34 ANGLING FOR COARSE FISH. 



believe that gentles are more attractive to the fish when fresh 

 from feeding on putrid flesh, but I much prefer them well 

 scoured. 



It is the easiest possible thing to raise a stock of gentles 

 in summer, but residents in town are advised not to make the 

 attempt. A piece of bullock's liver, or a dead fish or rat, 

 hung up in a warm, shady place out of doors, out of the way 

 of cats, quickly attracts crowds of blow-flies. In one or two 

 days the thing will be sufficiently "blown." It should then 

 be placed on some sand, in an earthenware pan with a glazed 

 interior, or in an old lard tin, kept in the shade, and covered 

 with a piece of wire netting, to keep off cats, dogs, and rats. In 

 warm weather the gentles may be almost seen to grow. As 

 they eat the stuff they are bred in, fresh food should be given 

 them, or they quickly turn into the chrysalis state, and are then 

 not much use.* Those required for baiting the hooks can be 

 kept in bran or sand for a few days, and some nicely scoured ones 

 are generally to be found in the sand at the bottom of the pan. 

 Scom'ed gentles keep longest in a cellar or other cool, dark place. 

 The sides of the pan have to be kept quite dry, or the gentles will 

 crawl out. To keep gentles in winter two plans are adopted: 

 The first is to half fill a good sized tub with damp sand or garden 

 loam, get some liver, fly-blown, as late in the year as possible, and 

 lay the liver on the top of the soil. The pan should be placed in 

 a dark place, and the gentles be well fed on anything in the 

 nature of meat. Many of them will bury themselves in the soil. 

 The other plan, which is less trouble, but hardly so effective, is 

 to cork up full-grown gentles in a bottle full of garden soil, 

 and bury the bottle until wanted. 



Well, our wheat is boiled and gentles scoured ; but to be on the 

 safe side, we get from the stable-boy a few redworms, which, in 

 anticipation of our visit, he obtained from a very old dungheap, 

 and has kept for three days in damp moss to scour. Before 

 going to bed we put in soak any old crusts that are in the bread- 

 pan, and perhaps prevail on the cook to boil us a teacupf ul of rice, 



* Dace are more partial to the chrysalis than roach. A compound bait— gentle 

 on shank, and chrysalis on point of hook— is sometimes successful. 



