CHAPTER XV 



OBSERVATIONS OF THE GUDGEON, THE RUFFE, AND 

 THE BLEAK J AND HOW TO FISH FOR THEM 



[jfourtb H>a| 



Pise. The Gudgeon is reputed a fish of excellent taste, 

 and to be very wholesome : he is of a fine shape, of a silver 





GUDGEON 



colour, and beautified with black spots both on his body 

 and tail. He breeds two or three times in the year, and 

 always in summer. He is commended for a fish of excel- 

 lent nourishment : the Germans call him groundling, by 

 reason of his feeding on the ground ; and he there feasts 

 himself in sharp streams, and on the gravel. He and 

 the barbel both feed so, and do not hunt for flies at any 

 time, as most other fishes do ; he is a most excellent fish to 

 enter a young angler, being easy to be taken with a small 

 red-worm, on or near to the ground. He is one of those 

 leather-mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat, 

 and will hardly be lost off from the hook if he be once 

 strucken. 



They be usually scattered up and down every river in 



100 G 103 



