There is one more palmer worth trying,
which Scotsmen, I believe, call the Royal Charlie; a coch-a-bonddhu
or furnace hackle, over a body of gold-coloured floss silk, ribbed
with broad gold tinsel. Both in Devonshire and in Hampshire this
will kill great quantities of fish, wherever furzy or otherwise wild
banks or oak-woods afford food for the oak-egger and fox moths, which
children call 'Devil's Gold Rings,' and Scotsmen 'Hairy Oubits.'
Two hints more about palmers. They must not be worked on the top of
the water, but used as stretchers, and allowed to sink as living
caterpillars do; and next, they can hardly be too large or rough,
provided that you have skill enough to get them into the water
without a splash. I have killed well on Thames with one full three
inches long, armed of course with two small hooks. With palmers--and
perhaps with all baits--the rule is, the bigger the bait the bigger
the fish. A large fish does not care to move except for a good
mouthful. The best pike-fisher I know prefers a half-pound chub when
he goes after one of his fifteen-pound jack; and the largest pike I
ever ran--and lost, alas!--who seemed of any weight above twenty
pounds, was hooked on a live white fish of full three-quarters of a
pound.
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