THE BREAM. 87 



same standing. An acquaintance of mine took one with 

 the minnow when trouling for trout in the Derwent. They 

 are by no means a common fish, and are found in but few 

 rivers, such as the Dove, Trent, Wye, Tame, near Ludlow, 

 and a few other streams. When I fish for it with the fly, 

 I always use single hair for my lash or bottom, about two 

 and a half or three yards long. If you miss it when it 

 rises, and should you even prick it, he will come again. I 

 saw a particular instance of it one day that I and three 

 others were angling with the ant- egg in the Derwent, two 

 on each side ; one of those on the opposite side had a 

 bite, and when he struck, his line broke and the fish sailed 

 away with about half a yard of it, and in about five min- 

 utes after my neighbour took the same fish with the 

 hook in its mouth. 



THE BREAM 



Is a very coarse bony fish, and but little esteemed in 

 this country for the table ; the places it chiefly fre- 

 quents are ponds or deep gently-flowing rivers, with clay 

 or sandy bottoms, and in the deepest parts of such places, 

 it spawns about the latter end of June. The best time 

 to angle for it is from the beginning of May to the mid- 

 dle of June, and from July to October, and both early 

 and late in the day ; they will take the small red worm, 

 wasp, grub, gentle, grasshopper, and red paste, but 

 the red worm is preferable to all other baits, and the 

 bait must lie on the bottom. The bream is a very strong 

 fish, and very much hogged-backed, which has been the 



