Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements Part 16

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In angling for the trout we must have a stout rod and running tackle.

The princ.i.p.al baits for him are natural and artificial flies, minnows, and worms. The minnow is, perhaps, the most taking bait for large trout: it should be cast lightly on the water, and drawn trippingly against the current so as to spin. The angler must strike directly his bait is seized. The favourite haunts of the trout are scours, mill tails, eddies, pools, the roots of overhanging trees, and the "nethers" of bridges and weirs.

THE JACK OR PIKE.

The mighty luce or pike, says Walton, is taken to be the tyrant, as the salmon is the king, of the fresh waters. His aspect is savage but by no means repulsive, and when in fine condition a large pike is altogether a grand-looking fish. His teeth are very sharp and very numerous, being upwards of seven hundred, and his voracious appet.i.te is such that nothing comes amiss to him. He has been known to swallow the plummet, and the clay and bran b.a.l.l.s of ground bait of the angler, and he will prey upon "rats and mice and such small deer," with ducks, geese, and even swans, which he has been known to pull under water. He often grows to an enormous size (no wonder), and has been taken upwards of ninety pounds in weight.

Pike are fond of dull, shady, and unfrequented waters, with a sandy, chalky, or clayey bottom, and are found among or near flags, bulrushes, or water docks. They seldom seek a very rapid stream, although weirs and mill-pools are often their favourite retreat in the early summer months--that is, in June and July, when they have recently sp.a.w.ned. In winter they retire into the depths, eddies, and waters little acted upon by the current.

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The pike is in its prime during October and November, but is in season from June to February; the baits used for it are gudgeon, minnows, chub, and bleak, and should be about three or four inches in length. The rod should be strong; the line of dressed silk, at least sixty yards long, wound upon the winch already described. Hooks for trolling, called dead gorges, and other sorts for trolling, snap, &c. and fishing needles, are to be bought at every shop where fishing tackle is sold; in the choice of the first, let them not be too large, nor their temper injured by the lead on the shanks, nor the points stand too proud; and although usually sold on wire, it is recommended to cut off the wire about half an inch from the lead, and with a double silk, well waxed, fasten about a foot of good gimp to the wire, with a noose at the other end of the gimp large enough to admit the bait to pa.s.s through to hang it upon the line.

The best baits are gudgeon and dace of a middling size; put the baiting needle in at the mouth and out at the middle of the tail, drawing the gimp and hook after it, fixing the point of the hook near the eye of the fish; tie the tail to the gimp, which will not only keep it in a proper position, but prevent the tail from catching against the weeds and roots in the water. Thus baited, the hook is to be fastened to the line and dropped gently in the water near the sides of the river, across the water, or where it is likely pike resort; keep the bait in constant motion, sometimes letting it sink near the bottom and gradually raising it. When the bait is taken, let the pike have what line he chooses. It will be soon known when he has reached his hole, which he generally flies to, by his not drawing more. Allow him ten minutes for gorging the bait, wind up the line gently till you think it is nearly at its stretch, and then strike. Manage him with a gentle hand, keeping him, however, from roots and stumps, which he will try to fasten the line upon, till he is sufficiently tired, and a landing net can be used; but by no means, however apparently exhausted he may be, attempt to lift him out with the rod and line only.

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In trolling, the bait hook should never be thrown too far; in small rivers the opposite bank may be fished with ease, though the violence of its falls upon the water in long throws soon spoils the bait by rubbing off its scales. In angling for pike always prefer a rough wind. If a pike goes slowly up a stream, after taking the bait, it is said to be the sign of a good fish.

THE GUDGEON.

Is one of the most delicious fish for eating, although small in size. It bites freely from the latter end of spring until autumn, in gloomy warm days, from an hour after sunrise to within the same s.p.a.ce of its setting; and during the rest of the year, in the middle of the day, when it is warmest.

In angling for gudgeon the tackle must be very fine, a single hair or fine gut fine, a hook No. 8 or 9, a short rod and line, and a small tapering cork float. The gudgeon will take the small red-worm greedily, and blood-worms--the first is perhaps the best. A rake or the boat-hook should be kept frequently stirring the bottom. To the spot so stirred gudgeon a.s.semble in shoals, expecting food from the discolouring of the water. They are apt to nibble at the bait; the angler ought not, therefore, to strike till the float goes well down.

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Should any young angler desire a good day's fishing for gudgeon, and a pleasant walk into the bargain, he should seek out some sequestered gravelly stream, and providing himself with a rake with a long handle, he may have sport till he is tired of it. He will find the fish scattered up and down every river in the shallows during the heat of summer, but in winter they get into deeper water. Gudgeon are to be fished for there with your hook always touching the ground.

THE ROACH.

The roach is a handsome fish either in or out of the water. It inhabits many of our deep still rivers, delighting most in quiet waters. It is gregarious, keeping in large shoals. It delights in gravelly, sandy, or a kind of slimy marl bottom, under a deep gentle running stream; in summer it often frequents shallows near the tails of fords, or lies under banks among weeds, under the shades of boughs, and at or opposite the mouth of a rivulet or brook, that empties itself into a large river.

In winter the roach like to get into clear, deep, and still waters.

The tackle for roach must be fine and strong, a twelve-foot rod and a five-foot line, a porcupine float, and hooks No. 11 or 12. The bait, gentils, bread-paste, boiled wheat or red worms. The ground bait should be damp meal or bran, mixed with soaked bread or clay (the former best).

In fishing for roach in ponds, chew and throw in white bread. The hook should be No. 6, and the bait either touch the bottom or lie within one inch of it. As many gentils should be put on the hook as will cover it, all but the barb. Strike _directly_ the float goes down.

The season for roach fishing in the Thames begins about the latter end of August and continues through the winter. To London Bridge and among the shipping below it, numbers of roach return in June and July, after having been up the river to sp.a.w.n, and many of them are taken by means of a strong cord, to which is fastened a leaden weight, more or less, according to the strength of the current; a foot above this lead a twine twelve feet long is joined to the cord, and to this twine at convenient distances are tied a dozen hair links, with roach hooks at the ends; these are baited with white snails or periwinkles, the fisherman holds the cord in his hand, and easily feels the biting of the fish, which is a signal to pull up, and frequently five or six are taken at a haul.

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THE DACE.

Dace are gregarious--are great breeders--very lively--and during summer fond of playing near the surface. Their haunts are deep water, near the piles of bridges, where the stream is gentle, and has a sandy or clayey bottom. They like deep holes that are shaded by water-lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an eddy; in the warm months they are to be found in shoals on the shallows and gravels.

The baits for dace are red-worms, gentles, and small flies, natural or artificial, used as in fly-fishing for trout. In angling for dace with worms, maggots, &c. the tackle cannot be too fine, the float small, the hook No. 9, the shot a foot from it; by baiting the place with a few maggots before fishing, the diversion will be increased. If you angle in an eddy between two mill streams, and the water is only two or three feet deep, there will be a greater chance of success than where it is deeper; bait and strike as in roach fishing. The ground-bait may also be the same.

Fish for dace within three inches of the ground, especially where the ant fly is the bait under water. In fishing, take advantage if you can of a still, warm, gloomy day, or go in a summer's evening to a gravelly or sandy shallow, or tail end of a mill-stream, and as long as the light continues the dace will yield diversion.

THE PERCH.

"Perch feed on perch," is an old maxim; the perch being the only one of all fresh-water fish that feeds on its own kind. His excuse is a prodigious appet.i.te, like that of Saturn, who ate his own offspring.

Notwithstanding this wicked propensity, the perch is a beautiful fish, the back and part of the sides being a deep green, marked with broad black bars, pointing downwards; the s.p.a.ces between are golden, the belly white, and the fins tinged with scarlet. They vary greatly in size. The largest perch we ever caught weighed three pounds twelve ounces, and was taken with a roach bait near Richmond. Their general length is about ten or twelve inches.

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Perch are found in ponds and in clear rivers with pebbly, clayey, or sandy bottoms. They are fond of water moderately deep, and frequent holes near to gentle streams where there is an eddy, the hollows under banks, among weeds and roots of trees, piles of bridges, or in ponds which are fed by a brook or rivulet. The perch is a bold biter in the summer, but scarcely ever in the winter. In the middle of a warm sunshiny day, you are sure to have him with a proper bait. In the winter he bites best in large quiet eddies, to which he retreats after the first heavy flood.

The baits for perch are various, as well as the manner of using them. Of worms, the best are brandlings, and red dunghill-worms, well scoured.

The hook may be varied from No. 2 to 6, being well whipped to a strong silkworm gut, with a shot or two a foot from it. Put the point of the hook in at the head of the worm, out again a little lower than the middle, pushing it above the shank of the hook upon the gut; then put the point of the hook into the worm again the reverse way, and draw the head part down so as to cover the hook entirely. This is the most enticing method that can be adopted in worm-fishing. Use a small cork float to keep the bait at six or twelve inches from the bottom, or sometimes about mid-water. In angling near the bottom, raise the bait very frequently from thence almost to the surface, letting it gradually fall again. Should a good shoal be met with, they are so greedy that sometimes they may be all caught.

Other baits for perch are cadbait and gentles; but the best and most enticing bait is a live minnow. If you find the fish shy, try not long in one spot. In baiting your hook with the minnow, fix your hook through his upper lip, and use a small reel with your rod. Your hook should be No. 5, fastened to a link of gut.

THE GRAYLING.

The grayling is a fish of elegant form; the back is of a dusky purple, the sides of a fine silvery grey, with the scales in long parallel rows or lines (from which the fish derives its name), marked with black spots, irregularly placed. It is rather a hog-backed fish; and, from the nose and belly touching the ground together, is supposed to feed mostly at the bottom. In length it seldom exceeds sixteen inches, but some have been caught upwards of five pounds in weight.

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The haunts of the grayling are in rapid, clear streams, particularly such as flow through mountainous countries. They are usually taken in the same manner as the trout, and with similar baits. They do not bite freely till late in August, or early in September, and may be found at the tails of sharp streams and in deep water. They rise more boldly than the trout, and if missed several times will still pursue the bait. They will bite during the whole of the cold cloudy days; but the preferable time to look after them is between eight and twelve o'clock in the morning, and from four in the afternoon till after sunset. Gra.s.shoppers, wasp-grubs, maggots, and the artificial fly, are the most killing baits.

THE CHUB.

This fish takes its name from the shape of the head, not only in our own, but in other languages. The head and back are of a deep dusky green, the sides silvery. The tail is forked, and very black at the end, and altogether the chub is rather a handsome fish, although its flesh is not much in esteem.

The haunts of the chub are in rivers whose bottoms are of sand or clay, or which flow over a gravelly bottom, in deep holes, under hollow banks; in summer, particularly where shaded by trees, &c. they frequently float on the surface, and are sometimes found in streams and deep waters, where the currents are strong. In ponds fed by a rivulet they grow to a large size.

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To fish for chub at the bottom, you should have a stout long rod, a strong line (and if you use a reel, you will be the better able to fish under bushes), with two yards or more of the best silkworm gut at bottom; a hook proportionate to the bait used; a swan-quill float; and the line so shotted, eight or ten inches from the hook, as to sink the float to a quarter of an inch above the surface. The same groundbait is to be used as for carp. The best baits are greaves, cheese paste, or the tail end of a well-scoured lob-worm. The c.o.c.kchafer is also a very tempting bait, especially towards dusk: no float or shot are required for this.

After baiting your hook with a c.o.c.kchafer, move it two or three times near the surface, as in the act of flying; then drop it in the water, tapping the rod gently, which will cause the appearance of its struggling to escape. This attracts the chub, who are so fond of this bait, that they will rise two or three at a time to seize it. But mind and be ready with your landing-net.

The chub will take a grub, wasps, maggots, paste of fine new bread worked in the hand, and tinged with vermilion, to make it look like salmon-roe; but the best bait for bottom or float-fishing for the chub is new Cheshire cheese, worked with the crumb of a new roll, or the pith from the backbone of an ox. In baiting with the cheese, put a round lump the size of a cherry on a large hook, so as to cover the bend, and some way up the shank; fish six inches from the bottom, or in cold weather the bait may lie on the ground. When there is a bite, the float will be drawn under water: strike immediately, and give him play, holding a tolerably tight line, to keep the fish clear from weeds and stumps.

The best time for fishing for chub is chiefly before sunrise to nine in the morning, and from four till after sunset in the summer; but, in winter, the middle of the day is best. In hot weather, the chub is to be fished for at or near the top of the water, and not deeper than midwater; and in cold weather, close to or near the bottom; and the main point in taking the fish is for the angler to keep himself out of sight.

A very deadly way of killing chub, and certainly the most artistic method, is with the artificial fly, used as in trout fishing. Flies are made expressly for this purpose, and of these the best are red and black palmers, and the Marlow buzz.

THE CARP.