32 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



punt or boat, must fish for them some distance from him, and 

 he must, therefore, when throwing in his bait, calculate 

 whereabouts it will ground or be dispersed on the bottom 

 rather nicely, because over that part of the swim he must fish 

 the most carefully. This should not be nearer to him than ten 

 yards, and from twelve to twenty will be better. Use Notting- 

 ham tackle, which will be described presently. The float, 

 of course, must suit the stream. The hook, if greaves or cheese 

 be used, should be a small triangle, and the depth plumbed 

 so that the bait may travel naturally along the bottom without 

 dragging too much. The Nottingham tackle used in " light 

 corking " will be about the tackle for this purpose. The 

 tackle dropped in, and the swim commenced, the rod is held 

 almost upright, the point inclining a little forward. If the 

 weight of the stream does not take the line out fast enough, 

 it must be handed off the reel. The great object is not to check 

 the line, but to let the bait travel steadily onward. Presently 

 the float disappears and the angler must strike smartly and 

 firmly (as he may have a good length of line to lift off the water) 

 back over his right shoulder. If he has hooked his fish, he 

 then winds steadily on him until he winds him up into the 

 swim under the point of the rod, when, if he has been brought 

 up from any distance, he is usually fit for the landing-net. 

 In this kind of fishing, which is called " traveller " fishing 

 (the float being the traveller), a long swim is made if the 

 bottom admits it, and it is common enough to strike fish forty 

 or even fifty yards off. Many sorts of fish are caught in this 

 way, as I shall show. 



Chub are often, too, caught when float-fishing in the ordinary 

 roach and dace style, either from punt or bank, mostly, 

 however, at the extreme end of the swim, and if there be a chub 

 about, a swim of some five or ten yards extra will often be 

 rewarded with a good one. Many trout and even salmon 

 rivers abound in chub, as the Welsh Wye and Irvon, where 

 they are a positive nuisance to the angler, and take the place 

 and food of better fish. I once, when fishing the Wye with a 

 very light eleven-foot trout rod, had two of these brutes on 

 at the same time of about two pounds each, and no landing- 

 net. I was fishing a very promising run of trout and grayling 

 water, and, to my disgust, they quite spoiled all chance of 

 sport m it. They are very abundant also in the Kennet, Wind- 

 rush, and many other excellent trout streams, which suffer 

 severely by their superabundance. 



