THE BREAM, 191 



in the Cam, and in some of the broads and rivers in Norfolk ; but 

 it is a very indifferent fish for the table, though it affords an ad- 

 mirable bait for a trimmer for pike, being remarkably tenacious of 

 life. It is taken with the same baits as the common bream, con- 

 sequently the following observations will be equally applicable to 

 both kinds of fish. 



In fishing for bream, or rather before you commence it, if you 

 want to make sure of sport, you ought previously to bait the 

 ground. There are several sorts of ground baits that are recom- 

 mended, but the best that I know of is a mixture of grains and 

 tallow melters greaves, in which a few rank over-grown garden 

 worms chopped up may be mixed, as also snails and bullock's 

 brains chopped up fine. The ground bait should be squeezed hard 

 between your hands, and being made up in balls, should be cast in 

 in that form, in order that it may sink the more readily, when it 

 will very soon become properly dispersed about the bottom. It is 

 considered the better plan to bait the ground over night, and visit 

 it betimes the next morning ; but as this cannot always be carried 

 into effect, the better plan in the latter instance is to bait such 

 parts of the pond as you purpose visiting in the course of the day: 

 commencing the operation as soon as you reach the pond side, and 

 this will generally be found before long to attract some fish to those 

 spots which they will not readily desert. I have also heard that 

 it is a good plan of baiting the ground to cut a few turves of grass 

 of about six or eight inches in diameter, and attaching a number 

 of worms to them by means of a needle and thread, casting these 

 turves into those parts of the pond you intend fishing in, The plan 

 seems to be a plausible one, but having never given it a trial, I 

 can offer no further opinion upon the matter. 



The lines should be cast over the baited ground, and in this kind of 

 fishing a float should be used, and as a bream is of a far less sus- 

 picious disposition than the carp, even a gaudily painted float may 

 be indulged in, if gazing on so pretty an object will at all add to 

 the angler's satisfaction ; although at the same time, if there are 

 carps in the pond, he had better content himself with a plain un- 

 varnished cork, which if he wishes to catch any of the latter fish, 

 is the very utmost that can be permitted, 



Bream generally feed at the bottom, though they swim at all 

 depths; frequently rising to the surface and rolling about, and 

 then descending again, and in this way the approach of a shoal of 



