14 RODS FOR BOTTOM-FISHING. 



often from twelve to sixteen feet or more. The angler 

 employs two rods which are longer than the Thames punt 

 rod, sits sideways, and fishes over the side ; having also 

 a spare rod with a well-weighted line with a float, which 

 acts as a dead line beside him, while fishing with the other 

 rod in the usual way. The fish caught are chiefly roach 

 and bream ; for the first, barley-meal is the ground-bait, 

 and for the second, boiled barley, the hook-baits being 

 principally gentles and worms. Large takes are frequently 

 made, and it is common to estimate the take by the stone 

 weight. 



The rods used in bank and punt bottom-fishing with 

 the float, differ considerably. In punt-fishing the rod 

 should be light and handy, and from ten to twelve or 

 thirteen feet in length. If longer than this, the constant 

 striking through a long day's fishing tires the arm. Still 

 it is always advisable for the angler to use as long a rod 

 as he can conveniently manage, as it gives him not only 

 a longer swim but more power over it. Bamboo is the 

 material best to employ. Punt rods of solid wood are 

 rather too heavy, and the white cane too light for the 

 work, though many do use it. Some anglers, however, 

 prefer rods made of solid wood, as they are supposed to 

 stand heavy work better, though I have not found that they 

 do so. The best rod to stand work I ever had was a single 

 stick of bamboo without joint or ferrule of any kind, with 

 merely a spliced top lashed to it of some eighten inches or 

 two feet in length. I used this rod for twenty years, and 

 it is as straight as ever it was. 



For bank-fishing the rod should be longer and larger, 

 and it is seldom the custom to use a rod of less than 

 fifteen or sixteen feet in length ; while on the Lea and 

 elsewhere fishermen use reds of a prodigious and unwieldy 

 length, sometimes up to twenty-two or twenty-three feet. 

 These, of course from their great length, require to be 



