DACE AND CHUB. 315 



old writers of painting him as a sort of water-donkey, must 

 have either lacked sufficient foundation, or else that the chub 

 of our ancestors were somehow different from those with which 

 we are acquainted. 



For one thing I can vouch that a fish of quicker sight 

 than the chub does not swim in English waters. The slightest 

 gleam of the rod the shadow of the swallow flitting over his 

 quiet corner and down he goes like lead ; so quickly, in fact, 

 that the eye is rather conscious he is no longer there, than 

 aware of his disappearance. Add to this extreme quickness of 

 perception the woody nature of the haunts in which he is to be 

 found, and the fact that the successful chub fisher must be 

 prepared to cast his fly to within a few inches of the boughs 

 often into a space the size of his hat under penalty of losing 

 either his fish or his tackle, and it will be conceded that the 

 task is no easy one. In fact, in this school not a few of the 

 masters of the craft have passed their apprenticeship. A 

 gentleman who is a most successful chub fisher on the Thames, 

 and who- recently gained a prize offered by the Piscatorial 

 Society, in consequence of the very heavy baskets which he had 

 made, informed me that, by covering his face and head with 

 some sort of mask he was enabled to look over the edge of the 

 bank unperceived, and could thus guide his bait into the jaws 

 of the fish he wished to catch, and watch them take it. If he 

 attempted the same process unmasked, the fish were instantly 

 alarmed and ceased biting or made off altogether. 



When once hooked, and the first powerful rush for the boughs 

 checked, the chub very seldom escapes, having remarkably tough 

 and gristly jaws, or being, as it is termed, 'leather mouthed.' 



The best flies are black and red palmers and Marlow buzzes, 

 varied according to the state of the water, weather, c., and both 

 are greatly improved by the addition of a small piece of white 

 leather, or a gentle, on the point, or rather bend, of the hook. 



I can also recommend a chub fly, which I have christened 

 the 'sweep' a name that may be interpreted in either of 

 two ways. The formula for dressing it is as follows : Body of 

 black ostrich herl, and tail of white or satin coloured ostrich herL 



