THE BREAM. 33 



and large eyes. It is very interesting to watch a 

 shoal of big bream in clear water, where they look 

 grey or bluish-grey ; and when they turn, if the 

 sun be shining, their flat sides make them look 

 much larger than they really are. I frequently 

 notice the shoal is led by one big fellow, and that 

 they turn when he turns, coming up one side of a 

 pool or shallow and returning by the other ; or 

 they wheel slowly to right or left, and go down 

 stream, the former leader being almost the last in 

 the ranks. If you stand up and alarm the fish 

 there is a grand helter-skelter, and bream then 

 show they can move if they are put to it. One 

 fine day I suddenly came across a vast shoal of 

 bream in the Wey, near Pyrford, and in such 

 shallow water that I could see the fish plainly, and 

 amused myself for a long while watching their 

 slow, steady actions. A few fish in the shoal were 

 quite five pounds in weight ; but, do what I would, 

 I could not get them to feed freely, killing only a 

 brace of miserable three-pounders out of the lot, 

 though I tried in several ways and with different 

 baits. On another occasion, when searching for 

 bream, I noticed a single solitary fish wandering 

 about by himself, a very large fish indeed, and I 

 tried hard to prevail upon him, but without success. 

 This is the only time I have seen a solitary bream, 

 and he must have strayed and lost himself, or been 

 scared in some way ; it does not seem right for a 

 bream to rove about alone. 



When the water is a little thick, and bream 

 cannot be seen, look out for bubbles, or fish 

 priming as it is called, on the surface. I 

 have walked many a mile searching for fish, care- 

 fully noting all the likely places and the best way 



D 



