THE FROG-BAIT FOR CHUB. 85 



spot where there is the least chance of finding a chub. The 

 length of his cast must depend on his skill, but very long 

 casts are not necessary if the angler keeps low in the boat, 

 and the boat is worked noiselessly. If a heavy-leaded fly 

 is used, the angler must keep a keen eye on his line, and strike 

 directly he sees it tighten. In shallow water, he will often 

 see the chub swim out from the bank and take the fly. After 

 casting, the angler should wait about four seconds, then 

 draw the fly slowly about a foot nearer him, then wait 

 again for a second or two, and, if nothing comes of it, cast 

 elsewhere. The short draw of the bait tightens the line, and 

 enables bites, or rises — as you may please to call them — to 

 be felt, and also, I fancy, makes the bait more attractive. 



I am convinced that many a chub seizes hold of a fly 

 under water and leaves it again without our knowing any- 

 thing about it. Many chub-fishers put a few gentles on the 

 hook of their fly. This practice usually adds to the basket, 

 for the chub not only take the fly -bait more readily, but keep 

 hold longer after they have seized it. A piece of kid glove, or 

 parchment out of a fly-book, is not a bad substitute for the 

 gentle. When a fish is hooked, he should be held at first, to 

 prevent him getting into his lair among the roots; the boat 

 should be brought out into the centre of the stream, and 

 the fish played as far away from the bank as possible. 



Small frogs, black slugs, crayfish tail, gentles, lobworms, and 

 many other baits, may be cast like, and with greater success 

 than, the artificial fly. Those I name are the best baits, and I 

 have placed them in order of merit. As soon as the grass is cut, 

 tiny frogs will be found in hundreds in the meadows by the 

 river. Boys will collect dozens, and these valuable baits can 

 be kept for weeks in a live-bait can, with a little damp moss or 

 grass, which should be changed every few days. To bait with 

 small frogs, take a N"o. 4 E/Ound Bend hook, file down half the 

 barb, and sharpen the point ; bite on a No. 1 shot, :jin. above 

 the shank. Put the point of the hook in at the frog's vent, and 

 out at the top of its head ; tie the hind legs together, above the 

 shot. To kill the frog, hold it by the hind legs, and fillip it on the 

 head with the finger. Hooks baited with frogs are shown at 



