the Eden, which takes its rise a few miles from Kirby Stephen, in
Westmoreland, thence to Carlisle, and so seaward, running for the most
part over a gravelly and sandy bottom, and full of good Trout, so that
splendid sport may be had by trolling when the water is in proper
order. The Greta is an excellent trolling stream, but the fish are not
near the average weight of those in the Eden. It is not a bad plan when
the water is low and fine, and Minnows are easily procured, because you
may then see where they are, especially on a sunny day, to catch as
many as you want, (which you may do, with small hooks baited with very
small red worms,) and then cure them. Of course those cured are not so
good and durable as the fresh, but still they are found to take fish
very well. And thus provided with artificial and pickled auxiliaries,
the indefatigable troller will never be brought to a stand. For what
can be more provokingly annoying to an angler, than to have to leave
off in the very midst of sport, merely for want of baits?

MAGGOTS

May easily be had; any description of flesh exposed to the sun is soon
full of them, for choice I should prefer horse flesh; when sufficiently
large they are an excellent bait for Trout; preserve them in tin case
(with holes to admit air,) filled with bran, where they will scour a
trifle and keep alive some days; when you fish with them, use a Palmer
sized hook, and a single No. 5 shot corn, and when the water is as low
or almost as much so as it well can be, your gut need not be leaded at
all.

WASPS