68 BOTTOM FISHING. 



poor body, is, dorit, if your motive be honest and 

 innocent, or the unsullied reputation of the fraternity 

 will inevitably suffer. The haunts of the fish during 

 life are decidedly muddy, and the flavour of his flesh 

 after death cannot be correctly described by any 

 other term. Its skin is most remarkably thick and 

 tough, and when carefully taken off and preserved, 

 will wear out, as uppers for dressing slippers, several 

 soles of leather ; indeed, it resembles, when dry, the 

 shark's skin, so much used by cabinet-makers for 

 polishing the surface of wood. 



BREAM. This fish is anything but gamesome. It 

 also partakes a good deal of the general character- 

 istics of its first cousin, the common carp, though not 

 so subtle or so large. It is, however, more widely 

 distributed in our rivers, in which it affects slow- 

 running deeps and quiet whirls and corners, par- 

 ticularly where the bottom consists of a combination 

 of clay and marl, or loam. The bream is to be taken 

 by the ledger line, with a small lob or brandling as 

 bait. Fine tackle we advocate as warmly for bream 

 as for any more delicate fish, seeing that with uselessly 

 coarse tackle it is a moral impossibility to fish for 

 them artistically. With regard to lake-fishing for 

 these fish, we may state that they afford no mean 

 sport where they abound in profusion, as they 

 do in many lakes, especially in the Sister Isle. 

 Bream are to be taken by fly-fishing. We have 

 experienced wondrous sport with the grayling grub 

 baits, such as the artificial grasshopper, cabbage 

 grubs, and gentles, etc., as we have also with the 



