RIVER FISH AND FISHING. 3893 
utes. More than this renders them tender, and liable to 
break. All fish bait should be killed by a blow on the 
head as soon as taken. 
Live fish form a very common lure for the larger 
kinds of fish, and they are used by inserting the hook in 
some part of the body not necessarily vital. This is called 
roving, and is practised with any of the smaller fish, such 
as minnows, shiners and the like, in capturing trout, perch, 
pickerel, &c. The hook is merely entered in the back close 
to the fin, and the barb is suffered to protrude above that 
appendage and with the point of the hook directed towards 
the tail of the fish. The line must be shotted so as to sink 
the fish to the required depth, and it may be used with or 
without a float. Some other methods of fixing the hooks 
have been recommended, by which the hook is entered in 
one part, then made to traverse the fish under the skin, 
and finally brought out at the mouth; but they are so 
abominably cruel that I must decline having any thing to 
do with their description. All field-sports are too much 
mixed up with an undercurrent of cruelty; but where 
there is a choice, no man of any ordinary feeling will hesi- 
tate in selecting the least severe modes of taking game. 
Frogs may be used exactly in the same way as the 
minnow, by passing the hook through the skin of the back. 
They must be well shotted, to keep them down, and must 
be raised to the surface every four or five minutes, to 
allow them to respire. 
Bait-fish are procured for the purpose of using them 
as baits, either by angling for them, and carefully remov- 
ing them from the hook, and then placing them at once in 
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