"Drawn are the rinks where lines and curves combine,
The tee, the house, hog score and central line;
The cramps are laid, the champions ready stand,
With eye intent and trusty broom in hand."
Those who decide to include this game in their activities should put themselves into touch with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club through its honorary Secretary, A. Davidson Smith, Esq., at the headquarters of the club, York Place, Edinburgh. They will then be able to obtain the rules for the proper playing of this delightful game.
CHAPTER VIII.
ANGLING
Hints by an Old Hand.—When fishing in ponds, lakes, meres, canals, or in waters where there is no stream, the depth should be carefully taken the night before, or when ground-baiting, and marked on the rod, or by measuring the distance from the plummet to the cap of the float with a piece of cotton or string. If the angler prefers the bait to be within touch of the bottom, the better plan is to use a self-cocking float, and always use the finest possible tackle in clear water; but if an ordinary float be employed, and the novice wishes the bait to lie six or eight inches on the bottom (a good plan), the lowest shot should be from 15 in. to 20 in. from the hook. This will neither interfere with the proper cocking of the float nor with the angler striking, for, from the moment the fish seizes the bait to the indication of a bite, the resistance of (at most) two or three small shots is infinitesimal. If the bottom be at all muddy, then the plummet should be as light as possible, or into the ooze it will sink, and when this is known to be the case, the depth may be obtained by the aid of a small pellet of bread and bran. Should it drop off the hook before the depth is obtained, the pellet should be made a little stiffer. A piece of “tea lead” from a tea-chest, or lead wire, similar to that used on the gut in Lea fishing (some use nothing else), may be carefully tied round the bottom of the float, to make it cock without using any shots on the tackle, and painted the same colour as the float, or, failing this, the usual self-cocking float sold at the tackle-shops may be used.
Gentles should be kept in plenty of damp sand for a few days in an earthenware pan, biscuit-tin, or tin pail, in a cellar, or any dark, cool place, when they will be ready for use. The sides of the pan or tin should not be allowed to get wet, or many of the gentles will make their escape. They should be kept in what is termed golden sand. This sand, which should be damp, is almost as fine to the touch as barley-meal, of a deep rich golden colour, and they will live in it for days without turning into the chrysalis state, which they do in a comparatively short time if exposed to the sun—a practice to which many anglers are addicted, and then wonder the gentles change colour. It is a great mistake to use silver sand, as it over-scours and makes them attenuated and hard. I have repeatedly seen them in this state. So much for sand. The finest gentles I ever saw were obtained from the best rump steak and a sheep’s head, and kept in coarse bran; but for taking out the black steck or “saddle-back” near the head, and scouring them until perfectly white, give me the sand mentioned above and plenty of it.
The weight floats required may be arranged and tested before they are wound on the winder for final use. This saves the beginner considerable time and trouble at the water-side. If he has a four-line winder, with lines already weighted or shotted for roach, perch, bream, tench, so much the better. A piece of cork about the size and shape of a Tonquin bean attached to the line may sometimes be used with success for fishing-swims, within easy distance from the side, in smooth clear water, near patches of weeds, flags, or candocks, the angler taking great care to keep out of sight, and to be as still as possible. When the bean-like piece of cork goes under or runs, strike gently.
Never use long-shanked hooks (the well-known crystal roach hooks, for instance) for such baits as gentles, cockspur, or small worms, small pellets of paste, wheat and malt. A considerable portion of the shank is certain to become bare in a short time, and so prevent the fish from biting. I have repeatedly seen nearly the whole shank of a crystal hook bare, and the small worm, gentles, and more especially a grain of creed wheat, dangling from the bend as a kidney might from a butcher’s hook; and I have an idea that no fish properly constituted would be stupid enough to be caught under such absurd conditions. I may just mention in passing, that when fishing with gentles, the last one put on the hook should have the point to come through the skin of the thick or tail end, and the twirling thin or head end to hang clear of the hook. One gentle on a No. 12 or 13 hook will often do the trick, when they won’t look at a bunch of gentles.
Use as small hooks as possible. They will hook a fish, or for the matter of that, get fast into almost anything, much quicker than large hooks: they penetrate sooner, hold very fast, and pierce the lips of such fish as trout, perch, chub, barbel, carp, when a large hook would not. For instance, the other day I hooked a 3 lb. barbel in the centre of the upper lip with a No. 10 sneck-bend, and it was quite a job to extract it. I once saw four splendid chub, all caught with similar hooks; and on several occasions I have caught good perch with roach hooks. If the novice will only remember not to allow slack line when playing a good fish on a small hook, provided the tackle is good and strong, a fish should seldom escape. Beginners often use hooks three times too big for the fish they are after, and it goes without saying, that the smaller the hook the finer the gut should be; for a small hook on thick, coarse gut is not to be thought of. On the other hand, never use a too small hook for too large a pellet of paste, with the hook embedded in the centre, instead of the point just protruding. I have seen an angler fishing under these conditions for chub with cheese paste miss five fish out of six, the damson-like pellet being pulled clean out of the mouth of the chub, without the slightest chance of hooking the fish.