224 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 



The other principle of Nottingham fishing is an 

 excellent one, and the practice of it is rapidly spreading 

 over all parts of the country, and for every description 

 of river and pond bottom fishing. Its result is to enable 

 the angler to fish *' swims" at considerable distances — 

 sometimes as much as twenty yards — away from him, 

 and at the same time to add to the length of the swim 

 itself, by allowing the bait to travel over a greater 

 extent of ground than is possible under the ordinary 

 method. This result is attained by the use of a largish 

 float, and a running-line which combines strength with 

 the greatest possible lightness and fineness, and there- 

 fore, of course, runs through the rod-rings with the 

 utmost facility. In pond fishing the Nottingham 

 method gives the angler the advantages of being able 

 to make much longer casts, and consequently to fish 

 finer and further off. A proper Nottingham line of fifty 

 yards long should not weigh more than one-fifth of an 

 ounce, and is strong enough to land the largest fish 

 which the angler is likely to meet with (see observations 

 on lines, p. 28). In casting, the line should lie in loose 

 coils on the ground ; and when a long cast is to be made 

 it will be found convenient to draw the line in, not 

 through the lowest ring, but through one or other of the 

 rings next above it — an arrangement by which, owing 

 to the diminution of friction, a light bait can be thrown 

 to a greater distance. 



With the foregoing exceptions, the tackle, &c., already 



