76 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



drawing the gut after it and finally the triangle 

 until the last is quite buried and invisible. Some 

 men use a triangle for paste also, but I have some- 

 times thought that the fish, during the tentative 

 experiments with the bait in which they usually 

 indulge, detect the presence of a treble-hook more 

 easily than of a single. These experiments are 

 more noticeable when one is float-fishing ; often the 

 float will twitch slightly at intervals for a 

 considerable time before it moves off or goes 

 under. 



There is one more method of carp-fishing which 

 is well w r orth trying in hot weather when the fish 

 are basking near the surface. It resembles rudd- 

 fishing in essence, except that the bait, a biggish 

 ragged piece of crusty dry bread, must be on the 

 surface. For this fishing a slight breeze is 

 necessary, the line must be very light and well 

 greased, and the gut cast should be buoyed with two 

 or three tiny fragments of cork at intervals of some 

 two feet. Casting is impossible and the bait and 

 line have to drift out with the wind, a few 

 fragments of dry bread being sent out at the same 

 time to attract the fish and put them on the feed. 

 It is not an easy method, but with a favouring 

 zephyr it is very attractive. I have heard of dry 

 toast being used as a bait, and I imagine it might 



