56 The size of the bait. Chapt. v. 



stand that I mean like in general semblance only to the 

 eye of the casual observer, and not in characteristics to 

 the closer examiner ; for it is really of the same genus as 

 the murrel, though a span is its utmost length. My desire 

 is to make myself intelligible to the general reader, the 

 more critical one must therefore please not quarrel with 

 me for, or conclude ignorance from, laxity of expression 

 like the above, any more than he would conceive a person 

 ignorant of the earth's rotation for saying the sun set. 



As to what is the best size for a bait to be, it must, I 

 think, remain a moot point, dependent very much on the 

 fancy of the fisherman. Some have an idea that the larg- 

 er the bait you use, the larger will be the fish you catch. 

 But my humble opinion is that we do not always take as 

 big a bite of cake as ever our mouths will hold, and I am 

 quite sure very fine pike and 30 lb. salmon have been killed 

 with a very minnow for bait. I have myself seen a pike of 

 three feet taken on a roach not as many inches in length. 

 The use of a large bait may perhaps serve the purpose of 

 choking off the smaller fish, and allowing the bigger ones 

 to have it all to themselves, but I very much doubt it, for 

 it is astonishing how huge a bait, in comparison to its own 

 size, a small fish will sometimes go at if he happens to 

 be more than ordinarily peckish. On a spoon of 2J inches 

 in length I have pulled out a greedy little Mahseer of only 

 a quarter of a pound in weight, whereas I have also taken 

 a twelve pounder on a spoon of only an inch and a quart- 

 er in length. I measure the spoon in the spoon part only 

 without calculating the ring and hook fore and aft. Pike 



