COMMON ANGLING. 41 



float. Plumb the depth of water before you 

 begin to fish. If angling for perch, have your 

 hook six inches from the bottom; if for float 

 fish, roach, dace, or bleak, about the same dis- 

 tance from the top. For the former, bait with a 

 worm ; but for the latter, with dough and bread 

 crumbs, mixed with a little honey or sugar, and 

 kneaded with a small quantity of cotton wool, as 

 the wool will make the composition stick longer 

 on your hook, and not waste by absorption in the 

 water. Your hook for perch should be No. 3 

 or 4 ; for float fishing, about No. 9, and even as 

 small as No. 11 or 12, especially if there be bleak 

 in the stream.* I pass over any further directions 

 as to this method of angling ; it is so common, 

 and so much has been written on the subject, that 



* It might be objected to this work, that nothing is said in it 

 about the celebrated art of fly-fishing for salmon, considered, as 

 I know it is, by many anglers, to stand first in the list for fly- 

 fishing, which I believe to be a great mistake. The salmon is 

 often a stubborn and obstinate fish to deal with when hooked. 

 After his first run out, notwithstanding all your care, he will 

 often locate himself by the side of a rock or large stone at the 

 bottom, and, in defiance of all your art to remove him, will 

 remain there for hours. Not so the trout, who will play from 

 first to last, with a small degree of care on your part to keep him 

 near the surface (p. 67). Besides, the art of angling for salmon 

 is omitted on the same principle as the art of angling for several 

 other fish the carp, the grayling, and the barbel, for instance 

 the purport of this work being to show the most merciful mode 

 of catching fish in general. 



