22 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



however, commit myself on this subject, but leave it an 

 open question- 



As this little book more particularly relates to the Not- 

 tingham style of fishing, it may be as well here to describe 

 the method and the various appliances required for its suc- 

 cessful practice. In the first place we will take the rod. 

 Now, a Nottingham bottom fisher's rod is an article on which 

 he very much prides himself. It has to be tapered, from 

 the butt to the point, to a nicety, and be as light as possible, 

 with a spring in it that will hook a roach by a single turn of 

 the wrist. No hea^'y clumsy rod is found in the hands of a 

 first-rate Nottingham fisher ; it has to be nicely balanced, or 

 else he discards it at once and selects another. My favourite 

 rod was made expressly for me, so if I explain its construction 

 you will see at once the sort of rod used by a Nottingham bottom 

 fisher. It is made in three joints ; the butt is of the best 

 red deal, the middle piece of the same wood and lancewood, 

 spliced together about one-third the distance from the top 

 ferrule, and the top piece is made entirely of lancewood. It 

 is a little over twelve feet in length, and it combines light- 

 ness, with strength and balance, to a remarkable degree. It 

 win hook roach in a moment by a single turn of the wrist, 

 and the most powerful barbel and chub have been brought to 

 bank by it, and even the lordly salmon has succumbed to its 

 spring. The reel fittings are placed nine inches from the butt 

 end, and there the rod is 1 J in. in diameter, the ferrule on the 

 top of the bottom piece is five-eighths of an inch in diameter 

 inside, and the one on the middle piece is five-sixteenths of an 

 inch inside. The rings on the rod are placed in the following 

 order : — The first ring is immediately under the ferrule on the 

 bottom piece ; and the others measuring from that ring are 

 at the following distances from each other: — 17 in., 17 in., 

 14| in., 10 in., 10 in., 9 in., 8 in., 6^ in., and 6 in. The ring 

 or loop at the extreme point of the rod is made of steel. If 



