THE BASS, BREAMS, AND RED MULLET 117 



an interval of perhaps 50 yards of calm water intervenes 

 between the shoals. Each of these is, as a rule, composed of 

 fish of a " class " — that is to say, of approximately the 

 same length and age. The bass in one shoal will 

 average a pound, those of another half a pound, those 

 of a third will weigh five to the pound, and so on. 

 To this there are, however, exceptions, for anglers some- 

 times catch two or three fish of different weights from 

 the same shoal. The manner in which these small bass 

 behave during their ascent of the river is subject to 

 much variation, and seems directly associated with the 

 atmospheric conditions. Without any endeavour to es- 

 tablish a close correlation, it may, generally speaking, be 

 asserted that the fish play more freely at the surface on 

 bright, warm mornings, though they are sometimes more 

 easily captured, particularly on the artificial fly, when the sky 

 is overcast and a light, cold breeze blows downstream from 

 the moors. 



Another fact, which may unhesitatingly be recorded, 

 even at the risk of being discredited in some quarters, is 

 that for hours before the bursting of a thunderstorm the 

 bass will touch no bait, and will rarely, indeed, show them- 

 selves at the surface. Thunder does not, as a rule, in- 

 fluence the biting of ground-feeding fish in moderately deep 

 water some distance from the land ; indeed, whiting-pout 

 are commonly thought to bite with uncommon eagerness 

 just before a storm. Of its efl^ect, however, upon the appetite 

 of such surface-feeders as bass and mackerel there can be 

 no doubt. 



It is also noticeable that the " play " of these fish at the 

 surface is of two distinct kinds. When really hungry, the 

 small bass jump clear of the water, snapping the brit, and 

 showing continued activity throughout their progress up the 

 middle of the stream, for they seem to keep in the middle 

 in order to avail themselves to the full of the assistance of 



