28 BOTTOM PISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



lengths of gut for the top, and the finest for the bottom 

 length whereto the hook is whipped. Tie then a loop on the 

 topmost piece of gut for the line to be fastened to, and now 

 you want a hook. I think the best are the straight round 

 bend bright Carlisle hooks. You will require an assortment, 

 in sizes from four to twelve, to suit the various fish and tackle. 

 These hooks must be whipped to the gut with slightly waxed 

 silk. Some anglers use shoemaker's wax for this purpose, 

 but I don't like it, for no matter what colour your silk is, the 

 shoemaker's wax turns it nearly black, and when your hook 

 is whipped on, it looks as though it were put on with dark 

 silk, and a dark whipping does not look well with a white 

 bait. 



Now, the drapers sell small spools of fine silk in different 

 colours, at one penny a spool. I should recommend the 

 angler to buy four of these diff'erent coloured silks, white, 

 pink, yellow, and green ; the white for paste, pith, &c., the 

 pink for woims, the yellow for maggots or gentles, &c., and 

 the gTcen in case you should meet with some fish that are 

 vegetarians ; but more of this anon as I proceed with the 

 diff'erent sorts of fish. For these different coloured silks you 

 will, of course, require some colourless wax, and a very 

 useful, hard, and tenacious wax may be made for a trifle 

 in this wise : — Take two ounces of the best resin and one 

 quarter of an ounce of beeswax, simmer them together in a 

 small pipkin for ten minutes ; then add one quarter of an 

 ounce of tallow, and simmer again for a quarter of an hour ; 

 then pour the mass out into a vessel of water, and work it 

 up with the fingers until perfectly pliable. The ball should 

 then be put for several hours in a bucket of cold water ; and 

 when you take it out put it in a tin, and keep it in a cool 

 place out of the air or sun ; it will last an angler two or three 

 years. When he goes fishing he will require to take a small 

 piece with him, and a little flat tin-tack box will be just the 



