THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 157 



One of the best ground-baits for chub, carp, roach, and dace, in still 

 waters, is made by an admixture, kneaded to tolerable adhesiveness, of 

 wet bread-pith, bran, and oatmeal. Small balls thrown in whilst you 

 are angling for those fish, will attract them to the vicinity of your hook. 

 You must angle with plain or sweet paste. 



For rivers in which many sorts of coarse fish barbel, chub, bream, 

 &c. abound, the best general ground-bait is made by kneading together 

 bran, meal, and clay, and dividing the mass into balls the size of the fist, 

 and placing inside them stuffing them as it were with worms and 

 gentles. They will make their way through the balls after the latter 

 have been thrown into the water, and prove a great attraction to fish. 

 Invariably place on your hooks better baits than those you ground-bait with. 



Worms should be well scoured, cleansed, and rendered tough and 

 lively, before they are used. To do this, put them in fresh moss, freed 

 from thorns and any hard substances, for a couple of days ; then examine 

 them, and remove all sickly or dead ones. Place the others in a small 

 depth of light pure mould, over which you must put a good portion of 

 clean, fresh, moist moss. Add every third day a little cream or fresh 

 milk, and you will keep the worms alive, healthy, wiry, and lively for 

 several weeks ; examine them occasionally, and eject invalids. 



Gentles are best preserved, in summer, in moist sand ; in winter, in 

 layers of light mould, placed in a long, narrow wooden trough. The 

 mould should be kept moist, or sunk about a foot beneath the earth. ED.] 



CHAPTER X. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE BREAM ; AND HOW TO CATCH HIM. 



PJSC. The Bream, being at a full growth, is a large and 

 stately fish : he will breed both in rivers and ponds ; but 

 loves best to live in ponds, and where, if he likes the water, 

 and air, he will grow not only to be very large, but as fat as 

 a hog : he is by Gesner taken to be more pleasant or sweet 

 than wholesome : this fish is long in growing, but breeds ex- 

 ceedingly in a water that pleases him ; yea, in many ponds so 

 fast as to overstore them, and starve the other fish. 



He is very broad, with a forked tail, and his scales set in 

 excellent order ; he hath large eyes, and a narrow sucking 

 mouth ; he hath two sets of teeth, and a lozenge-like bone, a 

 bone to help his grinding. The melter is observed to have two 

 large melts; and the female, two large bags of eggs or spawn. 



