42 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



sionally threw in. The ordinary baiting material is 

 the oil and refuse left when the salmon-roe is cured, 

 mixed with particles of the paste or pea, or even with 

 boiled rice or barley, which absorbs the oil. But good 

 fishing may be had without baiting ; although the 

 effects of baiting are usually attempted to be pro- 

 duced by several anglers going together to a cast, 

 and, by constantly following one another, creating a 

 scent, and attracting fish. For it is beyond doubt 

 that the roe-fisher, by the smell of his bait, attracts 

 trout to him, and it is therefore that he need not shift 

 his quarters, but may confine himself to a stretch of 

 water thirty or forty yards in length for a whole day. 

 He may use two hooks we prefer good- sized worm- 

 hooks a yard or so separate, and must have only four 

 or five yards of line out, often less. Leading his line 

 so heavily that it slowly searches the bottom, he must 

 throw or drop his bait in a little above him and follow 

 it down the cast. Quick striking is necessary : the 

 roe-fisher must not wait for a tug, but must strike the 

 moment his line stops. He will thus often strike when 

 his line is merely held by a stone or a weed, but if He 

 acts more deliberately he will fail to hook two-thirds 

 of the fish that give him a chance. He should occa- 

 sionally put a worm upon one of the hooks, and will 

 thus sometimes get fish that are attracted to, but are 

 indisposed to take the roe. 



There is one serious objection to roe-fishing, in 

 addition to the drawback that the trout taken by it 

 are out of condition, viz. that the practice of it is 

 a strong encouragement to the killing of spawning 

 salmon in close-time. Hitherto a considerable quan- 



