What does "to whip the burn with a cardinal" mean?

meaning-in-context

In "Five Red Herrings," at least in the BBC TV adaptation, Lord Peter Wimsey declares at one point that he plans to "whip the burn with a cardinal."

He seems to be referring to fishing. The burn is a stream; we suppose whipping refers the motion of the fishing rod, maybe a particular technique.

But what does he mean by a cardinal? None of the usual senses of the word (a bird, a church official, a number) seem to make sense here. Is it some sort of red bait or lure?

Later on, Wimsey catches a trout, if that helps at all.

P.S. I found this line of fishing reels called Cardinal, but I have no idea whether they're old enough to be known by Wimsey.

Solution 1:

On the Global Fly Fishing forum this question was raised on Sep 26, 2010:

I was salmon fishing last week in New Brunswick on the Mirimichi river ( no luck unfortunately) and I was talking to a older gentleman who was saying that when the fishing used to be this light he always, as a last resort threw a fly he called "The Cardinal". Lost a few years ago to a salmon. It was given to him and all he remembers about it was that it was red with yellow in it. I have been trying to find info on it but can't. Does anyone know of a salmon fly called "The Cardinal"

The answer:

The Cardinal implies that we're talking a red pattern. Everything that has to do with cardinals (clergymen, sports teams, birds) is red, and might the fly not be red also?

I dug into my books and looked for the Cardinal, and found a reference for it in Terry Hellekson's impressing Fish Flies. This encyclopedia refers you to the pattern Scarlet Ibis, which is tied like this:

Thread: red
Tail: red hackle fibers
Rib: embossed gold tinsel
Body: red wool
Hackle: red tied as a throat hackle
Wing: red bucktail
Head: red

The fly was originally a classical wet fly tied with Ibis feathers and had a feather wing. If you search the web for "scarlet ibis fly pattern" you will find several references.

Here's a link to the Orange Ibis, which is a lot like the Scarlet Ibis with a feather wing: http://donbastianwetflies.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/42/>

Here's a link to the fly named the Cardinal, still with a feather wing: http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern7692.html

ADD:
Lochs and Loch Fishing, Hamish Stuart, M.A. LL.B. London: Chapman & Hall, Limited. Scarborough: “The Angler” Office, St. Nicholas Street. 1899, p. 213, under '“Subaqueous" flies' lists: