52 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



have no fight in them, this cannot be said of the 

 big fellows. Having fed themselves fat and lived 

 long in peaceful possession of the water, they 

 have a decided objection to be disturbed. They 

 do not and will not understand the meaning of 

 a bit of white paste hooking itself into their 

 leathern jaws, and they resent it with all their 

 might; they dash up and down or make straight 

 for the nearest bed of bulrushes. Failing in this 

 they make a sudden dash for the punt; then it 

 is no easy matter to keep the line tight, and if 

 they do get under the punt, expecting to find 

 safety and liberty there, they will bend the rod 

 to its utmost elasticity without moving the skill 

 of the angler is tested, and his chance of success 

 reduced to a minimum. 



My respect for the chub has greatly increased 

 by my recent experience of him; some day I 

 may go so far as to say, " Let us cook and eat 

 him." Izaak Walton gives full instructions as to 

 the proper treatment, and then he will "eat 

 well." I have never yet tasted chub; he is "ob- 

 jected against not only for being full of small 

 forked bones, disperst through all his body, but 

 that he eats waterish, and the flesh of him is not 

 firm but short and tasteless." This description 

 of him by the Master has perhaps been the 

 cause of my prejudices. I am not going to quote 

 Walton's prescription: you all know it. One 

 point is that "he must be drest immediately 



