. THE COMMON TROUT. 243 



nut, and bait your hook ; so fall to your sport, 

 there is no doubt of pleasure. If I had known it 

 but twenty years ago, I would have gained a 

 hundred pounds only with that bait ; I am bound 

 in duty to divulge it to your honour, and not to 

 carry it to my grave with me. I do desire that 

 men of quality should have it, that delight in that 

 pleasure. The greedy angler will murmur at me, 

 but for that I care not." 



Many kinds of pastes are prized by the bait- 

 fisher. They may be used for chub, carp, and 

 bream in September and during all the winter 

 months, and may be made up about the size of a 

 hazel-nut ; if for roach and dace, the bigness of a 

 pea will suffice. All pastes are improved by being 

 mixed up in the making with a little cotton wool, 

 which makes them firmer and more tenacious, and 

 hang better on the hook. They suit well for fish- 

 ing in quiet places, with a small hook and quill 

 float. We shall here subjoin a few recipes for the 

 making of fishing pastes, which, although we in- 

 troduce them under the head of the river-trout, 

 may be regarded as equally efficacious in the cap- 

 ture of other kinds of fish.* 



* Red paste may be made with a large spoonful of fine wheat-flour, 

 moistened with the white of an egg, and worked with the hands 

 until tough. A small quantity of honey or loaf-sugar finely powdered 

 must be added, together with some cotton-wool spread equally over 

 the paste when pressed flat in the hand ; it must be well kneaded, 

 to mix the cotton thoroughly ; colour it with a little vermilion. A 

 small piece of fresh butter will prevent it from becoming hard, and 

 it will keep good for a week. While paste may be composed of the 

 same ingredients, omitting the vermilion ; and yelloiv paste in like 

 manner, with the addition of turmeric. 



