108 



on the bank. I cry shame on all the netting fraternity. At 

 all seasons it is a mean and unsportsmanlike method of catching 

 fish, but at the spawning season it is doubly despicable. 



There are writers on angling also who fancy that Gudgeon 

 migrate at spawning time, but this I believe to be mere fancy, 

 for they do nothing of the kind. I have watched the fish for 

 hours together, and I could see nothing like migratory habits. 

 The bottom they live on in spring is always close to their 

 spawning beds, so that they do not migrate above twenty yards, 

 if that can be called migration. In ponds, lakes, and canals, 

 they might show symptoms of these habits. They can live and 

 thrive without a stream eleven months in the year, but if there 

 is a stream to be found, be it ever so small, they will seek and 

 find it in the spawning season. It is a continual change of 

 water they want, and this is all they seem to migrate for. I have 

 seen them caught with the net, half a peck at a cast, and put 

 into a bucket of water for baits, and die almost immediately for 

 want of a continual supply of fresh water. All they migrate 

 for is a change of water. 



The best months for Gudgeon fishing are July, August, and 

 September, though they will bite more or less all the year round, 

 but not so well as during the above months. But there are 

 very few who would care about G-udgeon in the winter months, 

 even if they were to bite every swim ; the excitement they afford 

 is not sufficient to keep one warm. If you should catch any in 

 the winter months, you will find them much more eatable than 

 they are in summer. 



The best baits for Grudgeon are gentles and worms the 

 cockspur, or red worm, is the best. There are several other 

 baits that will catch them, but none so well as these. Gentles 

 for the early parts of summer, and worms for the latter end, and 

 all through the winter. In my opinion the cockspur is the best 

 bait you can fish with all the year round, for when Gudgeon will 

 take grubs of any sort, I have found they will take the worm 

 fully as well or better than any other bait ; but I would recom- 

 mend you for summer fishing always to take gentles and worms 



