348 PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH. 



rudd were looked upon as very shy and ' uncircumventible.' This 

 happened last autumn in a piece of still water belonging to my 

 friend, Mr. Wykeham Martin of Leeds Castle, who, if he took up 

 fishing with the same energy and success that he has shooting, 

 would, no doubt, soon become the best fisherman as he is admittedly 

 the best shot in Kent. There were plenty of rudd in the pond, for 

 they could be seen swimming and basking, (it was a bright hot 

 day,) on the surface. To the every-day temptation of gentles, 

 and paste, offered them in the orthodox way, that is, with a float 

 and shotted line, the fish appeared to be quite insensible. It'seemed 

 therefore that as they would not be induced to come to the bait, 

 the only chance was to take the bait to them. ' If the mountain 

 won't come to Mahomet, &c.' The first difficulty was to get the 

 ' ground-bait,' so to speak, to become a ' floating bait.' This was 

 accomplished by tying half a quartern loaf to a string long enough 

 and a stone heavy enough to anchor it at the bottom of the pond 

 in a favourable position, about ten yards from the bank. By the 

 time the rod and line were adjusted, my piice de resistance had 

 attracted a considerable number of intending diners, who were 

 quite prepared to receive kindly any fresh plats that might be 

 offered them. The tackle, however, had, of course, to be suited to 

 the novel sort of 'ground' or rather 'floating' bait, and this is 

 what it was : — a single-handed fly-rod with a light silk running 

 line, and a cast of the very finest trout gut with a No. 2 hook 

 of my pattern at the end ; no shot ; and no float, properly so 

 called, but instead a piece of cork the size of a large pea about one 

 and a half feet above the hook. With this tackle, — which I 

 cast, of course, overhand, as in fly fishing, — I was able to drop 

 the bait within a radius of a few irHrhes or feet of the centre of 

 attraction, and had soon two or three dozen fine rudd in the basket. 



Another method is to dispense with the cork altogether and 

 simply let the ' fly-bait ' sink gradually, trusting to some motion of 

 the line to indicate a bite, or, failing that, striking gently after 

 about a minute, according to the depth of the water. Both these 

 plans I have found very killing. The first I published some twenty 

 years ago ; and at Slapton Ley — the happy hunting grounds of the 

 rudd-fisher — I find it is now very generally in use, as well as the 

 ' fly-thrown bait ' without any cork ' indicator.' 



In this manner, and using the floating 'ground bait,' Signor 

 Abaurr^, my wife, and myself, caught during the present month 

 (Oct. 1885) 178 rudd, the largest weighing i^ lbs. 



