70 THE SLIDER. 



of course the check of the indarubber allows the float to 

 be pulled down in the usual way, but it does not offer 

 sufficient resistance to prevent either its being wound up, 

 or sent through the rod-rings when cast. The hole to be 

 fished may be thirty feet deep and twenty feet from the 

 shore, and the rod but twelve feet long, yet by the aid 

 of the slider it can easily be fished. (See Plate II. fig. 1, 

 page 70.) 



The plider is now a good deal used by Thames fishermen 

 for traveller-fishing in deepish water, because in playing 

 a good fish with a fixed float, the float often comes up to the 

 rod-point and prevents any more line from being wound 

 in ; and if the line below the float be much longer than the 

 rod, there is much difficulty in landing a big fish, whereas 

 the slider slips down to the uppermost shot if necessary, 

 and always accommodates itself to the depth of the water ; 

 besides which, if the bait or tackle hangs for a moment 

 on the bottom, the raising of the rod-point brings a direct 

 action on the line and tackle, and clears it without sud- 

 denly checking and altering the position of the float, or 

 making a splash with it which would startle the sharp-eyed 

 fish. Indeed, the slider possesses all the qualifications of 

 ordinary floats, and some which are peculiarly its own, and 

 which the others are devoid of. In adapting the Notting- 

 ham fashion to Thames punt or traveller-fishing, the slider 

 is not necessarily used, but a somewhat longer rod than 

 the Nottingham bank- fisher employs is used, as the Thames 

 punt-fisher is closer down to the water and has often a 

 longer stretch of line to lift off the surface, for he frequently 

 lets out fifty or sixty yards of line and strikes his fish at 

 times a long way off. In this kind of fishing the rod is 

 held and the tackle employed in the way that is described 

 in chub-fishing. 1 



1 I have been told, since the first edition of my book was published, that 

 my drawing and apprehension of the action of the slider as respects the 



