'! TKYINti TIM-: DEPTH. 



But the Nottingham man avoids this ; he adjusts his float 

 at what he supposes to be about the right depth, casts his 

 tackle out to the exact distance from the shore at which 

 he intends to fish, and allows his float to drift down the 

 stream. If it floats in quite an upright position without 

 the slightest symptom of dragging, the line is too short, 

 and the depth below the float must be increased. If the 

 float bob under, the shots are on the ground, and the line 

 must be shortened below the float, and so on. Thus after 

 four or five swims are tried, he hits by judgment the 

 right depth, which is for the worm to trip or drag slightly 

 over the bottom without the shot coming in contact with 

 it, for if the worm be properly hooked, and the bottom not 

 foul, the tackle will nearly always carry the worm with it ; 

 should it hang, the slightest raising of the rod-point will 

 loosen it. 



Having found the depth of the water opposite to him, 

 he proceeds to try it for the whole length of the swim 

 for a Nottingham angler's swim is often from a dozen 

 to twenty yards in length; sometimes it does not com- 

 mence until the float is almost that distance from him, 

 the intermediate water being a cautionary compliment to 

 the fish's sharpness of sight and sensation. Of course, 

 having taken up the position or line of swim, if I may so 

 express it, which he means his float to travel over, it is 

 expedient to keep in that line, and it is there his ground- 

 bait will be cast, and a few feet outside or inside of it will 

 be so far from the fish. Considerable nicety of judgment 

 is required to keep to this. Having now to try the swim 

 the whole length, and having pitched his tackle out to the 

 requisite distance, he lowers the point of the rod until it 

 slightly inclines from the thigh towards the surface of 

 the water, and follows the float (with neither too free 

 nor too tight a line) with the point of the rod until 

 the float has all the line he can give from the rod-point 





