66 BOTTOM OR FLOAT-FISHING. 



or more beforehand, a quart of worms is not too 

 much two days, two quarts. In this case say a 

 twenty-four hours' ground baiting the worms 

 should be used whole, and enclosed in clay balls, 

 of which a few ought to be thin enough to break or 

 wash open almost immediately they touch the 

 ground, the majority being strong enough to resist 

 the action of the stream for several hours. A few 

 worms should be allowed to protrude half their 

 length or so, here and there, through the outside of 

 the thicker balls. The object of these dispositions 

 is to avoid glutting the fish at one time, and then 

 leaving them without anything to attract or amuse 

 them for the rest of the twenty-four hours' interval 

 between baiting and fishing. 



On the other hand, it is most important that the 

 solidity and number of the clay balls be so adjusted 

 that their contents should be consumed some hours 

 before the swim is to be tried with the rod and line 

 that the fish, in fact, should be allowed an interval 

 to regain their appetites. 



These are the principles which must guide the 

 angler in " previous ground baitings/' whether for 

 Barbel or other fish. Their application, which 



