HABITS OF FISH IN FEEDING. 183 



This fact first forcibly impressed us many years 

 since. We were fishing in company with Mr. Rams- 

 bottom, of Clitheroe, Lancashire, who wished to try 

 salmon roe* as a bait for trout upon the Dove, 

 suitable tackle for which had been baited by our 

 friend for our personal use, we being then uninitiated 

 in the mystic " roe " fishing. Before rod No. 2 was 

 equipped for action we had hooked a fish, which was 

 ultimately landed. The hook proved to be imbedded 

 in the tongue, a somewhat unusual thing, as we then 

 remarked. " Every fish we take this day will be 

 hooked similarly," coolly prognosticated our friend. 

 At the time we confess to having been rather 

 sceptical as to the likelihood of this proving accurate, 

 but the result verified the prediction, for every fish 

 that fell to our steel upon that occasion was firmly 

 hooked in the tongue. Had the hold of the hook 

 been slight in the first instance, say near the external 

 bordering of the mouth, we were assured that our take 

 would have been diminished, as this would have in- 

 dicated that the fish were not in a feeding mood, and 

 would therefore close upon the bait in a faint-hearted 

 manner. The same is exemplified in fly-fishing, 

 though, perhaps, not in so conspicuously marked a 

 degree. The first fish indicates, as a rule, the 

 temporary state of the whole of his fellows, whether 

 hunger-bitten and eager, or fastidious and indifferent 



In striking a grayling, it behoves the rodster to be 

 extremely careful, as not only is the fish excessively 

 delicate and tender-skinned about the mouth, but the 



* The use of roe for bait is now prohibited by the law of the realm. 



