4 STREAM-FISHING. 



be a good foot from the hook. His hook should be upon 

 gut rather finer than the line, and the best general size 

 he will find to be about No. 6, 7, or 8, it does not matter 

 a great deal which. If there be many roach in the pond, 

 and he desires to take them chiefly, perhaps the latter 

 size ; if carp, tench, and perch, then the former is best. 



Let him plumb the depth accurately, and having fixed 

 upon a nice spot, near weeds, but quite clear of them at 

 the bottom, let him fix his float so that the bait may just 

 touch the bottom, not swim in mid-water. His hook 

 should then be baited with a well-scoured red worm, and 

 having thrown in a dozen or so of bits of broken worm 

 round about the spot he is going to fish, let him drop his 

 bait in softly, and having stuck a forked stick into the 

 bank for his rod to rest on, 1 let him lay his rod down, and 

 keep out of sight until he has a bite. Pond-fish always 

 bite slowly, and before they move away with the bait give 

 ample time to the angler to reach his rod and take it up. 



While his rod is, as it were, fishing for itself, he will do 

 well to look out for another spot near his own ground, to 

 which, by casting in a few odd broken worms or gentles 

 from time to time, he can allure the fish, so that when he 

 is tired of his present pitch, he can go to another already 

 baited. Thus he will lose no time in his fishing, and will 

 be enabled, by working from spot to spot like this, to fish 

 over a good deal of ground advantageously. 



The above is the best general plan for the young angler 

 to adopt. If, however, he intends angling for any par- 

 ticular fish, he will find the method of doing so described 

 under its special head in another part of this chapter. 



In BOTTOM-FISHING upon streams there are various 



1 If it be necessary for his rod to extend over the pond, by resting the 

 part in front of the reel on the fork, and by pressing the part behind the 

 reel down by means of a hooked stick forced into the ground, the rod can 

 txj kept in position and out of the water easily. 



