THE FLOAT TACKLE. 53 



bottom. (For barbel, which are a ground-routing fish, the 

 bait should always touch the bottom.) Coming, then, to 

 the spot which has been baited, and having determined 

 the depth, so as to let the bait drag slightly, cast in some 

 ten or a dozen broken worms, in order to set the fish 

 biting again taking care, of course, to keep the bait as 

 much in a line as possible with the spot which you have 

 taken the depth of. The float should be of the sort used 

 by the Nottingham fishers, and described hereafter. The 

 hook should be a straight round-bend worm-hook, of about 

 No. 5 or 6, and tied upon fine but round stained gut. 

 The nearest shot should be at least a foot or fifteen inches 

 from the hook, or, if it be requisite that the bait should 

 drag much, even more than that distance. The bait 

 should be the tail of a bright-red well-scoured lob-worm, 

 neatly threaded on the hook, with barely one-third of an 

 inch of the tail off the point of the hook, which should 

 always be thoroughly covered and concealed in the bait. 

 Be sure that your hook-bait is always a part of the best 

 and liveliest worm you can select. Having baited the 

 hook, drop it into the water, and allow it to travel on- 

 wards as described in Nottingham fishing. 



There is another method of fishing with a travelling 

 bait, but this is only to be done with special tackle, and 

 by a past master in the art. No float is used, but simply 

 a single small pistol bullet, fixed some two or three feet 

 above the bait. The rod should be light and slender, some- 

 thing longer and stronger than an ordinary float-rod, so as 

 to feel the lightest touch ; the rings must be upright to 

 allow the line, which should be the finest possible dressed 

 silk, to run freely, the gut and hook also as fine as cau be 

 used. The hook a moderate sized round-bend, about 6 or 

 7, baited with half a lob-worm ; this should be dropped in 

 and allowed to travel along the bottom throughout the 

 gwim without a check, just enough line being paid out. At 



