166 COARSE FISH. 



kept dry, or they get thin and flabby. In winter 

 fishing, I keep a small supply from the gentle bag 

 in a tin box in a warm pocket, or warm the box in 

 the hand ; the warmth makes the gentles stir, and 

 puts them in fine condition for the hook. They 

 soon die in the cold water, when I pull them 

 all off, and entirely renew the bait. Three gentles 

 on the hook are a useful number, two threaded 

 right through, the last one being hooked on by a 

 mere thread of skin, and allowed to wriggle. 

 When this gentle is dead, roach generally refuse to 

 look at the bait. Hooks for gentles must have very 

 keen points and be thin in the wire ; otherwise the 

 gentle will be " squashed " when put on the hook. 

 A single chrysalis on the shank of the hook, with a 

 gentle on its point, will occasionally tempt large 

 roach, but the chrysalis is even more difficult to bait 

 with than the gentle. Gentles for the hook are 

 usually kept in yellow sand, and the roughness of 

 the sand damages the gut just above the hook, as 

 does also the tough skin of the gentle when it is 

 torn off the gut. Roach-hooks should, when 

 baiting with gentles, be occasionally renewed, 

 directly the gut shows weakness. The gut shows 

 white for about an eighth of an inch above the 

 hook when the sand has scraped it. Grains of sand 

 adhere to the tips of the fingers, and the friction 

 soon spoils the gut or hair. 



Plain bread-paste has few equals as a roach-bait. 



Bread Considerable knack, only acquired by prac- 



paste tice, is requisite to make it properly, as it 



must be neither too firm nor too soft. If too firm, 



it will not leave the hook on striking, and the hook 



will not pierce the fish ; if too soft, it will not stick 



on properly. The crumb of a loaf, two days old, 



