THE BREAM 81 



The chub requires ground-bait in a general way, which may be 

 made according to the receipt already given. 



As this fish will rise at a fly, those who like it may whip away 

 for him at the end of summer, when there is nothing better to be 

 done. 



The best season of the year for chub-fishing, is from June to the 

 end of August ; but he may be caught all the year round. Evening 

 and morning are the best parts of the day, as he seldom feeds 

 when the sun is high. t The angler must be cautious and still, for 

 the chub is a shy, suspicious fish ; and if two or three are taken in 

 rapid succession out of the hole where they are assembled, they 

 will grow fearful, and change their haunts for some time. 



The chub is soon killed in a general way ; but when he is large, 

 he is exceedingly difficult to manage, and is a very troublesome 

 customer with delicate tackle. Perseverance and patience, how- 

 ever, are sure to beat him ; and if devoid of these qualities, the 

 angler had better break his rod, and renounce the craft for ever. 



THE BREAM 



is a great, flat, coarse, ugly fish, strong in the water, but utterly 

 detestable on the table. The Trench, it is true, are pf a somewhat 

 different opinion, and hold him in some degree of estimation. 



This fish frequents still places in deep, placid waters ; but prefers 

 the retirement of ponds and lakes, where the water is still, the 

 locality undisturbed, and the bottom weedy and muddy. ^ 



The bream is to be found in most of the > slow, still rivers of 

 England, and sometimes attains a very large size ; he is then very 

 much like a pair of bellows in shape, and much the same in flavour. 

 In the north of Europe, this fish has been known to reach the 

 weight of twenty pounds; and, in 1749, there were taken at a 

 single draught, out of a large lake in Sweden, five thousand bream; 

 the aggregate weight of which was eighteen thousand pounds. 

 We have ourselves caught them four or five pounds in weight, and 

 have heard of other people catching them still larger ; but this size 

 is by no means general. 



The bream spawn late in June or early in July, and at that 

 season seek out the level shelving sides, or the muddy bottoms of 

 rivers well stocked with weeds. Each female is accompanied with 

 three or four males. They multiply very rapidly; and, indeed, 

 137,000 eggs have been counted in the ovarium of a single female. 

 During the season, it is said the males are covered with tubercles 

 like the small-pox. " At this season," says a French writer, "they 

 make a great noise as they swim in numerous flocks ; and yet they 

 distinguish the sound of bells or the tambour, or any other ana- 

 logous tones, which sometimes frighten them, retard their move- 

 ments, or drive them into the nets of the fisherman." Surely all 

 this must be purely fanciful ! Our author gives no authority for 



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