;-NRLF na o r- oj o HOLMONDELEY .-PEHNELb HOW TO SPIN FOE PIKE. SPINNING-TACKLE : WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT OUGHT TO BE, AN ENTIRELY NEW METHOD OF SPINNING FOB PIKE. SECOND EDITION, Enlarged. H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL, AUTHOR OF "PUCK ON PEGASUS," &C., &C. LONDON : HARRISON, BOOKSELLER TO THE QUEEN, 59, PALL MALL. 1862. / f SPINNING-TACKLE: FROM its almost universal adaptation to English waters, the spinning-bait occupies a place second only to the fly in the angler's vademecum; and whether it is regarded simply as the most effectual means of filling the basket, or in a more sportsmanlike and scientific point of view, it is fairly entitled to the position. Spinning is the only method of angling now in vogue which, whilst applicable equally to running and still waters, summer and winter, will afford sport with all of the four descriptions of fish most abounding in British Islands Pike, Salmon, Trout, and Perch. It is also a point strongly in 6 SPINNING-TACKLE : favour of spinning, that whilst every other fishing excepting always the fly is de- pendent upon the supply of baits to be procured, spinning may be advantageously practised, with artificial appliances, in locali- ties where natural baits are not obtainable. Spinning is, moreover, much less liable to be affected by changes of wind and weather than either fly-fishing or bottom-fishing, and, as a consequence, the averages of the year's baskets are proportion ably less variable. The spinner is seldom obliged to return home entirely empty-handed. Partly from the cause above mentioned, and in a greater degree owing to the very large extent of water which may be fished in a day's work, an individual, at least, of the pike species, may generally be induced " by hook or by crook" to exchange his native element for one less suited perhaps to his tastes, though more congenial to ours. The operations of the live-bait or the ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 7 ledger are necessarily confined within com- paratively narrow limits, and are thus more dependent upon luck. Half a dozen reaches or so, are as much as can well be fished in the day with either of them, whilst, with the spinning-bait, the likely " finds" in five or six miles of water may be readily spun over in the same time. These considerations, added to the lively and continually varying nature of the sport, have no doubt combined to make spinning the favourite mode of Jack fishing with scientific fishermen ; but as every pro has its con, so there are many objections which have been hitherto urged against it with some truth, and which have probably pre- vented its becoming as universally popular as might otherwise have been the case. It cannot be denied, for instance, that to spin really successfully requires a larger share of skill and practice than most other modes of angling; that the tackle is ex- 8 SPINNING-TACKLE : pensive,* and that there are one or two other rather serious annoyances and drawbacks * It must not be supposed from this remark that I am an advocate for cheap, and therefore inferior, tackle. There are few things in which extreme cheapness is worse economy. Gut, for example, which, if carefully chosen, and a fair price paid for it, will frequently last for years ; if selected on the "pennywise" principle, will seldom hold out as many weeks. Instead of a round, durable, and transparent strand, you get a substance opaque, stringy, and uneven, with a constant tendency to peel and crack. This point is still more important in hooks and swivels, which may be so well imitated that their defects cannot be detected, except by the test of actual wear and tear, and probably the loss of good fish. Some anglers run to an opposite extreme in the matter of gut, and insist upon getting it of immense thickness, and of course, therefore, proportionably shorter in the strand. This is equally a delusion : very thick gut is exceedingly difficult to procure r eally good, and cannot be procured at all except at an exorbitant price. A round clear gut of medium substance is very nearly as strong ; is less liable to crack when not thoroughly moistened ; is compara- tively easily obtained ; and costs about a third. ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 9 attending it, not the least of which is the large number of fish that usually escape after being struck. It is into the causes of these drawbacks that I propose briefly to enquire ; and at the same time to point out remedies for the complete success of which practical expe- rience enables me to vouch. " KINKING." The first and most grievous annoyance to which the spinner is subject, is undoub'^edly the kinking, or more correctly " crinkling" of the line., which no care in the selection of the swivels or the preparation of the tackle can always avert. Even the most artistic performers are frequently the victims of kink- ing. Which of my readers cannot call to mind some "dies carbone notanda" when rod and river were forsaken in utter disgust and weariness of spirit, caused by its in- sidious attacks? What experienced lover 10 SPINNING-TACKLE I of the gentle art but could describe to a nicety the sensation of that slight sharp jerk on the lowest ring, which told him that his running line had come to an unmistak- able standstill, and that his glittering Archi- median with a yard or two of cherished salmon-gut was in all probability grace- fully decorating the top of the nearest willow ? The remedy for this evil hitherto recom- mended by the masters of the craft, is to " take off the trace, and trail the running line two or three times across the nearest grass field." This plan is at best, however, but a temporary expedient, besides costing much trouble, and what a fisherman canf still less afford much time. The enemy also is certain to return within half an hour, more vigorous than e\er. Now if we examine the diagnosis of kink- ing, we shall find that nothing can be simpler than the disease and its cure. ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 11 From not properly considering the sub- ject, some fishermen imagine that kinking is the fault of the running line, or its dressing; and all their attention is conse- quently directed to these points,, which, however important in other respects, have seldom anything whatever to do with the question at issue. The vice lies not in the line but in the trace. No ordinary trolling line, if it be even tolerably well dressed, ought ever to kink with a trace constructed on proper principles. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, kinking is the result solely of a want of sufficient vis inertia in the leads to resist the rotatory motion of the bait, and to compel the swivels to act, or, in other words, through the insufficient resisting power of the leads, the twist, instead of being confined to the trace below them, extends upwards to the running line, and produces kinking; whilst at the same time the leads cannot be materially 12 SPINNING-TACKLE : increased in weight without rendering the tackle useless. Kinking is only another word for twisting; abolish twisting, and kinking at once becomes impossible. These being the causes of the disease, the cure is easy. How it is proposed to effect this will be best explained by a reference to the annexed diagram. It will be observed a Represents the trace, b the lead, and c the gut or gimp by which the lead is affixed to the trace. here that the lead instead of resting as usual on the line, hangs horizontally underneath it ; and it is in this transposition that the solution of the problem lies. By changing the centre of gravity it will be at once per- ceived that the resisting power of the lead is, for the purpose in question, more than quadrupled, without a grain of weight being added to the tackle; the proper action of ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 13 the swivels is insured ; and all approach to kinking prevented. If any of my readers will tie their leads upon this principle, I will guarantee that they may trail a bait (the severest test that can he applied) for twenty miles if necessary, without a single twist taking place above the leads: So much for kinking, the spinner's bete noire. Loss or PISH. Another objection already alluded to is the large proportion of fish that escape after being once struck. The average of such losses has been computed at from fifty to sixty per cent., and that estimate is under rather than over the mark, as will be dis- covered by any one who takes the trouble of keeping a register. This undesirable result is mainly attribut- able to the large number of hooks and triangles the latter ranging from three to 14 SPINNING-TACKLE : five commonly employed on a good sized flight. These, I unhesitatingly assert, are not only useless, but eminently mischievous ; both as regards the spinning of the bait, and the basketing of the fish when hooked. Upon the bait they act by impairing its brilliancy and attractiveness, rendering it flabby and inelastic; and when, as it fre- quently happens, a transposition of the hooks is necessary. . by destroying it altogether. Upon the fish they operate only as ful- crums by which he works out the barb of such hooks as were already fast, and which would otherwise have sufficed to lay him " floating broad upon his breathless side." The great size also of the hooks used contributes materially to the losses com- plained of, as it should always be recollected that to strike a No. 1 hook fairly into a fish's gills, requires at least three times the force that is required to strike in a No. 5 ; and that this is still more strongly the case ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 15 when the hooks are whipped in triangles. For example : let us suppose that a jack has taken a spinning-bait ornamented with a flight of three or four of these large tri- angles, and a sprinkling of single hooks, the bait probably lies between his jaws grasped crosswise. Now it is probable that the two upper points of at least three of these triangles will be pressed upon by the fish's mouth, whilst the bait also to which they are firmly attached is held as by a vice. It follows, therefore, that the whole of this combined resistance must be overcome and that at one stroke, and smartly before a single point can be buried above the barb ! For this reason I should most decidedly give my opinion in favour of always striking, and very sharply too, when using the spinning bait, and I believe that many good fish are daily lost through the adoption of an opposite practice. But to return ; the grand principle in the construction of all spinning 16 SPINNING-TACKLE I tackle is the use of the flying triangle as dis- tinguished from that whipped upon the central gimp. By the expression " flying triangle/' it is not intended to be implied that the triangle should necessarily fly loose from the bait, but that it should fly loose from the central gimp by a short link of its own, so that it may become readily disen- gaged the moment it pricks a fish. A flight constructed with flying triangles can never fail to be tolerably certain, in landing at least, a fish once struck. There are, however, many degrees of excellence in such flights, even in the item of ' landing ;' and a$ regards the ' spinning ' of the bait, not one in a hundred of those that have come under my notice has been in the least calculated to make a bait spin with the regularity and rapidity requisite. The wood-cut opposite shows the number and arrangement of hooks which after various experiments I have found to be the ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 19 most certainly deadly ; as well as insuring the most perfect and even movement of the bait.* It will be perceived that in this flight there are only two, moderately sized, triangles in all; which, when adjusted, are slightly fixed, the upper one into the shoulder of the bait on the outside, and the lower one close to the vent. Thus arranged the two * The single large tail-hook (round-bend) is decidedly preferable to the triangle from the im- proved curve that it gives to the tail. It also makes it last longer by straining the skin less. The small hook next to it serves to keep the tail- hook firmly in its place, and from being reversed is not near so liable to slip as one whipped in the usual way. It is of great importance that this hook should be whipped on to the shank of the tail-hook. The lip-hook is made small, and for this reason, that it seldom or never touches a fish, whilst it shows more than any other on the flight. It is also very desirable to keep the bait's mouth shut as closely as possible . All hooks to be used in the construction of Spin- ning Tackle should be fine in the wire. B2 20 SPINNING-TACKLE: triangles seldom interfere with each other and wherever the fish seizes he is tolerably certain of being struck by one or both of them. Upon comparing the results arrived at with this flight as contrasted with any of the flights commonly used, I find that whilst with the latter the average of fish lost was about half; with the former the proportion was only one in five. This immense dis- parity, however, will appear less surprising when the considerations before explained are borne in mind. DIRECTIONS FOB BAITING : First insert the tail- hook, passing it under a broadish strip of the skin only, and bringing it out as close as possible to the base of the tail fin, without injuring or splitting it. Next the small reverse hook, in such a position as to curve the tail nearly but not quite to a right angle ; and then the lip-hook, which should be passed upwards through both lips. When these hooks are duly fixed, the upper triangle should be hooked in on the shoulder of the bait outside ; and the lower triangle by the vent, near to the tail. The ITS DEFECTS AND KEMEDIES. 21 body of the bait should lie perfectly straight, and great care must be taken that .the gimp is tightened sufficiently to prevent too great a strain on the lip- hook, and yet not so tight as in any degree to ben$ or twist the lody of the bait. In baiting with gudgeon or bleak, the gimp should invariably be given a turn over the point of the lip hook after the latter is fixed. This is very im- portant in securing a first-rate spin. SWIVELS. We live in times in which, as we are con- stantly being told, the schoolmaster is abroad; and, in England at least, the dwellers in what dear old Tom Hood called the " Eely Places/ 7 have assuredly come in for their full share of educational advantages. No well-informed Pike or Trout is now to be ensnared by such simple devices as those which proved fatal to his rustic progenitors in the good old days of innocence and Isaac Walton. Were we to 22 SPINNING-TACKLE : sally forth with the trolling gear bequeathed to us by our great-grandfathers of lamented memory, we should expect to see the whole finny tribe rise up in scorn and wrath to repel the insult offered to their understanding. "FisH FINE" must be the shibboleth of the gentle craft in the nineteenth century ; and the man who can't or won't ( fish fine/ may as well make up his mind at once to resign the honours of the creel to those who are not too old or too obstinate to discard such antiquated atrocities as gimp traces, brass swivels, Brobdignag leads, &c., c., &c. The Pike is commonly considered to be a species of fresh- water shark, for whose rapa- cious appetite the coarsest bill of fare, and the most primitive cookery only is required. To a certain extent this view is founded on fact. There are few morsels so indigestible but what, if they come in his way, a really hungry Jack will at least make an effort to bolt. I have known one to be taken with ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 23 a moorhen stuck in his throat, the feet pro- truding from his mouth, and bidding fair to have choked him in a few minutes, had not destiny in the shape of a landing net reserved him for a more aristocratic fate. On another occasion a Jack I had killed, on being opened, was found to have actually swallowed and partially digested a smaller member of its own species, weighing upwards of a pound. But the fallacy of the opinion or rather of the theory based upon it lies in the assumption that because a hungry Jack will take this or that, a Jack who is not hungry will do the same. Nothing can be a greater absurdity. A Jack is regularly on the feed once, or at most twice, during the twenty-four hours ; and when only partially gorged, or not very hungry, his appetite is dainty and requires to be tickled. At these times a man who fishes fine will take plenty of fish, whilst one who uses coarse tackle will as certainly take none at all ; and this 24 SPINNING-TACKLE : observation is equally applicable to every description of tackle. First then with regard to swivels, one of the principal elements of coarseness in spin- ning tackle. As commonly arranged, from four to eight swivels form the ordinary and indeed almost necessary complement to each set; and these being distributed at picturesque intervals up and down the trace, make a great show and stir in the water, frighten the fish, weaken the tackle, and cost money. With the lead arranged on my plan, one double swivel like that shown in the engraving, placed immediately below the lead, is ample for every purpose ; indeed, a single good swivel, which works freely, will almost always be found sufficient."* The * As a general rule, the smaller the swivels the better. ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 25 spinner is thus enabled to get a clear yard of gut between the bait and the lead, an advantage which cannot be overrated in fine water or bright weather, when the fish can see every knot in the line. GIMP. Secondly as to Gimp : There are many fishermen who appear to think that they can never get their gimp thick enough or strong enough. To these persons anything short of a miniature cart-rope is an abomination. Fine-fishing their soul abhors gut traces they cannot away with ! I should be sorry to attempt by the force of logic, or indeed any other known force, the hopeless task of convincing these fossil-anglers that a gimp which is powerful enough to lift a dead weight of fifty pounds sheer into the air, is also powerful enough to hold a fish a third of the same weight when alive and supported 26 SPINNING-TACKLE : by its own element \ or that a gut by which salmon up to 20 and 301bs. are con- stantly landed, will likewise be of sufficient strength to land a comparatively sluggish pike of the same size. Of course a certain quantity of gimp will always be indispensable in spinning for Jack, but it requires no argument to show that the finer and shorter it can be made, within proper limits, the better.* The use of thick stiff gimp is simply destruction to the spin- ning of any delicate bait, let alone its other objections. With large coarse baits, such as roach or dace, the size of the gimp may * There can be no possible object for using more than is absolutely necessary of this difficult to dress, easily rotted, and at best conspicuous medium ; when good stout gut has been over and over again proved ' to be actually stronger, cheaper, longer-lasting, and above all, next to imperceptible in the water. Four or five inches above the lip-hook is abundance for every purpose required in spinning, and that should be painted green. ITS DEFECTS AND KEMED1ES. 27 however be increased to a certain extent with advantage. LEADS. I have already dealt with the question of the mode of hanging these ; the only points that remain for consideration are shape, size, and colour. With regard to the first, the oblong, or pipe-shaped lead, is on the whole more con- venient for general use than shot lead ; and as adapted to the plan of suspending before explained, the shot lead is entirely unsuited. Weight : This must, of course, primarily depend upon the depth of the water fished ; the state of the weeds, &c. ; but as a rule, a lightish lead worked slowly, is preferable to a heavy lead worked fast. A lazy fish will not follow a bait that is moving very rapidly away from him. Colour : Colour is an important element in fine fishing, and nothing shows more in 28 SPINNING-TACKLE I the water than the natural colour of lead. Indeed I have on more than one occasion seen a Jack run at and take the lead, when he showed no inclination whatever to meddle with the bait. For these reasons it is highly desirable that all leads should be painted a dark green or weed- tint, and the addition of a coat of varnish will be found to aid materially in giving a transparent appearance. TRACES. Having thus examined in detail, as fully as space permits, the several items of which a trace is composed, with the argu- ments in support of each, I now come to the Trace itself. The following is that which I recommend for Jack, and the same, minus the gimp, is equally applica- ble to Thames and Lake-Trout fishing : Flight of hooks and gimp, 8 inches; gut about 3 feet ; swivel (single or double), ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 29 immediately below lead ; lead ; and then a couple of feet or so of gut again between the lead and the running line. SUMMARY. The following is a summary of the advan- tages obtained by the foregoing plans : A complete exemption from kinking. A reduction of from three to seven swivels on each trace, and from this and other causes the production of a trace of the utmost fineness combined with increased strength and simplicity. A rapid and even spin of the bait, and a reduction of more than thirty per cent, in the average number of fish lost. I would impress upon any one who may be disposed to give the foregoing tackle a trial, that a deviation, even though trifling, from the directions given, may possibly lead 30 SPINNING-TACKLE : to failure and disappointment.* Prepared exactly as I have described, I can vouch for its complete success ; but with any modifica- tion or alteration introduced, I must decline to be answerable for the result. I shall not attempt here to go into the question of artificial baits, which are as various as the weathers and waters in which they may be used. Like our iron-cased ships, they appear to be still in a transi- tion state, and every day brings up some new invention or modification. My own maxim has always been, " Never fish with a fictitious bait, when you can get a real one ;" and I have hitherto seen nothing to make me change that opinion. A giddy young Trout, or a Jack-in-his-'teens, may perhaps be occasionally tempted into a flirta- * Complete patterns have been furnished to Mr. Farlow, 191, Strand, upon whose care and accuracy entire dependence may be placed. ITS DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. 31 tion by the charms of a fascinating spoon, or the captivating allurements of a seductive " old lady " but your cautious old Pike, your broad-backed, yellow-bellied Trout of half a score of summers, these smoke the deception at a single glance, and turn up their noses at the blandishments of tawdry and tinsel. One parting word. Of course in thus putting forward theories, some of them absolutely new, based upon my own expe- rience only, however carefully they may have been tested,* I disclaim all inten- tion of dogmatizing or laying down the law. The subject is one on which every fisherman has a right to have his own opinion, swear by his own hobby, and think * Since writing the above, I observe that various communications have appeared in the "Field," bear- ing testimony to the practical success which has attended the adoption of these plans, in the complete prevention of Kinking, diminished per centage of losses,