THE CHUB. 45 



him " un vilain," because they can do nothing with him ; 

 and if they are beaten in making a toothsome dish of him, 

 we may safely say these fish are not very edible. 



As I have before remarked, various methods are employed 

 for the capture of the chub ; and as this little work more 

 particularly relates to bottom fishing, I will commence with 

 that. The rod, the reel, and the line described in the pre- 

 ceding chapter will be just the things for chub, and your 

 bottom tackle should be as fine as you like, the finer the 

 better consistently with strength. Kemember, you have to 

 deal with a very shy and cautious fish. Your tackle for 

 bottom fishing for chub should be about four or five feet 

 long, but it will be as well to have some not more than a 

 yard in length, in case you should want to fish in rather 

 shallower water. Pale blue gut, or that stained a brown 

 colour (a recipe for staining gut these colours was given in 

 the preceding chapter), is in my eye, and is the very best 

 sort to make your tackle of. For a float, if you can help it, 

 never employ one larger than a goose quill — one that will 

 carry eight or ten split shots ; for summer fishing, when the 

 water is low and bright, never have one of the split shots 

 less than eighteen inches from the hook. For successful 

 chub fishing, your tackle, &c., should be as neat as possible. 

 It is a downright insult to the intelligence of a chub to drop 

 a lot of big split shots and heavy leads on coarse tackle over 

 his nose. Your hooks may be of sizes ISTos. 6, 7, or 8, ac- 

 cording to the bait in use ; and remember when you whip 

 your hooks on to have your waxed silk the colour of the bait 

 you intend to use. Chub may be ground-baited for before- 

 hand in the same manner as barbel, if you like, but I do not 

 think it pays very well, as a general rule. More chub 

 may be caught by " roving " for them. Half an hour in a 

 place is quite sufficient in my opinion, unless the place is 

 very productive of sport. Keep throwing a little ground 



