THE RUDD. 65; 



then look at the waste of time in taking these small fish off 

 the hook, and rebaiting. Paste, too, even when flavoured 

 with King's Natural bait, as recommended in the chapter 

 on roach, good as it undoubtedly is, has an exactly similar 

 objection, small fish being very troublesome. It is not ad- 

 visable to pin one's faith too much on the two very excellent 

 baits just named ; they are good, I know, but the objections- 

 noted are fatal to a strong recommendation of themu The 

 bait that I have found most effective under all conditions 

 and circumstances is a nice, well-scoured, lively cockspur 

 or brandling worm ; it must be red, bright and lively, and 

 well scoured in clean moss. It is not advisable to use too 

 large a worm, one about two inches in length being quite 

 big enough ; or better still, two smaller ones about an inch 

 and a half long, put on the hook so that three or four ends 

 t\^•irl and wriggle about, forms a very attractive and deadly 

 bait. 



It will now be necessary to look at the tackle most suit- 

 able for rudd fishing, and I may as well say at the outset 

 that the Nottingham st)ie is far away before any other me- 

 thod. I have already given the angler some idea as to the 

 swims and places where rudd are most likely to be found, 

 and as these fish are principally surface - feeding, it will be 

 seen at once that the finer and neater the tackle, the greater 

 the chance of success. You must keep as far away from 

 their haunts as you possibly can. Avoid all splashing or 

 unnecessary noise ; they are keen of eye, and amazingly shy, 

 and will probably dart headlong into their fastnesses of 

 weeds and rushes if you make your presence, as it were, too 

 much felt. The Nottingham fisherman's motto : " Fine 

 and far off " must in this case be reduced to a science, every- 

 thing being light, neat, and so arranged that the longest 

 cast, with the least weight, can be easily, promptly and ac- 

 curately made. This is all the more necessary when the 

 water is clear and the surface like glass. It does not myatter 

 so much w^hen a nice ripple disturbs the water — this latter 

 condition being the most conducive to sport — but we cannot 

 always have the wind and weather exactly suitable when we 

 go fishing, so we must prepare for any contingency. It is 

 not advisable even under any circumstance to use a long 



