260 



THE YOUNG- ANGLER. 



/iarity, is called " beardie." For its size it has an immense bieadth 

 of tail adjoining the spine, and can never be mistaken for any other 

 fish. The word groundling sufficiently indicates its habits, telling 

 that it must be sought for at the bottom, almost in the same way 

 and with the same bait as the bull-head. It is sometimes used as 

 a bait on night-lines for large eels, and that is all we ever heard it 

 was good for. 



THE BLEAK, OR BLICK. 



This clean, beautiful, 

 lively litx,le fish the 

 favourite of every young 

 angler is seldom more 



^^^^^^^^g; &*~" than four or five inches 



t^^^P?*!*?%*sfe / ' J ~^~~^r~ -' r ~ J ^^ long, and is constantly 



to be seen in large 

 shoals near the surface 

 of almost every still- 

 flowing river. The head is small and pretty, the eyes prominent, 

 with a ruby-coloured patch below, while the back is a beautiful 

 olive-green, and the sides and belly of a silvery whiteness. For its 

 size the scales are rather large, the fins transparent, and the tail 

 forked. It is pleasant to watch the movements of a shoal of bleak 

 in clear water, where they may be seen swimming round and nibbling 

 at the baits, for in bleak fishing half-a-dozen hooks may be used at a 

 time, as in minnow fishing, with gentles, red- worms, caddis- paste, 

 &c., for bait. In cold weather they swim deep. We know no 

 better practice for the young fly- fisher than to whip for bleak in 

 warm weather, when they swiin near the surface. A small black 

 gnat is the best for this purpose. 



THE GUDGEON 



Is another of the small 

 fry, seldom exceeding 

 five or six inches in 

 length ; has a large thick 

 head, a round body, and 

 a beard on the upper lip. 

 The colour of its back is 

 a pale brown, of its belly 

 a reddish white, vhile 

 its fins have an orange 

 or reddish yellow tinge, and both the dorsal fin and tail are spotted 

 with black. Gudgeons are fond of swimming together in shoals at 

 the bottom of gravelly brooks and rapid rivers. They are very 

 rarely seen on the surface. Though little, it is an excellently fla- 

 voured fish, and a hungry boy would easily eat up a round score at 

 a meal if nicely cooked. In fishing for gudgeon the tackle should 

 be as fine as that used f^r the minnow ; but the hooks must be No. 8 

 or 9, while the most killing bait is the red- worm, next to this the 

 gentle, then the caddis- worm; if these are not to be had, almost 



