184 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



As is the case with every fish known to me, a variety of 

 baits are recommended for Chub, but I am quite prepared to 

 pin my faith to plain and simple cheese. It is as well to select a 

 "strong" cheese, the flavour of which is disseminated in the 

 water and whets the Chub's appetite ; but old cheese has the 

 serious drawback of soon becoming very hard, and so interfering 

 with the strike. A piece is worked in the ringers into a paste and 

 compressed round the hook. With the punt fixed at the head 

 of the " run," the bait is allowed to follow its course. As a rule, 

 the stream will be powerful enough to carry the line off the reel, but 

 the hand must be ever in position ready to touch the reel when 

 the even progress of the float is in danger of being arrested, for 

 it is essential that no jerks be communicated to the bait. The 

 theory upon which the admirable Nottingham style of fishing 

 chiefly depends for success is embodied in the motto, " fine 

 and far off," and by its means the Chub fisherman fishes with a 

 light heart, thirty, forty, and even fifty yards away. Great care 

 must be observed, for at these distances the line may easily 

 become slack, in which case it will not be possible to strike the 

 fish in the event of a bite. Therefore, have the forefinger 

 on the reel, always keeping the line taut. The light silk line 

 does not sink and so is always in sight. The farther the 

 bait is away from the angler the more pronounced must be 

 his strike, and the instant he has struck he must begin to 

 wind at the reel, so as to immediately hold his fish. Then 

 he can pause for an instant to see what his captive means 

 to do. The elasticity in thirty or forty yards of line is very 

 considerable, so, with a quantity of line out, the danger of a 

 breakage from the first rush of the fish is not great, especially 



