26 THE GUDGEON. 



but, swimming in immense shoals, and distributed 

 over the greater portion of the rivers it inhabits, 

 there are always young and inexperienced fish 

 ready to snap at the bait offered to them. There 

 is no doubt, however, that gudgeons, like all other 

 fish, have learned wisdom from experience, and 

 the numbers formerly taken sixty in an hour was 

 no unusual quantity are now unheard of. 



To fish for gudgeon, the depth of water should 

 be first accurately plumbed, and the bait a small 

 red worm allowed actually to trail upon the 

 ground, being carried down by the force of the 

 stream, acting on a sufficiently-leaded quill float. 

 The line, as in every description of angling, should 

 be kept well out of the water not so tight as to 

 impede the swimming of the float, but never so 

 loose as to allow an appreciable interval of time 

 between the strike and its effect. In rapid streams 

 the strike can hardly be too quickly made, but in 

 slower ones, the float should be allowed to disappear 

 beneath the surface ; and it must be ever borne in 

 mind that the strike, to be effective, must be made 

 while the fish is running from you. If the float has 

 begun to rise, the slight turn of the wrist which 

 effects the strike is made in vain. A rather oblique 

 direction, with reference to the assumed position 

 of the fish, we have generally found the best 



