152 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



carp and tench, bream come to the surface on warm nights and 

 may be heard smacking their fleshy lips. Their food is 

 vegetarian in great part, but they also devour worms and 

 insects. 



Nowadays in England the flesh of bream is of rather less 

 than moderate repute, though some people maintain it to be 

 excellent, but, like that of all the carp tribe, it is very 

 perishable, and ought to be dealt with speedily. The fish 

 changes colour soon after death, showing red stains, indicating 

 incipient decomposition ; add to this the extraordinary amount 

 of slime secreted from the mucus canals of the head and body, 

 spread thence all over the skin, and you have an object far 

 from appetising. Nevertheless, enormous quantities of bream, 

 both of this and other species, are consumed on the Continent, 

 especially in Russia and Eastern Europe. 



He who would take bream with rod and line must go 

 warily to work, neither showing himself incautiously nor 

 Angling for making any noise, for they have sharp eyes and 

 Bream, quick ears, and, although habitually slow in move- 

 ment, dash ofl^ in a prodigious hurry when alarmed. They are 

 bold biters, and he who falls in with a shoal of large bream is 

 not unlikely to have a busy time with them, unless they have 

 become wary from much fishing. They are capricious, how- 

 ever, in the matter of bait. Lobworms, gentles, paste, boiled 

 wheat, caddis, and wasp grubs may all be offered in succession 

 sometimes, and without effect, until something is found that 

 hits their fancy ; then the fun begins, A long, light rod and 

 a fine running line, a small hook and six feet of fine, but 

 undrawn gut, with a porcupine or swan-quill float, painted 

 green, are the chief necessaries for the bream-fisher. The 

 practised bottom-fisher generally knows by the movement of 

 the float what kind of fish is at his bait. In the case of the 

 bream this movement is peculiarly characteristic, for the fish 

 first seizes the bait with a lifting motion, which takes the weight 

 off the float and throws it flat on the water. After that the 



