356 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



small fry, and a good place for the bait-net. In cold weather 

 they take to the deeper streams, and are difficult to procure. 

 In floods they must be sought in eddies and any quiet spot. 

 In the winter, minnows are difficult to find in rivers. At this 

 time they are usually packed away in thousands in some small 

 hole under a root or bank in some little tributary brook, or up 

 some large pipe drain. There are various ways of preserving 

 baits. One is to salt them, but this so discolours them and 

 makes them so soft that it is objectionable. The next is to 

 preserve a lot in a wide-necked bottle or jar, pack them pretty 

 tight, and .fill up with spirits of wine. Gin will do, but spirits of 

 wine does much better. * The other way is to paint them thinly 

 over with glycerine. Either of the last methods preserves the 

 colour and toughens the bait. 



Paste is made of the crumb of new loaf, worked up with a 

 drop or two of water and very clean hands. It may be made 

 plain or sweetened with honey, or flavoured to fancy, or even 

 coloured with pigments. Cover the hook with it ; some work 

 up wool with it to keep it better on the hook. Roach, carp, and 

 other fish affect pastes. 



Pearl Barley, boiled, makes an excellent bait for roach, and 

 when the fish are inclined to take paste, they will take pearl 

 barley ; care must be taken not to overboil it, or it becomes 

 too soft to stay long on the hook. 



Boiled Wheat or Barley must be boiled until the outer skin 

 bursts, which takes some time often two hours. Wheat is a 

 good bait for roach, and barley is used in Norfolk to ground bait 

 for bream. 



Cheese forms a good bait for a change with chub or barbel. 

 Cut it up in morsels of the size of small gooseberries, and use 

 pretty much like paste. 



The provender of fishes is endless in its items, and almost 

 anything edible may be converted into a bait. For example, 

 fish will dine very much like humans say upon bacon and 

 peas, and bread and cheese ; bacon being a capital bait at 

 times for barbel, peas for carp, bread for roach, and cheese for 

 chub, and the art of the angler consists in consulting their 

 tastes and tickling their palates. 



* Formalin has superseded all other preservatives for this purpose. 



