SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



to depend upon his skill as a fisherman for the 

 means of livelihood ; but in those days there 

 were, he tells us, ten times as many fish 

 in the Trent as there were when he closed his 

 career. In a match with Watson, the Sheffield 

 champion, in 1858, he killed over 50 Ib. 

 weight more trout than his opponent, and one 

 cold morning in April landed twenty-two fish, 

 weighing 65 Ib., in two and a half hours. 



Bailey has left on record an interesting state- 

 ment as to the most noted fishing spots on the 

 Trent in 1876. Shardlow, Clifton, Colwick, 

 Burton Joyce, Hoveringham, Hazelford, Fisker- 

 ton, Stoke, Farndon, Holme Pierrepont, and 

 Collingham were then, as now, favourite resorts 

 of anglers, and the fishing included grayling, 

 barbel, pike, bream, dace, roach, perch, and 

 chub. At Hoveringham, which was famous for 

 its excellent fly-fishing, grayling were more 

 numerous than at any other place between Not- 

 tingham and Newark, and a good many were 

 caught at Shardlow ; but poisonous matter from 

 Burton had even then, it was stated, almost ex- 

 tinguished this beautiful fish between Notting- 

 ham and that town. Any quantity of fish, 

 especially barbel, could be caught at Colwick in 

 the summer, and more than a hundredweight 

 was taken several times during the season of 

 1875. Excellent sport was then to be had 

 among roach, dace, perch, and bream; and barbel 

 would have been found in far greater numbers 

 if that unsportsmanlike method of catching fish 

 called ' skull-dragging ' could have been stopped. 

 The Trent was at this time perhaps the best 

 river in England for the number and size of 

 its chub. Fish of 5 and 6 pounds were fairly 

 common, and Bailey once killed one that was 

 only 2 oz. under 7 Ib., while another that he 

 secured weighed 6j Ib. 



Since those days not only has the number of 

 anglers in the county vastly increased, but the 

 appliances of the expert angler have been greatly 

 improved, and the rods, reels, lines, and tackle of 

 a Nottingham bottom-fisher to-day represent the 

 highest achievement that ingenuity and practical 

 experience can suggest. On the other hand, the 

 fish peculiar to the Trent, although they haunt 

 the stream in large, if diminished numbers, have 

 become more wary and cunning, and it is much 

 more difficult to fill the creel nowadays. Mr. 

 C. Jackson, a member of the Nottinghamshire 

 Piscatorial Society, who has fished the Trent for 

 sixty-five years, has killed as much as 1 1 stone 

 of coarse fish in a day, but sucli bags are things of 

 the past. The sport is, however, no less fascinating, 

 for, in addition to the lordly salmon and a very 

 occasional trout or grayling, there are barbel, 

 chub, bream, pike, roach, perch, dace, eels, and 

 flounders, not to mention such small fry as bleak, 

 gudgeon, ruff, and minnow, in more or less 

 abundance in the river. 



The Trent is not considered a very good river 



for perch. A perch of i| Ib. is regarded as a 

 good specimen, but in 1885 Mr. W. Rigby 

 landed one at Clifton weighing 2 Ib. i oz. 

 The bait that is used consists of worms, minnows, 

 and very small gudgeon or dace. Chub are now 

 less plentiful than they used to be, and a 4 Ib. 

 specimen is a rarity. That voracious feeder, the 

 chub, takes anything from a fly to a small frog. 

 A fine specimen, measuring 25 in. in length, 

 1 6 in. in girth, and weighing a little over 6 Ib., 

 was taken out of the Muskham waters by Mr. 

 Cubley of Newark ; and Mr. Frank Sims, 

 another Newark angler, caught one at Winthorpe 

 that scaled 8 Ib. It is impossible, however, now 

 to repeat the performance of an angler who 

 some years ago took forty-two chub with forty- 

 three baits in 300 yds. of water. 



The Trent shares with the Thames the dis- 

 tinction of being the best barbel river in England 

 and occasionally tremendous catches have been 

 made. Mr. J. W. Martin, the ' Trent Otter/ 

 records that about fifty years ago an old angler 

 caught on one occasion thirty-two fish which 

 weighed exactly a couple of hundredweight, 

 being an average of 7 Ib. each. In more recent 

 years Mr. H. Coxon of Nottingham has taken 

 as many as forty-four barbel in an afternoon, and 

 on another occasion he killed thirty-eight, both 

 catches being effected in the Colwick waters. 

 Mr. G. Bates of Shardlow captured at Averham, 

 within a week, two fish that scaled a trifle 

 over 19 Ib. the pair, and Mr. VV. Trivett of 

 Mansfield landed one at Thrumpton that 

 weighed I7ylb. The late Mr. S. Hibbcrt of 

 Newark caught a barbel at Averham that 

 scaled 147 Ib., and in the same spot Mr. W. 

 Revill of Nottingham obtained one of I2lb. 

 Bendigo, it is recorded, took one of 13^ Ib. at 

 Trent Bridge. From 3 to 5 Ib. is a fair average 

 weight in these days, and a barbel of nine or ten 

 pounds is something of which to be proud. In 1907 

 Mr. T. Barnett of Nottingham caught a unique 

 specimen on the Farndon stretch of the river 

 while roach-fishing. It weighed 3^ Ib., and when 

 dissected by Mr. H. Motteram of Nottingham 

 was found to contain an eel 13 in. in length, 

 while lower down the stomach was a gudgeon 

 above the average weight employed in baiting for 

 pike. The baits generally used for barbel on the 

 Trent are worms, slugs, gentles, grubs, scratch- 

 ings, and cheese, and experienced fishermen use 

 fine tackle. 



Roach-fishing has a legion of votaries in Not- 

 tingham. Gentles, cad baits, worms, paste, creed 

 wheat and brewers' grains are favourite baits. 

 The fish are rarely known to exceed 3 Ib. in 

 weight, and they are exceedingly shy of the 

 hook. When a bream hole near Newark was 

 netted some years ago several roach weigh- 

 ing from 2 Ib. to 3 Ib. each were caught, and in 

 1884 members of local clubs secured two that 

 turned the scale at 2 Ib. 4 oz. and 2 Ib. I oz. 



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