38 THE TROLT,ER'S GUIDE. 



CHAP. VII. 



Baits for Trolling or Jack Fishing, and 

 how to select or chuse them. 



The fish which Jack and Pike chiefly feed on, are 

 Gudgeons, Roach, Dace, Bleak, Minnows, and small 

 Trout and Chub; they will certainly take any other sort 

 of fish Tench excepted; (see the reason for this opinion 

 in the observations on Jack, &c. in chap. X.) they will 

 even feed on their own species, and occasionally attack 

 the Perch, notwithstanding its formidable back fin. But 

 when the angler can get a sufficient number of Gudgeons, 

 Roach, or Dace, of a proper size, either alive or very fresh, 

 to bait his hooks with, he may rest assured that he pos- 

 sesses the best baits for trolling or Jack fishing that the 

 waters produce. Among those three choice baits the Gud-p 

 geon is the most useful, either for trolling with the gorge 

 hook, or in Live-Bait Fishing : for in trolling the Gudgeon 

 spins better in the water, from the rotundity of its shape, 

 than Roach or Dace, and it is also thicker in its body, and 

 therefore the Jack or Pike when they strike at it, are not 

 so likely to feel the lead in its belly or throat; the Gudgeon 

 is also a very clean feeding fish, and is always so sweet, or 

 well flavoured, that the experienced angler knows when 



