22 THE THAMES ANGLER. 



will much assist to bring the worms to the surface at night. 

 Lob-worms may also be found by digging in a garden ; but the 

 former is the most wholesale way of taking them. They are five 

 or six inches long, and are a good bait for large grayling, perch, 

 bream, eels, and trout. The brandling worm is striped with 

 vellow marks, and smells very strongly ; it may be found in 

 any old damp dung, and is a very excellent bait for most kinds 

 of fish. The red worm I prefer to all others as a general bait ; 

 it is of a bright red colour, and is smooth ; it suits trout, roach, 

 dace, perch, gudgeon, tench, carp, eels, and barbel, and indeed 

 every kind of fish, and will be found to keep much better on 

 the hook than the brandling. The marsh worm is found at 

 the edges of ponds, and can always be seen on pulling up the 

 root of a flag ; it answers the same purpose as the red 

 worm, but it is not so tough. All these varieties should be kept 

 in a jar or flowerpot, in damp moss — they will then scour them- 

 selves and become bright, and after a few days much tougher ; 

 if they are to be kept for any long time some earth and dung 

 should be added. The gentle is a universal bait ; it may be bred 

 most plentifully in the summer by hanging a piece of bullock's 

 liver, scored with a knife, over a tub of red sand ; this assists the 

 gentles to scour and make themselves tough, so hard indeed 

 will they get in this way, that they will remain a long time on the 

 hook, if, unfortunately, they are not removed by a fish. Gentles 

 may be kept for any time by being buried in a box in the earth ; 

 great care should be taken not to let the box remain in the sun, 

 or they will all turn into chrysalides. Gentles are an excellent 

 bait for roach, dace, barbel, bream, and carp ; and trout, perch, 

 gudgeon, and eels will take them sometimes. Paste is a bait 

 in great estimation by some, and is adapted for all purposes in 

 which a gentle may be used ; it is principally used in winter, 

 and the stream should not be too rapid, or the paste will come 

 off. It is made like common dough, and becomes tough by 

 being constantly pulled and kneaded : when the water is 

 coloured a grain or two of vermillion may be mixed with the 

 paste ; it must always be quite fresh, as the fish will not even 

 look at stale paste. The crumb of new bread worked about in 

 the hand makes a good bait ; and old Cheshire cheese done in 

 the same way is useful in chub and carp fishing : or the two 

 may be mixed together, — proving that what is good for the 

 angler is good for the fish. Greaves broken to pieces, with 



