r.v. THE BAIT TABLE. 



occasionally fed with a handful of bread crumbs, chopped 

 worms, or maggots, for fish cannot live for ever upon 

 nothing, though they will live some time. If the fish be 

 thus properly attended to, and the dead and sickly ones 

 picked out daily, they will live and do well in confinement 

 for a long time. Near the mouth of a drain is a favourite 

 place for 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 thy an- 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. Tin- 

 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 bread crumb or flour ; I prefer flour, 

 worked up with a little water and 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. 



Peaii Barley i 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. 



