26 FISHES AND FISHING. 



very clever angler, only wanting proper tackle to be 

 come first-rate. 



Mr. Alladay, the lock-keeper at Thames lock, who 

 devoted his leisure to angling, told my father there 

 were plenty of carp in the backwater, but that we 

 must fish for them early. My father said if I would 

 get up at six o'clock the next morning, he and I 

 would try if we could catch some. Accordingly 

 worms were provided, and tackle which had served 

 for flounder-catching at Dartford, cork floats, bullets, 

 &c., were produced, and we had a spell of three 

 hours without a single nibble, when Mr. Alladay 

 coming to see what sport we had had, soon convinced 

 my father that fishing for flat fish, and fishing for 

 carp were different things, and required tackle of a 

 kind my father, who had no knowledge of Izaak 

 Walton or his art, was wholly unacquainted with. 

 Mr. A. gave us some hooks, we bought better floats, 

 and in the afternoon my father, mother, and myself, 

 seated in chairs, tried our skill again in another part 

 of the river ; we caught two or three flounders, and 

 some little eels, and there ended my father's attempt 

 at angling. I, by degrees, under the tuition of Mr. 

 A., managed to capture gudgeons, roach, dace, and 

 chub ; from him I learned the qualities of gut, hair, 

 and hooks, how to make my own floats, and other 

 tackle, tie on hooks, &c., and the advantage of ground 



