78 ANGLING FOR COARSE FISH. 



catch some large dace. When dace bite freely in these swims, 

 the barhel are not often there. If the barbel bite shyly, put on a 

 smaller hook, and try a cast with the worm hooked through the 

 middle only. The bait can then crawl about the bottom, and is 

 very attractive. Many good barbel-fishers follow this plan, and 

 I am not sure that it is not the best always. The shank of the 

 hook should be coloured to match the worm (see page 53). It 

 is as well to stain the gut below the lead a light brown, to 

 match the bottom, and it should be finer than the gut above 

 the lead, so that, if the tackle catches in the bottom, the 

 inevitable break is near the hook, and only a small portion of 

 the gut is lost. 



Float-fishing for Barbel is carried on with Nottingham 

 tackle similar to, but, as a rule, heavier than, that described on 

 page 88. The spot should be baited beforehand, and the 

 angler casts in a few pieces of worms before taking a swim. 

 The swim has, of course, to be picked out for its uniformly level 

 bottom, and it should be close to a hole containing barbel. 

 Float-fishing has this disadvantage, that the angler can usually 

 only fish near, and not in, the baited hole, and has, therefore, 

 to get the barbel out of their lair by judicious baiting. 

 Barbel are not found every year in the same quarters, so 

 that the angler should notice carefully where the fish are in 

 the habit of leaping, and be guided by that evidence in the choice 

 of his swims. In float-fishing, the bait must trip along the 

 bottom. If the swim runs shallow, the angler should let his 

 tackle go until it stops ; then hold it a little while — the bait, of 

 course, resting on the ground. The farther the float from the 

 angler, the harder must be the strike. It is time to strike when 

 the float goes under. 



Another method of float-fishing for barbel is termed " tight- 

 corking." The angler plumbs so that 1ft. or more (the stronger 

 the current, the longer the line below the float) of gut rests 

 on the bottom. He casts the tackle out some distance, and 

 works it down stream as far as it will go by keeping up the 

 point of his rod as the line runs out, which checks the float and 

 causes the bait to rise from the bottom. When the float is 

 over the fish, he holds it there until he has a bite. This is a 



