174 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



at a minnow. The roaches take not the least notice of 

 the loss of one of their com i)an ions, neither do the 

 minnows. Trouts feed in the winter on little fresh-water 

 winkles. A large quantity of eels are caught by "quad- 

 ding" a corruption of the proper word "bobbing," and 

 the method is as follows : — A person provides himself 

 with a stiff ashen pole of the length of lo feet, with a 

 line attached to it, which must be very strong, as large 

 (say) as horse net twine. This line has at the end of it 

 a leaden plummet of 6 ounces in weight. A quantity of 

 earth-worms are put on double thread with a piece of 

 small wire and wound round the hand backwards and 

 forwards and tied to the line just below the plummet. 

 The angler then sounds the bottom, and keeps the worms 

 about I inch from it, and when an eel bites the angler 

 pulls up and throws the eel out of the river. Should the 

 water be thick after rain, the angler tries for them at all 

 times of the day, and has been known to catch 40 and 

 sometimes 60 lbs. weight in a day. This has been 

 practised from time immemorial without any person 

 being forbidden. Eels, when the water is clear and the 

 weather is very hot, will bite in the day time, if the angler 

 tries among weeds or sedge. If they do not bite then, 

 he waits until the evening, and if they do not come on 

 about 9 o'clock, it is of no use. Sometimes they will 

 not bite even in what is considered good weather for two 

 or three days. It is of no use whatever to try of a 

 bright moonlight night, for, although they will bite as 

 fast as possible, not one is caught. The instant it is 

 attempted to pull them out they let go the worm as they 

 reach the top of the water. This happens when the 

 water is clear, but it is not so when it is thick. When a 

 eel bites it is obliged to turn round with its belly upwards, 

 and spins round and round to get the worms off. A 

 shark acts in the same manner. Eels are found in most 

 rivers and ponds. In rivers, when the spring commences, 

 they swim against the stream, let it be ever so swift, and 

 will jump over hatches as well as salmon. I have seen 

 them do so. Provided the water that runs over the 

 hatches is in bulk no larger than that which runs off the 

 nose of a common pump, they will succeed most 

 assuredly." 



