;i8 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 



advise, whenever practicable, the use of a short one of, say 

 12 or 14 feet, with strong yet fine-running tackle of plaited 

 silk. When the proper depth has been obtained, a 

 sufficient quantity of line to ensure reaching the desired 

 spot may be drawn from the reel and taken out in a loop 

 from the bottom ring of the rod and the reel itself. It 

 may then, when drawn fairly taut, be hitched over a tiny 

 twig, or a blade of stout grass projecting from the ground, 

 and the piscator, taking up the rod and giving the float 

 and the shotted line a swing in the desired direction, will 

 find that the light line flies easily through the rings after 

 the weighted portion, and, with a little practice, almost any 

 part of a pond may be easily reached. In a gastronomic 

 point of view the bream has always been held up to execra- 

 tion. Here is a recipe for cooking a river fish of, say 

 3 or 4 pound weight : Cleanse him and lay him in salt 

 and water one hour ; stuff with a rich veal stuffing and 

 bake him plentifully anointed with good butter in a slow 

 oven, until the meat comes easily from the bones. Serve 

 him up, hot and hot, with cayenne pepper and lemon juice. 

 Carpers may say I don't mean carp-eaters or carp-fishers 

 that the veal-stuffing, lemon juice and butter, are the 

 only parts of the dish worth going in for ; it may be so, but 

 I have found the fish very toothsome. 



DACE FISHING. 



Dace are found in most of our English rivers, streams 

 and brooks, and will thrive well in either swiftly running 

 water, or in slower streams, so long as there is a fresh 

 supply coming from the head or from the feeders running 

 into it To the beginner in fly-fishing, we have no fish 

 indigenous to our waters that gives such good practice 



