FEBRUARY 53 



more than 2ft. being left between the float and the 

 rod point. This seemed to be the only method, as the 

 strong cross wind bellied out the Nottingham line, and 

 with float-ledgering the rod point waved and the float 

 jerked about to such a degree that it was impossible to 

 see bites. 



Almost the first swim my friend got a good fish over 

 a pound and a quarter, and the next I myself got a 

 smaller fish. Then, as if by signal, the wind burst forth 

 with redoubled fury, and it became impossible to hold 

 the rods steady or to distinguish bites at all. Leaving 

 my friend to carry on his war with the elements, I 

 walked down half-a-mile to a little weir, and found a 

 nice pool about fifteen yards wide and four feet deep, 

 sheltered by withy bushes and fed by a shallow rush- 

 grown race. On the far side of the pool, in the oily, 

 swirling eddy, there was a small rise of what appeared 

 to be apple-green duns; as I sat and prospected a fish 

 rose and took one. How one longed for the old fly-rod 

 and the ever-useful partition-box of floaters ! As these 

 were in London, the next best substitute was tried, and 

 the Nottingham rod was rigged with a free-running 

 reel, a sewing-cotton line, and a heavy float ; a 3ft. 

 bottom, well-shotted, was soon ready, and within a 

 minute or two four or five gentles on a crystal hook 

 went wriggling down the far side into the gliding water 

 of the eddy. Slowly the float travelled round under 

 the opposite bank, and then it slightly dipped ; a strike, 

 a rush down stream steadily checked, and the fish 

 worked up without disturbance into the near side eddy, 

 and soon a nice roach of lib. 6oz. was kicking on the 

 bank. Another bait was adjusted and again the cast 

 was made, this time a little too far, and the hook 

 caught an overhanging willow bough on the opposite 

 bank. I shook the butt and pulled with rod up, then 

 down, straining upstream and down with gradually 

 increasing force, for, of course, the clearing ring had on 

 this occasion been left at home. 



At last a ping was heard, and the line, parted at the 

 top ring, fluttered dismally over to the far side of the 



