288 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



from I lb. to 4 lbs., but generally between 2 and 3 lbs., which seemed 

 to be the average weight of those caught in nets in the same 

 localities. I daresay you have often seen anglers using blood as 

 bait on the quays in Paris. I was a youngster when I fished with 

 it, and do not think I should care to try it now. It is not pleasant 

 to handle, and is apt, in summer, to become smelly on the least 

 provocation. But in those days, wherever there was water I was 

 bound to fish, and I shirked no nastiness short, perhaps, of holding 

 in my mouth worrums for bait. 



Any of the before-mentioned baits — either simply or mixed 

 with clay, or bran, or both, according to the nature of the pond 

 or current — ^will form a good ground bait, which should be 

 thrown in overnight on the spot where it is intended to fish. A 

 few gentles or bits of chewed bread, occasionally added when 

 fishing, are generally advantageous. 



A propos of ground baiting for tench, Mr. R. House, writing 

 lately to the Fishing Gazette, mentions the following facts under 

 the head of ' Necessity of Judicious Ground Baiting ' : — 



Sir,— You are quite right about tench taking paste or boiled 

 potatoes (provided they have been fed with them beforehand) ; 

 but the feeding is the secret ! For instance, a few years ago, a 

 friend asked me to fish his trout preserve, where he had scarcely 

 ever before allowed any one to fish. I tried with my spinner, and 

 in two hours had eleven trout, none under 2 lbs.; but he told me 

 there was one that never would take minnow or worm — he was 

 lying at the back of the premises where the garbage was thrown. 

 I asked the cook what she gave him ; she said she often threw him 

 out bread. I cut a piece of bread, and threw it in, and he took it 

 in a minute — near 6 lbs. 



I also know of a case at Newbury, where a splendid trout fed, 

 and no one could entice him to take their bait ; but at the last, the 

 cook said that whatever was thrown out — cabbage or potatoes — hq 

 took it. My friend took a small potato, boiled, and with a large 

 hook nailed him — 1 1 lbs. — I am, &c. 



It is curious that this ground baiting should have been 

 practised more than sixteen hundred years ago ; it is described 

 by Oppian, who says that the paste was made with scented 



