216 COARSE FISH. 



it is, however, best to avoid handling minnows intended for 

 bait more than absolutely necessary, as they are tender 

 little fish. You get fat minnows by fishing for them with 

 a worm, and they may be caught very quickly. 1 



For catching large numbers of minnows a hoop net 

 should be employed ; this is slung by three or four cords 

 to a central cord, the net being suspended from the end 

 of a stout stick, six or eight feet long. The net is dropped 

 quietly into the water, a disc of lead or a large bullet 

 helping to keep it down ; it is allowed to rest quietly 

 on the bottom, and is lifted when the shoal of minnows 

 is over it. A few tags of red worsted are fastened 

 in the meshes of the net to attract the minnows ; but a 

 pellet of paste, placed in or dropped on the net, is far 

 more attractive. 



Another method is to have a small meshed net 

 stretched on two or three wire hoops. Place this at the 

 mouth of any little drain or brook, and beat the water 

 downwards, driving the minnows into the net. When 

 minnows are much fished for with nets they soon become 

 very shy. Still, shallow pools at the edges of weirs are 

 occasionally black with minnows; in April, 1897, the 

 shoals of minnows in Shepperton Tumbling Bay were 

 quite a sight, for there were simply " bucketsful " of them 

 amongst the stones. These little fishes love shallow, 

 gravelly swims, and are incessant pests when bleak are 

 being fished for with gentles ; for, though the minnow is 

 small, he is a veritable little glutton, and thinks nothing 

 of trying to swallow a large bunch of gentles or a whole 

 worm. Give minnows plenty of air when they are carried 

 in a bait-kettle, or they will soon die. 



Minnow-nets may be used in the Thames, provided 

 they are not of a greater diameter than three feet in any 

 part of the net ; and the minnows so taken must be used 

 for angling in the river Thames. 



The Ruffe, which much resembles a small perch, is 

 little fished for on his own account, nor do I know any 

 one who makes a special practice of ruffe-fishing. I have 

 taken a very few, chiefly when roach-fishing with gentle or 

 small worm, and light roach-tackle may be employed in 

 their capture. 



1 Mr. R. K. Alder, of Addlestone, showed me this method S')me 

 few years ago. 



