ANGLING FOR BLEAK AND POPE. Ill 



devoured by the larger kind of fish, which are at that 

 time ranging for food. 



ANGLING FOR BLEAK, POPE, LOACH, FLOUNDER, 

 AND MILLER'S THUMB. 



The bleak l , is sometimes called the fresh- water sprat, 

 and sometimes the river swallow, because, like the 

 swallow, it is almost continually in action in the water, 

 and sporting with some little flies and insects that float 

 on the surface. He is of a bright whitish colour ; his 

 back is of a pleasant sea-green, and his belly shining 

 and white as the mountain snow. The bleak, though 

 generally reckoned of no great value, yet is a good fish 

 if dressed almost as soon as taken. The bleak is to be 

 angled for in mid-water with a line called a pater- 

 noster, with five or six small hooks fastened at the dis- 

 tance of about half a foot one above another, and 

 having a bait of small, well- scoured maggots. They 

 may also be taken with a very small fine artificial black 

 gnat. It affords good sport to whip for them in a sum- 

 mer evening from a boat, or standing on the bank-side, 

 in a swift water, with a hazel-top about five or six feet 

 long, and a line twice the length of the rod. 



The pope or ruff 2 is a gregarious fish, found in most 

 but not all, the rivers of England, and is abundant in 

 the Yare, the Cam, the Tsis, the Tame, and the Mole, 

 haunting deep slow-running water with a gravelly 



(1) In Latin, Leuciscus alburnus. 



(2) In Latin, Cernua fluviatilis. 



