110 



■wire, ■which made my tackle complete. I then put on a pair of 

 •water boots and ■walked into a gentle stream to the thigh, stirring 

 up the mud -with my feet, and continuing to do so that the 

 ■water might not get clear. In about a minute after I commenced 

 a shoal of Gudgeon rushed up to the muddy ■water, close to my 

 feet. I caught them like fury, often two at a time, and rarely a 

 swim without one. In the two hours I caught ninety-six, and 

 my opponent forty-three. K you should be hard up for Pike 

 baits at any time, adopt this plan for catching Gudgeon, and 

 you can take them in any quantity aU through the summer, 

 ■when the water is clear. 



Gudgeon swims are most likely to be found on the shallow 

 side of the river, or at the top or bottom of a deep water. 

 Tou will find Gudgeon in a brisk stream with a gravelly bottom 

 from two to four feet deep. Generally speaking, if the water 

 be clear, three feet wiU be deep enough. "WTien you have 

 found a suitable stream, get the right depth with or vrithout 

 the plummet, allowing the bait to swim as close to the bottom 

 as possible without touching. This done, take about twenty 

 small gentles, and if you can throw them in high enough to 

 sink in the swim do so, but if the stream is rapid put them in 

 a piece of soft clay and drop it in at the top of the swim. Fish 

 with a better quality than those you ground bait with. Let 

 your hook be lapped on with white silk, and if your gentles be 

 a good size, one will be sufficient to put on the hook, if not put 

 on two, one to cover the shank, and the other the bend of the 

 hook. If you ai e going to fish from the bank, make a cast the 

 same distance as you have thrown the ground bait ; if from a 

 boat or punt, drop in your tackle so that it may take the exact 

 course that the ground bait did. Keep your line behind the 

 float and let it swim as steady as if there was no line attached 

 to it. If the fish begin to go oflf the bite, throw in a few more 

 gentles, but do not do so if they continue to bite well. 



But worm fishing for Gudgeon, in my opinion, is by far the 

 best. Every fresh water fish will take the worm, and you are 

 obliged to keep your running line clear in case a Barbel or 



