44 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



" Oh, it is a great loggerheadeci chub," and this name has 

 crept down to more modern times. One writer, in a recent 

 article in a daily paper, has actually the impertinence to call 

 him " chuckle-headed ;" where he got the term from I don't 

 know. In some districts the chub is called *' the large- 

 headed dace," the Scotch call him " Skelly," the "Welsh 

 " Penci," and the Swedes "Kubb," which latter means "a 

 lump of wood." 1*^0 w, if we look at these names, we can 

 see that they are most of them alluding to the head of the 

 chub ; but why he should be called big-headed, &c., &c., I 

 cannot imagine ; for if we take a splendid, well-fed specimen 

 of three pounds or so, and lay him broadside on the grass, 

 really his head does not look at all out of proportion to his 

 body. The shoulders are broad and vast, belly deep and 

 rounding off, back a trifle hollow, and ending in a fairly 

 broad spread of tail ; look at him from that stand-point, and 

 his head is not out of proportion. If you stare him in the 

 face, perhaps he does look a little full-faced, and he has 

 rather a large mouth, but he does not deserve the names of 

 " loggerhead," "chuckle-head," &c., that are so often applied 

 to him. I maintain that he is a handsome fish, and as a 

 sporting fish in all weathers, he has not his equal amongst 

 the coarse fishes. True, when you come to cook him he is 

 not worth much, for he is woolly and watery, and has such 

 a plenitude of small bones, that to eat him is almost to 

 run the risk of being choked. As some anglers, however, 

 will persist in eating their spoil, the best plan is to clean 

 them as soon as possible, split them open, and rub the inside 

 with salt or lemon; some put stuffing in them, something 

 like veal stuffing ; but one thing must be remembered — if 

 they are kept all night without being cleaned they are abso- 

 lutely uneatable. 



Very small chub, of say half or three-quarters of a pound, 

 when crimped and fried dry, are eatable. The French call 



