168 LONDON ANGLER'S BOOK, 



made into balls. Bread and bran is made by soaking 

 stale bread in water, either cold or warm ; then work it 

 with your hands till stiff enough to hold together. Bread 

 ground bait is mixed up the same way, but without the 

 bran ; flour and bran only make excellent ground bait, 

 and sinks better than the former, which will require a 

 stone enclosed to sink it. 



BAITS FOR BOTTOM FISHING. 



The necessary baits for fish of prey are mentioned in 

 the description of those fish, but for bottom fishing the 

 baits are lob worms, brandlings, marsh and red worms, 

 gentles, &c., all which are procured at the tackte shops 

 with such facility that it is scarcely worth while to keep 

 them, but lobs I would advise you to keep by applyiug 

 to any friends that have gardens or ground, where they 

 may, after rain, readily supply you. Lobs are easily 

 procured at night with a candle and lanthorn ; you may 

 keep them near your water but in a small tub or box, the 

 damp of the place being necessary to support them alive 

 and healthy; and when you would prepare them for 

 angling, take out as many as you want, and put them to 

 scour in moss or old coarse clothes, free from salt, in a 

 brown pan, for a day or two. 



Brandlings and red worms are kept together in the 

 same way, but in a separate tub from the lobs, and 

 scoured the same, gentles are so cheap, that it is need- 

 less to say much about them; they are easily bred, by 

 hanging any animal substance to be fly-blown; when 

 of a sufficient size, they will fall out into a pan of coarse 

 sand, placed for that purpose. At the close of the year, 

 get ajar, holding about a gallon, fill it three parts full 

 of sand, and then fill it up with unsecured gentles, they 



