Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements Part 17

Carp are esteemed among the richest fresh-water fish we have in the kingdom, and are as cunning as foxes. The angler, therefore, must be "wide awake" to catch him, and also as patient as a saint. He may, however, fish for him at any time in the day during warm weather. The bait may be either worms or paste. Of worms, the bluish marsh or meadow is the best; but a red-worm, not too big, will do: of paste, the best is made of bread and honey; and the spot intended should be well baited beforehand. In a large pond, to draw them together, throw in either grains, or soaked bread worked up with meal or bran; follow this with a few of the small baits you intend to angle with.

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Whilst you are fis.h.i.+ng, chew a little bread, and throw it in about the place where your float swims. In fis.h.i.+ng for carp in ponds, the bait and about half a foot of the gut nearest the hook should _lie on the bottom_; otherwise the carp will continually suck the bait off. When the carp has fairly taken the bait, you will perceive the float move steadily away or under water, then strike, and not till then. In this way, with due patience, you will prove a match for these crafty fish.

THE TENCH.

The tench is one of our most useful fresh-water fishes, for the ease with which it may be preserved, and the goodness of its flesh. It is very usual to breed it in ponds, but naturally, like many others of the carp tribe, it is generally found in lakes and still waters; its favourite haunts are in places well shaded with bushes or rushes. In standing waters, it lies under weeds, near sluices, and at pond-heads.

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The best baits for tench are bread paste and red worms, but he usually prefers the latter. He feeds best in the three hot months. The worm should be put on the hook in the method directed for perch, but the hook itself should be of a somewhat smaller size. Use a light float and strong gut line, and let the bait swim within an inch or two of the bottom.

THE POPE, OR RUFF,

Is something like a perch in shape, but more bluff and bulky. He is found princ.i.p.ally in slow, deep, quiet rivers, which have a loamy bottom. The sp.a.w.ning time is in April. The best baits for him are red-worms and brandlings. The places where he is to be had are where the water is deep and still; and these places should be baited with some clay-b.a.l.l.s, with which worms are mixed. Should the water be muddy, worms will do alone; but if clear, clay must be used to render it opaque before you fish. The fish will bite at any time of a warm summer's day, when the sky is cloudy. In angling, use a No. 8 or 9 hook, with a quill float; and the moment you see the float disappear, strike.

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THE BREAM.

The bream, at full growth, is a large and stately fish, and is oftentimes as fat as a hog. He is princ.i.p.ally found in large ponds or in lakes, and in still rivers where the waters are deep and shaded by weeds; and may be taken throughout the latter part of summer and autumn.

The baits are many: paste made of white bread and honey, gentles, wasp-grubs, and brandlings; but much the best general bait is the tail end of a lob-worm. Use lob-worms, cut in pieces, brewers' grains, or greaves, as groundbaits in the places where you intend to angle. Use a gut line, quill float, and hook the same as for perch. Sound the bottom, which should be eight or ten feet deep, and stand at least two yards from the bank from which you fish; the bait should just touch or trip along the bottom.

THE FLOUNDER.

The flounder is a well-known flat-fish very common about our own coasts; and should any of our young friends be at the seaside, it is well that they should know how to take flounder. They are also found in rivers, at some distance from the sea. They may be taken in May, July, and August,--not in June, as that is their sp.a.w.ning time. The best baits are red-worms and marsh-worms, on a No. 6 hook; and you should fish at the bottom.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FLOUNDER.]

EELS.

Eels are denizens of the mud; but they are fond of clean not foul mud, and ought never to be sought after in filthy places. There are many modes of taking them: by rod and line, by dead line, by sniggling, by bobbing, and by spearing. When a rod is used, you should put a brandling or red-worm on a No. 8 hook; the bait should touch the bottom; and, when you have a "bite," the float should be drawn quite under water before you strike.

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The dead line is a line of whipcord, with hooks about two feet asunder, baited with lob-worms or small fish, and having a weight at the end. You should also have a bank-runner--a reel on a pin or stake stuck into the ground on the edge of the bank; the line and baits should be thrown in, and left for the eels to amuse themselves with,--looked to, and drawn up at your leisure.

In sniggling, a lob-worm is put upon a stout worsted needle; the line is on a winder; and the fish will be found near flood-gates, wharfings, bridges, piles, holes in the banks of rivers, ponds, and ca.n.a.ls. The bait should be put into the lurking-places of the eel, by means of a stick with a forked head; and when the bait is taken, which will easily be known by the pull of the string, strike.

Bobbing for eels.--In this process long red-worms are strung on threads of worsted, until a bunch as large as the two fists is formed around a piece of lead. The whole is sunk to the bottom, or nearly so, then raised a little, then depressed, so as to induce the eels to bite. When this occurs, heave up without hurry. The number of eels taken in this way is often prodigious.

In spearing eels, the spearer usually goes into the mud in a pair of pants or mud pattens, pieces of square board fastened into the heel to prevent sinking. He takes an eel-spear in his hand, something like Neptune's trident, and progs the mud all over, and the eels are caught between the forked blades of the spear. Great numbers of eels are taken in this way on the muddy ooze of salt or fresh-water rivers.

THE STICKLEBACK AND MINNOW.

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The stickleback is a dark-coloured little fish, found in ditches and ponds. They are best caught with a small hand-net, and are occasionally used as bait for perch. The minnow is very beautiful in appearance, being of a rose colour underneath, and may be taken with a worm and a No. 13 hook at any time of day; but more easily with a small hand-net.

They are commonly found in little rivulets, rills, or small sandy streams, and are highly prized by the angler as baits for many kinds of fish.

THE BARBEL.

The barbel is a bold, st.u.r.dy, handsome-looking fish, although its flesh is coa.r.s.e to the eater; but he is a rare fellow for sport, and often affords great amus.e.m.e.nt as well as chagrin to the angler by his bolting off with the line by a "coup de barbel," and breaking it with his tail.

Izaak Walton says, that barbel "flock together like sheep."

Barbel are to be found in the strongest runs of water. In summer, they love the shallowest and sharpest streams, and will lurk under weeds, and will root and dig in the sand like pigs. Sometimes he retires to deep and swift bridges, or to flood-gates or weirs, and will rest himself against piles or hollow places. In winter he gets into deep water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BARBEL WITH GOLD CARP.]

In fis.h.i.+ng for barbel in large streams, you should go out in a boat provided with greaves, gentles, and red-worms; and, before you begin fis.h.i.+ng, you should throw in plenty of groundbait--such as soaked greaves, bran and clay made into small b.a.l.l.s, maggots, or lob-worms.

They may be angled for with a stout rod, strong running line, cork float, and No. 7 or 8 hook, baited with marshworms or greaves. The barbel being a sharp biter, strike the moment you feel a nibble. He may be caught from May to October all day, but best in the morning and evening. After he is struck he will frequently make a run, but you must play him gently; keep him clear of weeds, and try to get him into deep water; and when you have him, mind he does not bounce out of your hand and drop down the stream again.

NATURAL FLY-FIs.h.i.+NG, OR DIPPING.

Fis.h.i.+ng with a fly may be practised either with the natural fly, usually called "dipping," or with the artificial fly; in which latter case the sport is called "fly-fis.h.i.+ng," or sometimes "whipping." Dipping requires a moderately long and _stiff_ rod, of about twelve or thirteen feet. The line should not be above a yard in length from the end of the rod, but the reel should contain sufficient to play the fish if necessary. When the river is much overhung with bushes, it is a good plan to wind the line round the end of the top joint, leaving only a few inches dependent; and then, having thrust the rod through some small opening in the bushes, gradually to unwind the line by turning the rod in the hand, so as to drop the fly on the water in the most gentle manner. In this insidious way large fish are often taken with any of the flies which are in season and found at the time on the banks of the river which is fished, especially if they are only just coming out, and the fish are not yet satiated with them. It is quite needless to give a list of the natural flies which are likely to prove serviceable to the fisherman, because he has only to look for those which _at the time_ are tempting the fish, and then to endeavour to find them on the banks, and at once to try their powers. In the case of chub, however, he will find gra.s.shoppers and humble-bees more useful than any of the flies, and yet they are neither of them often seen upon the waters, and may be considered exceptional cases. The fish which will generally take the natural fly are grayling, trout, chub, and dace.

FLY-FIs.h.i.+NG AND ARTIFICIAL FLIES.

For this delightful sport, which captivates alike the s.e.xagenarian and the schoolboy, rods and tackle of the finest quality are required. It is true, that a good workman will take fish even with a willow wand, but still he would do far better with a rod turned out by a good maker; and few young hands will be able to do much without a well-finished specimen of the art of rod-making. The rod should be strong, yet fine, and either of dressed silk, or silk and hair mixed. The lower portion, called the foot-length, is of gut, generally occupying about five or six feet of it, to which one, two, or three flies are attached, the one at the end being called a stretcher, and the others droppers.

The fly-fisher should be able to make his own flies, as there is a great advantage in being able to "do for oneself;" and it may sometimes happen that he may be out of a particular fly when far away from "fly shops."

MATERIALS FOR MAKING FLIES.

Feathers of various kinds; hairs of various kinds; very fine sewing silk; gold and silver twist. Of the first, the young fly-fisher must provide himself with the feathers of the duck, c.o.c.k, grouse, snipe, bittern, woodc.o.c.k, partridge, landrail, starling, jay, golden plover, and peac.o.c.k. Of the second, the fur from Tommy's tail, from the skins of squirrels, moles, and water rats, camel's hair, hare's ear, fur from its neck, the yellow fur from the neck of the martin, mohairs of different shades, camlets, black horsehair, hog's down dyed various colours. And with these, gimps, silks, and tinsel, a good pair of pliers, and a pair of fine-pointed scissors.

In making your fly, imitate as nearly as possible the natural fly you wish to represent; to do this properly, it will be well to dissect a natural fly, and to imitate its several parts, and then to reconstruct it with a reference to the whole. With a hook of the proper size, and a feather of the right colour, the fly-maker may now commence. His feather must be stripped down on each side, leaving just so much as will do for the wings at the fine end; a piece of fine gut, free from imperfection, and properly tested as to its strength; dubbing or hackle; and a piece of fine silk well waxed with shoemaker's wax.

Let the essay be now made. Hold your hook in the left hand, wrap the silk round the bare hook two or three times, and put the finest end of the gut on the under side of the hook. If you are working for a tackle fly, begin at the band and work up to the head, after turning three or four times round the hook and gut; fasten on the tackle, and continue the winding of the silk until it reaches the end of the hook, then turn it back two or three times, to form the head. The dubbing must now be twisted round the silk, and wrapped upon the hook for nearly half the proposed length of the body; fasten it there by a single loop, that both hands may be at liberty to manage the tackle.

When sufficient of the feather is wound upon the hook, the remainder should be held under the thumb of the left hand, and the entangled fibres picked out with a needle. The silk and dubbing must now be twisted over the end of the tackle, until the body of the fly is of the length required, and then fastened. If gold or silver twist is used, the twist should be fastened to the lower end of the body before the dubbing is applied to the silk.

_To make a winged fly_, the same method must be observed in tying on the hook; then take the feather which is to form the wings, and place it even on the upper side of the shank, with the roots pointing towards the bend of the hook; fasten the feathers, by winding the silk over it, and cut the root end close with a pair of scissors, and divide the wings as equally as possible with a needle, pa.s.sing the silk two or three times between them, to make them stand in a proper position; bring the silk down the shank of the hook the proposed length of the body, and fasten it, then apply the dubbing to the silk, and twist it towards the wings; fasten in the hackle for legs, and wind it neatly under the wings, so as to hide the ends of the cut fibres: the silk must be fastened above the wings--be careful of this.

It would be impossible for us, nor would it be very useful to the young fly-fisher, to give him directions for making every kind of fly. We may, however, throw out a few hints concerning the making of most of the flies in common use, and of the materials employed.