

BREAM-FISHING. 151 



They got into the punt and rowed off after the toy balloons, 

 which were floating swiftly before the breeze. The first they 

 came up to had a small perch on. The next burst just as they 

 reached it, and they saw the glimmer of a big fish in the water. 

 There were twenty balloons set on the water, and it took them 

 a long hour's work before they could recover all that were to be 

 recovered. Out of twenty they only brought in ten. The rest 

 had burst, and the lines were lost. Of the ten which they 

 recovered five had small perch on, which were not worth 

 having. So Jimmy's grand scheme turned out a failure, as so 

 many grand schemes do. The others chaffed him very much 

 about it, as a punishment for losing the lines, and for doing 

 anything on his own hook without consulting the others. 



After a wet week in July it was resolved to have a good day's 

 bream fishing. The broad itself was more adapted for perch 

 and pike, for it had a clear gravel bottom ; and the river was 

 always considered the best for bream, because its bottom was 

 more muddy, and bream like soft muddy ground. The boys 

 collected an immense quantity of worms, and taking on board 

 a bag of grains for ground-bait, they sailed one Friday evening 

 down to Ranworth and selected a likely spot in the river on the 

 outside of a curve. They proceeded to bait the place well 

 with grains and worms, and then went to sleep, with a comfort- 

 able certainty of sport on the morrow. 



The white morning dawned and made visible a grey dappled 

 sky, the silent marsh and the smooth river, off which the mists 

 were slowly creeping. Small circles marked where the small 

 fish were -rising, but all about where the ground-bait had been 

 put the water was as still as death. The fish were at the bottom, 

 picking up the last crunabs and greedily wishing for more. 



Frank was the first to rise. " Now then, you lazy fellows, it is 

 time to begin. There is a soft south wind and the fish are 

 waiting. We will just run along the bank to have a dip away 

 from our fishing-ground, and then we will begin." 



After their bathe their rods were soon put together. Dick fished 

 with paste made of new bread and coloured with vermilion. 

 Jimmy had some wasp grubs, and Frank used worms. They 

 tossed up for stations, and Dick was posted at the bows, Jimmy, 

 amidships, and Frank at the stern. The hooks were baited, and 

 the floats were soon floating quietly down the stream. Frank 

 had a float which gave him a longer swim than his companions. 



