C BAITING A SWIM. 



neighbourhood of good overhanging banks or large bushes, 

 a bank of weeds, or a deep hole, to form harbours for the 

 fish, is always desirable. The ground should also be as 

 level and free from obstructions along the bottom as 

 possible. Very much in the choice of a swim depends on 

 the fish to be angled for. Dace, gudgeon, and barbel like 

 rapid and moderately deep water. Roach, perch, and 

 bream like deeper and quieter water. The shape of the 

 bodies of the fish forms a very fair criterion to judge from 

 in this respect. Deep, flat-made fish cannot hold the 

 rapid streams so well as the sharper and more rounded 

 ones, though good roach-fishing will at times be had in 

 pretty heavy water. 



The angler, having decided upon his pitch, should, if he 

 can manage it, bait it freely some twenty hours before he 

 intends to fish not an hour less. Many a day's sport 

 is spoilt by the swim being baited the very night before 

 the angler is going to fish ; and when he comes, on the 

 next morning, some ten hours after, the chances are that 

 he finds the fish have only just done feeding upon the 

 bait he threw in the night before. The fish are then full, 

 quite indisposed to feed, and a tame, faint bite or two 

 alone rewards him. To coax the fish on, he then puts in 

 more bait, which extinguishes every shadow of a chance 

 he might have had of fish on that day ; and after an hour 

 or two with scarcely any sport, he goes away disgusted with 

 his loss of time and absence of sport and waste of bait, 

 when he ought only to blame his own lack of judgment. 

 Suppose a swim well baited at nine over night, that swim 

 ought not to be fished until the fish are quite hungry 

 again, and ready to feed, which will not be until about 

 three or four o'clock on the ensuing afternoon ; and when 

 the fishing is commenced a very few scraps of ground-bait 

 will suffice to bring the fish on and to keep them on the 

 feed. The angler should reflect that his object is not 



