For carp, tench, eels, perch, and bream, fresh grains will be found very serviceable; they must be perfectly fresh. Gentles and worms may be thrown in without taking the trouble of working them into balls or clay, if the water is perfectly still; but if you are fishing in a stream, such a system of ground baiting is injurious, as the gentles are carried away by the stream, and draw the fish from the spot. HOW A FISH IS FORMED. Before giving our young readers a description of the different varieties of fishes they may chance to take at times, we shall first attempt to show what a fish is like, and why it is neither flesh nor fowl, though some say the sturgeon partakes of all three. Most fishes are covered with scales; as the knights of old were sheathed in scale armour, so are fishes protected by these scales, They have a backbone, and instead of lungs breathe through their gills, through which pass the water and air they take into their mouths; and that is the way they live and breathe. They have also a swimming bladder" under the spine, by compressing or expanding which they are enabled to sink down like a leaden bullet, or rise up light as a bird springing into the air. Their very forms are built for swimming, and their motions in the water in some measure resemble that of birds in the air; their fins are their wings, their tails the rudder, and they use the latter as a boy does a single oar in the stern of a boat, and can row themselves along with it at immeasurable speed. You all know the prickly fin on the back of the perch-that is the dorsal fin of a fish; that before the little one next the tail is the ventral fin; and these balance the fish, and thus prevent it rolling over; while the pectoral fin, the one on the breast, is used by the fish in pushing itself forward, and is a kind of screw in the fish engine, while the caudal or tail fins are paddles, sails, screws, rudders, oars, or anything you please to imagine, that gives the fish both steerage and rapid motion. The eye of the fish is beautifully adapted for seeing in the water. Every boy, though he has eaten only a red herring, knows what the roe of a fish is. The codfish and salmon contain millions of these little eggs, and were they all to come to life, and neither be devoured nor destroyed, instead of not being able to see the wood for trees, we should neither see the river nor the ocean for fishes. We shall now proceed to give an account of the different kinds of fish which are found in the rivers of Great Britain, and the best means to be adopted to catch them; and we will finish each fish as we go on, leaving only the bones. THE STICKLEBACK, AND HOW TO CATCH HIM. This little quarrelsome fellow-for he is a terrible fighter, and would kick up a shindy were he as big as a whaleis seldom more than two inches long, and marked with the most beautiful crimson, green, and golden colours the eye ever delighted to dwell upon; but only put your stick in the water, and he will fight that if he can find nothing else to battle with, and fetch it a famous knock, too, with his little hard head. If once he is heartily thrashed by a rival stickleback, he hides his diminished head in any hole or corner, loses all his gaudy colouring, and, like a threadbare quaker, comes out again in a suit of seedy-looking dull grey. When fishing for these small fry-in which we include minnows-rods, lines, and hooks, should all be the finest and most delicate that can be purchased, and the hooks especially the very smallest that are used. It is a good plan to whip three or four hooks on fine gut, or strong horsehair, using a short line of horsehair or silk, letting the hooks hang some three or four inches below each other, for when they bite well three or four of these little hungry fishes may be pulled out at a time. A crowquill float is quite big enough, and as for bait nothing can be better than little pieces of the small red worms. 66 THE MINNOW Is sometimes called the "pink," also As beautiful pearly-white, at other times and places blue and green on the back, and red or white on the belly, and sometimes it is found with a tinge of yellow. The pearly-white is preferred when it is used as a bait for trout, salmon, or pike. May be fished for with the same tackle and bait as the stickleback. THE BULL-HEAD, So called on account of its great head; also "miller's thumb," because its head is flat and wide, as if one of its bullheaded ancestors had been taken out of the mill-dam, ages ago, and pressed under the heavy thumb of a miller, then let go to increase and multiply the race of flat-heads. He is very partial to shoving his ugly head under a stone, and leaving his tail out, which a quickhanded boy very often seizes, and drags him out. As it is so fond of the bottom, the bait must only just clear the ground, and a small piece of worm is as good a bait as can be used. THE LOACH, OR GROUNDLING, Is about the same size as the minnow, of a dusky brown colour, with a compressed head, and a beard formed of six fleshy tufts that hang from its lips, and in some places, through this pecu liarity, is called "beardie." For its size it has an immense breadth of tail adjoining the spine, and can never be mistaken for any other fish. The word groundling sufficiently indicates its habits, telling that it must be sought for at the bottom, almost in the same way and with the same bait as the bull-head. It is sometimes used as a bait on night-lines for large eels, and that is all we ever heard it was good for. THE BLEAK, OR BLICK. This clean, beautiful, lively little fish-the favourite of every young angler-is seldom more than four or five inches long, and is constantly to be seen in large shoals near the surface of almost every still flowing river. The head is small and pretty, the eyes prominent, with a ruby-coloured patch below, while the back is a beautiful olive-green, and the sides and belly of a silvery whiteness. For its size the scales are rather large, the fins transparent, and the tail forked. It is pleasant to watch the movements of a shoal of bleak in clear water, where they may be seen swimming round and nibbling at the baits, for in bleak fishing half-a-dozen hooks may be used at a time, as in minnow fishing, with gentles, red-worms, caddis-paste, &c., for bait. In cold weather they swim deep. We know no better practice for the young fly-fisher than to whip for bleak in warm weather, when they swim near the surface. A small black gnat is the best for this purpose. THE GUDGEON Is another of the small fry, seldom exceeding five or six inches in length; has a large thick head, a round body, and a beard on the upper lip. The colour of its back is a pale brown, of its belly a reddish white, while its fins have an orange or reddish yellow tinge, and both the dorsal fin and tail are spotted with black. Gudgeons are fond of swimming together in shoals at the bottom of gravelly brooks and rapid rivers. They are very rarely seen on the surface. Though little, it is an excellently flavoured fish, and a hungry boy would easily eat up a round score at a meal if nicely cooked. In fishing for gudgeon the tackle should be as fine as that used for the minnow; but the hooks must be No. 8, or 9, while the most killing bait is the red-worm, next to this the gentle, then the caddis-worm; if these are not to be had, almost any kind of paste will do. What would scare away any other fish draws the gudgeon to the spot, and that is stirring up the bottom of the brook or river with a ground-rake. It is better than all ground-baiting. tail is forked, the body slender, the head small. In colour it is dusky on the back, varied with olive-green patches, with sides and belly of a bright silver hue, fins red, but not so deeply dyed as those of the roach. It prefers swift, gravelly streams in which there are plenty of weeds, and is found everywhere. The dace is a very strong fish for its size, and when hooked, struggles as hard as the trout to escape. Both dace and roach are fished for in the same way, and with the same tackle. A light stiff rod seventeen or eighteen feet long, so that the angler may stand so far back as not to show himself, and yet be able to drop his bait gently in the water. A line very fine down to the swan-quill float, below the float single hair or fine gut, the knots unwhipped to be invisible. No. 10 or 12 hook, baited with gentles, paste coloured with vermilion, worms well scoured, grubs or salmon-roe. The roach, as every boy knows, has a funnylooking, round, leathery mouth, and may be a good whistler, though we never heard him; his teeth are placed in his throat, so that he has the pleasure of first tickling his palate, then enjoying his food in his throat, and bolting it afterwards at his leisure. His beautiful large scales have a pale golden tinge, which almost deepen to brown on the back, while his fins and iris are red as a summer rose, or richly stained verbena. He is a fine, deep fish, and is sometimes found to weigh as much as two pounds, and more than that, it is said, in the rivers on the Continent. In fishing for the dace we have described all that is necessary to be known in roachfishing. THE CHUB, Though a strong fish, is very timid, and retreats into the deepest hole it can find, when apprehensive of danger. It is short, thick, and high-backed, has large scales, has a greenish-brown back and 121 head, with silverybrown sides that almost approach to yellow as summer advances, silver belly, yellow breast, fins, and a brown forked tail. It is generally caught from one to four breaking lines, and if Young chub are often pounds weight, seldom beyond the latter. mistaken for dace. It is a famous fellow for it has a chance, will run with the hook under weeds and old stumps, and pull like a cart-horse. It is a bold biting fish, and in summer bites during the whole of the day, but best in the morning and evening; it may also be taken in the night time. It is very bony, and not good food, but there are people who say he is eatable, and you all know that there is no accounting for taste. Look down our list of baits for those adapted for chub. Throw in plenty of groundbait, made of soaked bread, bran, and pollard, well worked together. THE CARP, Like the roach, has his teeth-if the bony apparatus may be so called-in his throat. His back-which is of a dusky-yellow colour, almost approaching to brown-is arched and thick, while his belly is white; he has also a shortish beard on each side of his mouth. He appears to be rather a dainty gentleman, taking a bait at one time which no enticement will tempt him to taste at another. Left to himself, however, he generally feeds on worms and insects, brings up a large family, and if not caught, lives to a good old age. It is a very shy, cunning fish, and from its extreme craftiness has been styled the water fox; is found in lakes, ponds, and rivers, and frequents the quietest and deepest parts of the stream, especially holes near flood-gates, and beds of weeds. The best time to angle for this fish is either very early or very late, as it seldom bites in the middle of the day, unless a shower happens to fall. Use a long, light rod, with a reel, and let the line be of the finest description; the hooks, if worms are employed as bait, should be No. 5 or 6; if maggots, No. 8 or 9; and if wasp-grubs, No. 7. Refer to the list of baits at page 5. THE TENCH Thrives best in stagnant or slow-changing ponds that have a rich loamy soil. It is a thick fish, and greatly resembles the carp in shape, and, like the carp, has no teeth in its mouth, but a similar bony formation in the throat; it has also a small thin beard at each |