BAITS. 227 



will be taken. The brandling and blood-worms- for ground-bait, 

 I simply take as many as I want out of a stock pot. They will be 

 found in a compact mass at the bo,ttom, and do not require cleaning 

 for ground-bait. Place these in clean washed moss in a small box, 

 and all is rfeady. A bag of boiled rice (2 lbs.) and the same quantity 

 of soaked bread completes the ground-bait, with a bag of bran to 

 mix with the whole. Never throw a dead worm in with your 

 ground-bait ; one stinking worm will drive all the fish out of your 

 swim. Fish are a very great deal more particular than many 

 anglers are aware of. I close my remarks with the following : 

 One may be a very skilful angler, but, as old George Hone says, 

 if the fish won't bite, ' nobody can ketch 'em.' If you want the fish 

 to bite study the bait. 



When the brandling cannot be obtained, of other small 

 worms the reddest are the best. 



For barbelling, bream, and chub, the tail end of a lob- 

 worm, the largest species of worm that we have, appears for 

 some reason— probably because it is larger — to be a better bait. 

 The lob-worm may be constantly obtained in the same spots as 

 the brandling, as also in kitchen gardens, and generally in any 

 moderately damp heavy soil. Another favourite ' lie ' for this 

 worm is under an old log, or anything that by pressing on the 

 soil keeps it more or less constantly humid. The easiest 

 way, however, to gather lob-worms, especially when any large 

 number are required, as for ground-baiting for barbel, &c, is 

 to collect them with a lantern at night, on low-lying dampish 

 lawns and the grass edges of gravel paths. At this time they 

 come out of their holes, and may, in a favourable situation, 

 literally be scraped up with the fingers by dozens, so that I 

 have repeatedly filled a quart pot with them in the space of half 

 an hour. When there is not much dew, or the hour is not very 

 late, the worms only come partially out of their holes, keeping 

 their tails in, apparently to facilitate an immediate retreat, and 

 in this case some dexterity is required to cut off the retreat 

 successfully, and to avoid breaking the worm in doing so. 



Various prescriptions have been given for making the lob- 

 v/orms come out of their holes in an unnatural manner and 



Q 2 



