REEL LINES AND LEA RODS.

13

size, and of a green tinge; indeed, the greener it is the worse it is. This is the gut that is chiefly used for drawing purposes. Bad gut may often be had for a little money, but it is never cheap to the angler. When not using it, always as much as possible keep your gut from the light, for damp hardly rots it sooner than sunlight. The best reels for bottom-fishing are the plain reels with a light check. Do not have a multiplier even at a gift. They are an abomination. In using hair from a punt, unless you hold the line loose in your hand, the check will be almost too much, and a plain winch is preferable. Your winch should hold forty or fifty yards of fine line. This running or reel line should be of very fine dressed silk; undressed, it is apt, when wet, to cling about the rod and rings, and it also rots sooner. (In the Nottingham style undressed lines are required.) Never use any mixture of horsehair in your reel line, as it is so apt to knot and tangle that it is always catching in something. In using the long cane rods mentioned above, the Lea fishers do not often use a reel or running line at all, but simply fasten their lines to the eye of the rod-top. When a good fish is hooked they play him for a time with the whole rod, which, from its length, enables them to follow the fish and keep over him almost anywhere he may chose to go. As he becomes more tractable they unscrew and drop off a joint or two, until, having him almost supine, half the rod is thus dropped and the fish is led in by a small light rod of some three or four joints, and of very manageable dimensions.

Of floats for stream-fishing, I have before said they should be suited to the water. I may now say that there are several sorts, but I never use but two. For heavy streams cork floats of various weights, and tapering gradually both ways to the ends (the longest taper below), and for light streams a porcupine quill. These two can be

14

THE CHOICE OF HOOKS.

had of any size, to take fifty shot or five. Floats are also made of quills, tapered and fastened up in lengths, and heavily varnished, and also of reeds of various lengths, &c., &c.; but although they are very pretty to look at, they do not stand enough wear and tear for my money (for floats various, see Plate II.). Hooks are of many sorts and sizes, and should be suited to the fish to be angled for. The best size for ordinary roach, dace, and barbelfishing, whether from the bank or punt, is that which will carry one or two gentles well, and that is from No. 7 to 10. There are a great variety of hooks-the Limerick, the Kirby, the sneck bend, and the round bend. The first is sometimes used for bottom-fishing, but more often for fly-fishing. The barb is so rank, however, that it often takes some time to unhook the fish.

Of the other patterns it is difficult to decide which is the best. Tastes vary so much that they all have their supporters. Some like the sneck bend, and some the round bend, and some like the old Kirby--some modifications of one or the other. I generally use a hook of not quite a round bend, but with the point deflected to the side a little (not too much), and bent inwards the least trifle in the world; and, added to this, I do not hold with the shank being too short. It is a great fault. The process of plumbing is simple, but often requires nicety. Some fish must be fished for just off or touching the bottom, for some the bait must drag. In Plate I. will be seen cuts of plummets, solid and rolled. Fix one on the hook and drop it to the bottom; if the float disappears, raise it up the line. If it does not reach the water, slide it down till only a small part of it remains above water; then take a half hitch of the line round the quill to secure it and put on the cap.

Having now given an account of general bottom-fishing, I shall proceed to treat of the various fish taken by this

HOW TO FISH FOR GUDGEON.

15

means in order, with the plans and baits employed in capturing them, beginning with the easiest of the angler's pursuits, and so working my way through all grades until the proud position of M.A.-ship, or, as the old joke has it, of Senior Angler is reached.

THE GUDGEON (Cyprinus gobio, LINN.).

The gudgeon is gregarious, and swims in large shoals. It is a lively little fish, and a very sharp biter, and when they are feeding well, it is no very uncommon thing to take from five to six, or even seven dozen in one pitch. The gudgeon spawns on the gravel in shallows and rapids in May. The ova soon hatches, and the young fry grow rapidly, and by August have attained the length of an inch. A gudgeon of six inches is a good size, of seven of unusual size, but they seldom attain to eight. Gudgeon bite best in clear water and warm weather in moderately rapid streams, where the water ranges from eighteen inches to three feet in depth. In order to attract them it is necessary to rake up the gravel so as to create a thick water. The gudgeon immediately flock to the spot in order to feed upon the small insects and worms which are thus exposed. For this purpose a heavy iron rake, with a long handle, is used. The angler then fishes over the raked spot, his bait just tripping over the bottom. A light cork float and a No. 10 hook are advisable, while for bait it feeds upon gentles, or any small grub, and worms; but nothing can pare in point of attraction to a small fragment of red worm, or, as it is called on the Trent, the cockspur. This they keep on biting at until hardly a scrap is left, and often ten or a dozen fish may be taken with the same worm. So bold is the bite that the float plumps down under water, and the fisherman has little more to do than

16

PLEASURES OF GUDGEON-FISHING.

to pull up, no matter how, to catch the fish, though a sharp upward stroke of the rod, the wrist and forearm being suddenly jerked up to produce it, is desirable. The elbow should be kept close to the side, and the rod held lightly in the hand. For the reason that the fish require so little skill to take them, gudgeon-fishing has always been a favourite pursuit with the fair sex. I feel that I might be sarcastic here, and draw morals of divers kinds. But I refrain, for I have enjoyed many a day's gudgeonfishing in the fairest of fair company under such circumstances, and I am grateful even for the recollection; and let me tell you, young fisherman, that it is a mighty dangerous occupation to your peace of mind; while to the angler of maturer years, gudgeon-fishing on the bosom of old Thames, with a chosen friend, a cold pigeon-pie, a bottle of sparkling sherry, unlimited seltzer cooling in the well, a fine warm day, and a case of fragrant Cabanas, is not to be despised by any means. But revenons à nos goujons. When the fish begin to slacken in their biting, the rake must be used again, and they will renew their attentions; sometimes even a third raking will answer if the fish round the spot are very plentiful, but more often two applications of the rake will be found sufficient. Gudgeon, however, not only thrive in running streams; they thrive well in ponds. I once threw the contents of my bait-can into a dirty horse-pond, and the gudgeons bred in it and did well there, and lived in it for years, furnishing me with bait upon emergencies. Indeed, the water must be very foul indeed which a gudgeon will not be able to exist in. The gudgeon is a most agreeable acquaintance at the breakfast table. There is a crispness and piquancy about his discussion, when duly fried and neatly served, which is highly gratifying. While fishing for them, the young angler is apt to pull up a fish somewhat similar in appearance at the first glance, and this is

THE POPE AND BLEAK.

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THE POPE OR RUFFE (Perca cernua).

The pope is of the perch family, having the distinctive. sharp spinous dorsal fin of the perch. It spawns in April, laying its spawn among the roots and fibres of water plants. It takes freely the same baits as the gudgeon, and should there be a deepish slack eddy by the side of your gudgeon swim, and near weeds or boughs, there you will most probably take pope. It is hardly worth notice for the table, but what little flesh there is on it is fully as sweet and palatable as that of the gudgeon. It bites quite as boldly as the gudgeon, and forms quite a desirable prey for the young angler. It is said to have been quite unknown to the ancients, and was first discovered in England by the learned Dr. Caius, the founder of Caius College, Cambridge, who flourished about the middle of the sixteenth century, being physician to Edward VI., and the Queens Mary and Elizabeth.

THE BLEAK (Cyprinus alburnus)

is a lively gregarious little fish, and is very delicate eating when cooked after the same fashion as sprats are, which fish it rather resembles in appearance. They abound in many rivers, and, though not much of a quarry for the angler, they may be taken by whipping a gentle or a small fly on the top of the water, or by using a light quill float, with a scrap of worm or a gentle on a small hook, some ten or fifteen inches under the surface. The neighbourhood of an outflowing drain is always a great spot for bleak, and the more filth that exudes from it the more attractive it is. Quick striking is the order of the day, as they are very sharp and active. The bleak, from its brightness, makes a capital bait to spin for trout and jack with, but it is tender on the hooks, and soon wears out.

C