318 Driving Fish hy Mud. 



in the sand, but their tails in sight. Eveiy now and 

 then the}' change positions, swimming swiftly over 

 the bottom to another spot. Their voracit}^ is ver^- 

 great, and they often disappoint the angler b}- tak- 

 ing his bait. The cottage people are said to eat 

 them. 



The ' stwun loach ' — stone loach, as the lads call 

 it — hides also behind and under stones, and ma^' be 

 caught by hand. These loach are apparently capri- 

 cious in their habits ; certain spots abound with 

 them, in others you ma}' search the stream in vain 

 for a long distance. So, too, with the gudgeon : I 

 noticed in one brook I frequently passed that they 

 never came up beyond one particular bend, though 

 there was no apparent difference in the soil or in the 

 stream itself. In the brook the jack do not seem to 

 care much about them ; but in the lake above there 

 are no gudgeon, and there a gudgeon is a fatal bait. 

 Nothing is so certain to take ; the gudgeon will 

 tempt the pike there when an ordinary roach may be 

 displayed before him without the slightest effect. 



A flood which brings down a large quantity of sus- 

 pended mud and sand discoloring the water attracts 

 the fish : they are looking for food. But too much 

 mud compels them to shift their quarters. This is 

 well known to those who net the stream. They 

 stretch the net across the brook a few yards below a 

 bridge or short culvert — places much haunted by 

 fish. Then the bottom of the stream above the cul- 

 vei-t is thoroughly stirred up with a pole till the 

 water is thick with mud, and this, passing through 

 the culvert (where the j^ole cannot be used and the 

 fish would otherwise be safe), forces them to de- 



