49 



but in either case the- stream must be very slow, so that the 

 bait can lie on the bottom. 



GROUND BAIT with worms for Barbel, a place which you 

 fancy, and in which you may think a stock of fish lie. Use for 

 this purpose fifteen hundred dew worms, but do not mix them 

 with anything as some Anglers recommend. Believe me, 

 this is a vulgar error, and heed it not it is mere "bosh." Do 

 not cut the worms up, but throw them in whole : if you cut them 

 into small pieces they will be eaten up by all sorts of small fry, 

 and not by the fish you bait for. Never bait a place at night 

 to fish the next morning. If you bait at night you should not 

 fish before the next night. If you wish to fish in the morning 

 bait on the previous morning. I always allow twenty hours to 

 elapse after ground baiting before I commence to fish, and this, 

 I have found by experience, to be about the right time. If you 

 ground bait with cheese cut it into small squares about the size 

 of dice ; a three half-pint pot will be sufficient to bait any place 

 where the fish are numerous. Throw the cheese in without any 

 other mixture, and do not fish before THIRTY hours after. I do 

 not approve of baiting with scratching, although I know many 

 Anglers use it as a ground bait, but I am convinced that if they 

 would merely throw in a bit now and then when fishing, and 

 keep moving from place to place, they would kill more fish than 

 if they had ground baited. There is no other bait that you 

 can catch three or four Barbel with so quickly as scratching, 

 but although the fish are very fond of it, they can eat but little, 

 and ground baiting with greaves sicken them for a long time. 

 Some Anglers use different sorts of scents and colouring for 

 their baits to attract the fish. I know an Angler who says that he 

 has got a scent to flavour his bait that will draw the fish towards 

 it from a great distance, just as a loadstone would attract a 

 needle, and that if a fish comes anywhere near this perfumed 

 bait, he cannot refrain from taking it. I certainly consider this 

 Angler very selfish in keeping so valuable a secret to himself, 

 and not revealing it to the world for the benefit of the angling 

 fraternity. I am sorry to say I do not know any of these attrac- 



