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CHAPTER XATV. 
ON SMALL FISH, PRINCIPALLY USED AS BAITS. 
Bleak—How to fish fox, with the fly, gentle, and cast-net—How to cook. 
Gudgeon and Gudgeon-fishing. Stone Loach—Different species, 
and how to be distinguished and caught. Miller's Thumb. Min- 
nows and Sticklebacks. All anglers should be Ichthyologists. 
BLEAK AND GUDGEON. 
THE Bleak, though I think properly included under this 
division of my subject, is, in fact, rarely caught by 
bottom-fishing, properly so called. It is essentially what 
is termed a “surface-swimmer,’ and as such should be 
fished for exclusively at the top. The Gudgeon, on the 
contrary, is perhaps the most remarkable example 
amongst sporting fish, of a species haunting and feeding 
exclusively at the bottom; and I have bracketed the 
two together because they illustrate ina marked manner 
the importance to the angler of studying accurately the 
habits of the fish angled for. It is probable that if a 
man were to fish for the Bleak from the beginning to the 
end of the season in the manner described for the 
Gudgeon, he would not take a single specimen, and vice 
versa. 
