I70 COARSE FISH. 



easily ; it must not get too soft, or the crust will 

 not hold on the hook. Cut the crust off the 

 bottom (or side) of the loaf in one piece with a 

 long, sharp knife, just detaching a little of the 

 crumb with it. Place the " slabs " of wet crust 

 flat on a piece of wood or lid of a biscuit tin, and 

 score them with the knife into little squares about 

 the size of a small pea. The hook is run right 

 through a single square, and the tackle is lowered 

 quietly and steadily into the water ; a very slight 

 jerk will detach the crust from the hook. Roach 

 are exceptionally greedy for this bait, but it is 

 difficult to use. If a second swim is fished with 

 one bait, the line must be drawn most carefully 

 from the water, or the crust will leave the hook, 

 and it is, in fact, generally necessary to bait afresh 

 at each swim. Being so soft, and the hook so 

 free, it is an excellent bait for hooking fish, very 

 few being missed in striking. I can confidently 

 recommend bread-crust as a roach-bait. 



When I have run short of gentles in the 



summer time, I have found the grubs in 



old cow-dung a fairly good substitute. By 



turning over the dung with a stick, the grubs may 



be found in numbers, one being sufficient to bait the 



hook. 



The best and cleanest white wheat should be 

 Stewed Used for this bait. It must be soaked for 

 wheat niany hours in water, and then very slowly 

 stewed, not boiled, till the wheat splits open, show- 

 ing the white interior. Groundbait sparingly with 

 brewers' grains when this bait is used. Pearl barley 

 makes a nice white bait, but is not so good as 

 wheat. In the month of September, some of the 

 very best takes of fish I have ever seen on the 



