46 ANGLING FOR COARSE FISH. 



float tackle, as it goes down tlie stream, will draw tlie fine 

 line througli the rings, but will not pull it off the reel, so 

 the reel has to be turned with the hand; but when rather 

 heavy tackle is used, in deep, quick streams, the arrangement 

 works automatically. When the float has travelled about 

 10yds., the line is wound in and a fresh cast made. If the 

 day is wet, I do anything rather than fish in the Nottingham 

 style, for the fine, undressed silk line clings to the rod, the 

 float gets checked, the fish, in consequence, scared, and the 

 angler's temper ruffled.* 



As I am going to fish with wheat, I attach a small ball 

 of ground-bait, loaded with wheat, to my hook, and swing 

 it to the top of the swim, and from time to time throw in a 

 few grains of wheat. At the second swim I take a fish, and 

 continue to have good sport for half an hour. Then the 

 roach get shy, and as an experiment I throw some wheat in 

 lower down the swim, and let my float travel 5yds. 

 farther than it did before, or 15yds. in all. By throwing 

 in my ground-bait lower, I get the fish to feed farther away 

 from me, and the result is that, though the sun is now well 

 up over my head, they bite less shyly, and I biing some 

 more to basket. About midday I stroll towards my companions, 

 with a view of learning when and where we are to lunch, and 

 discover one of them busily engaged in 



"Tight-corking," or Legeriug with a Float, by which 

 means he has caught fewer, but finer, roach than I have. I 

 use the expression " tight- corking," but it does not exactly 

 express what my friend is doing, for he is using a quill, 

 not a cork, float, and in lieu of the shot which Nottingham 

 tight-corkers (this is the first time I ever spoke of anybody 



* Anglers of the Thames and Lea, and of the Trent, all assert that their 

 respective styles are best. In this they are incorrect, and the "all-round" angler 

 will do well to adopt the method besfc suited to any particular swim. The 

 Thames and Lea style is best adapted for quiet swims, moderately deep, near the 

 bank, where the angler can sit well back, out of sight of the fish. In a shallow, 

 swift swim, the rod in the Lea style being held just over the roach, would 

 act as a scarecrow. In such swims the Trent or Nottingham method should be 

 followed. In the Thames and Lea style, the angler can on a calm day detect the 

 slightest bite, and instantly strike, and In a swim suited to that style of fishing 

 catches four roach to the Nottingham angler's one ; but not so in shallow, swift 

 streams. 



