98 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. 



preparation for the pan ; the other is, certainly, a fish when first caught 

 nnfit for cnlinary use, but the following simple recipe will make it so. 

 Lay a stratum of clean pebbles at the bottom of an earthenware pan, 

 then a layer of fish, sprinkle well with salt, then another layer of pebbles 

 and salt until all the fish are thus arranged. Leave them a night to 

 purify, and the objectionable matter will be found to have filtered to the 

 bottom of the pan, and the fish are thoroughly purified and may fairly 

 vie with flounders in succulence and flavour. Many then dry them in 

 the open air for after use." I have also dried the fish as here sug- 

 gested, and find them excellent, as is also barbel treated in a like manner. 

 There is, however, a volume to be written on fieh cooking ; and I am not, 

 I need hardly remark, the one capable of doing it. 



In angling for this fish considerable skill is required for success. Like 

 the head of his family the carp he is wary and peculiar in his way 

 of biting and fighting. He is not easily deceived by artificial baits, 

 although a natural fly is often, during the heat of summer and in early 

 morning, caviare to him. He is as often taken in still water as in a 

 gentle stream. Therefore it will be advisable to divide my description 

 of tackle into two heads, one being applicable to stream and the other 

 to lake fishing. 



First, then, stream fishing. Use the Nottingham running tackle or 

 leger, baiting previously as for barbel, and using as hook bait the tail of 

 a scoured dew worm. 



Here I may parenthetically describe the habitat and appearance of the 

 various worms, especially as the bream disdains no kind of earth worm 

 whatsoever. The dew worm, or maiden lob, is chiefly found on very 

 dewy mornings or after warm showers, and is distinguished from the lob 

 worm proper by not usually being so large, and lacking the light-coloured 

 band which marks the position of the generative organs in the lob. I 

 regard the dew worm as sexless, not immature only ; but am open to 

 correction on this point. The blue head, or marsh worm, is a worm of 

 very handsome appearance, found under old damp sods and in marshy 

 and peaty places. Its head, as the name signifies, is blue not a common 

 indigo or ultramarine, but an indescribable steely, glistening colour, 

 occasionally at night time giving out a phosphorescent glow. The cock- 

 spur is the small crimson worm, to be found in any well-decayed manure 

 heap, with a yellow tip to the tail. The brandling is well known, and is 

 a very pretty worm, possessing an ineffably disgusting smell, but of great 

 vitality on the hook. 



Either of these may be used in streams as a hook bait, and, according 

 as the humour of the fish may incline to one or the other, so commen- 

 eurately will sport ensue. The bottom gut should be very fine, but need 



