BAITING THE SWIM 5 



level and free from obstructions along the bottom as possible. 

 Very much in the choice of a swim depends on the fish to be 

 angled for. Dace, gudgeon, and barbel like rapid and moder- 

 ately deep water. Roach, perch, and bream like deeper and 

 quieter water. The shape of the bodies of the fish forms a very 

 fair criterion to judge from in this respect. Deep, flat-made 

 fish cannot hold the rapid streams so well as the sharper and 

 more rounded ones, though good roach-fishing will at times be 

 had in pretty heavy water. 



The angler, having decided upon his pitch, should, if he can 

 manage it, bait it freely some twenty hours before he intends 

 to fish not an hour less. Many a day's sport is spoilt by the 

 swim being baited the very night before the angler is going to 

 fish ; and when he comes, on the next morning, some ten hours 

 after, the chances are that he finds the fish have only just done 

 feeding upon the bait he threw in the night before. The fish 

 are then full, quite indisposed to feed, and a tame, faint bite or 

 two alone rewards him. To coax the fish on, he then puts in 

 more bait, which extinguishes every shadow of a chance he 

 might have had of fish on that day, and after an hour or two 

 with scarcely any sport, he goes away disgusted with his loss 

 of time and absence of sport and waste of bait, when he ought 

 only to blame his own lack of judgment. Suppose a swim well 

 baited at nine overnight, that swim ought not to be fished until 

 the fish are quite hungry again, and ready to feed, which will 

 not be until about three or four o'clock on the ensuing after- 

 noon ; and when the fishing is commenced a very few scraps of 

 ground-bait will suffice to bring the fish on and to keep them on 

 the feed. The angler should reflect that his object is not merely 

 to gorge the fish, but to keep them anxiously expecting food. 

 On the Thames, for example, more ground-bait is often wasted 

 and thrown away in one day than, judiciously applied, would 

 suffice for a week's sport. 



In ground-baiting a pitch overnight the method depends 

 upon the bait to be employed. If gentles are to be employed, 

 the best plan is to enclose them in a ball of bran and clay mixed 

 up. The same may be said of chopped worms. Greaves or 

 scratchings should be scalded, broken small, and mixed up with 

 clay, or not, according to the stream. Bran with bread, rice, 

 boiled wheat, grains, and such baits are best worked up with 

 the clay while cheese should be made up into small round balls, 

 not larger than marbles. But for the baiting while fishing it is 

 best to cast the worms, etc., loose without any clay, merely 



