854 MANUAL OF xMODERX FARRIERY. 



Thames, that ebbs and floAvs, the boat must be rendered 

 steady by an anchor, or poles. Begin at flood, and continue 

 fishing until the water has half-ebbed ; as the tide flows, fish 

 before ; and as it recedes, follow it. Plenty of ground bait 

 is necessary for this sort of angling, little balls of which may 

 be squeezed round the shot above the hook, which will sink 

 it exactly on the spot, and the least jerk of the rod will 

 cause it to fall off, (if not too stifily made,) and leave the 

 bait and float in their proper position. 



13. When fish bite remarkably well, observe the moon's 

 age ; whether the night preceding was windy, dark, star or 

 moonlight ; what kind of day as to the temperature of the 

 air and water in which they were so eager ; the month, day, 

 hour, and what baits or flies were most greedily taken. 

 Similar observations upon days, when fish refuse biting, may 

 enable the angler to draw conclusions which will, in all pro- 

 bability, save him many hours of wearisome expectation. 



14. East winds have been always found unfavourable to 

 all sorts of fishing, and therefore have been universally exe- 

 crated by anglers. But anglers ought to consider that fisli, 

 in most waters, bite earlier in a mild, forward, than in a cold, 

 backward spring ; later in autumn, as the weather is hotter 

 or colder ; and both spring and fall, sooner in a warm than in 

 a cold day; and in sunshine better than in shade. From 

 Michaelmas until April, in the deeps at bottom, the air clear 

 and no wind stirring, fish bite freest in the warmer part of 

 the day ; after April, the colder the day is fish the closer to 

 the bottom, with your bait ; and the hotter, the nearer the 

 top, supposing the ground not to have been baited ; but never 

 angle following the wind up the stream. 



15. The angler who uses fine tackle, or single hairs, in 

 clean, clear, and large Avaters, and properly conceals liimself, 

 will take five times more fish than he who fishes with a 



