NEVER USE STALE BAIT. 33 



is some trouble to make bait for bank-fishing, more parti- 

 cularly in a regular roach swim it is not easy to beat. In 

 addition, when I am using pearl-barley, I throw in a score or 

 two of the corns now and then loose, so that they may 

 ground in the swim, and being scattered about it they keep 

 the roach on the move, and searching about the swim ; I 

 have made great takes of very fine roach with this bait. 

 The quantities I have given will make about 20 balls 

 almost the size of oranges, which is enough for any moderate 

 day's fishing in the winter time, which is the best time for 

 good roach-fishing. If, however, the angler prefers to use 

 clay instead of stones, he can do so, as it is less trouble 

 to mix, and holds in the swim longer, but it is a much 

 dirtier operation. In this case, too, the flour or meal can 

 be left out. Never keep your ground-bait on from one 

 day to another, for though you may not always succeed in 

 spoiling your own sport, you very often will, as bran, &c., 

 ferments when once wet, and turns sour, and after that 

 musty, and I do assure you that a ball or two of such bait 

 will drive every roach out of your swim. I once told my 

 man to mix me some bait; he mixed it with some bran 

 that had stood under a drip from a tap for a time, and it 

 was musty. I never found it out until the day was 

 utterly spoilt. I had been having first-rate sport the day 

 before, and could not understand why the fish would not 

 bite, till accident gave me a whiff of the ground-bait, and 

 then I went in and talked kindly to my wicked servant, 

 who dodged me round corners, and kept out of my sight 

 for the rest of the day. It is a hard thing to say, but 

 an angler, before going out for a day's fishing, should see to 

 everything himself and trust nothing to anyone else. See 

 how even the wife of your bosom or the sister of your 

 affections will persist in leaving: out the salt, or in filling 

 your flask with rum instead of brandy, if you do not 

 give an eye to it ; and in a matter of such tremendous 



