THE BARBEL. 43 



eighty or a hundred yards of " Nottingham line," 

 a float eight or ten inches long, of trifling bulk, and 

 a light lead of just sufficient weight to keep the 

 bait at the bottom without stopping the float, 

 which is then allowed to travel down the stream, 

 dragging the bait with it, to any distance within 

 the reach of the line which the nature of the 

 bottom will allow. This is by far the most scien- 

 tific, the most sportsman-like, and the most killing 

 mode of angling for the barbel, and I commend 

 it to the attention of my readers. 



In the days of my youth, barbel were more con- 

 fiding or more greedy than at the present time. 

 Ignorant and unskilled as I was, and provided 

 with the most ordinary tackle, I never failed to 

 kill five or six fish in Shepperton Deeps, under the 

 auspices of Purday (I think his Christian name 

 was John), the father or grandfather of the Pur- 

 days who still practise the craft in the same 

 locality. Although of late years I have generally 

 spent the autumn months on the banks of the 

 Thames, and have frequently fished for barbel, I 

 have had but one really successful day. The 

 Court journalist was pleased to notify my success 

 to the world ; and if the record of that excellent 

 paper be true and I have no reason to doubt it ? 

 though I did not myself weigh the fish I killed 



