THE EOAOH. 87 



of the fish, or the fineness of the water, and all these hooks 

 should be the bright, round bend Carlisle hooks. If the 

 water is fine, use a small hook, and when you whip these 

 hooks to the gut be sure and have the gut on the inside of 

 the shank ; and as I have before said, use gut that is round, 

 smooth drawn, and of the very finest description. If the 

 angler, however, fancies he would like a hair tackle, the 

 best hairs for the purpose are those from the tail of a young 

 chestnut horse. Black hairs are not so good ; in fact, don't 

 have them if you can get anything else. Personally, I have 

 long since discarded hair in favour of the very finest gut, 

 and this gut should be stained as recommended in Chapter 

 II. During the summer and autumn, or, indeed, any time 

 when you can get them, gentles or maggots are the best bait 

 you can have for roach. Some fishers like white maggots, 

 and some yellow ; the yellow ones are the best ; they are best 

 procured from a bullock's liver ; hang this liver up somewhere 

 where the blowflies frequent, only before so doing slash it all 

 over with a knife, the flies will then lay their eggs in the 

 crevices; when it appears to be sufficiently blown, it should 

 be taken down and put in a vessel of some ki nd ; in a few 

 days the eggs will have hatched, and in a few more will 

 have fed themselves up to their full size. They should then 

 be removed into another vessel half fuU of bran, and only a 

 few pieces of the liver left with them to feed on ; as soon as 

 they lose the dark spot, and assume a pale yellow colour, they 

 are scoured and fit for the hook. They should be kept in a 

 cool place with plenty of air. The white gentles are bred 

 from fish ; three or four cods' heads well blown, and treated 

 in the same manner as the liver, make capital white maggots ; 

 but the yellow ones are the best. Gentles can be kept far 

 into the winter, and if the angler desires this, he should get 

 his bullock's liver or whatever it is well blown late in the 

 season, and then press it into a box that is half filled with 



