TRENT FISBING. ^ 33 



and scare the fish to begin with. A I^ottingham fisherman, 

 however, adjusts his float at what he thinks to be about the 

 right depth, and casts his tackle out to the exact distance 

 from the bank at which he intends to fish, and allows his 

 float to travel down the stream. If it floats in an upright 

 position without either dragging or bobbing, he is not deep 

 enough, and so he loosens the cap on the float and increases 

 the length below it. If now the float bobs under, the shots 

 are on the ground, and the line must be shortened under the 

 float. After he has had a swim or two, he can by this means 

 hit the proper distance between hook and float, which allows 

 • the bait to trip along the bottom without any of the 

 shots coming in contact with it. Should the bait during its 

 passage down the swim at any time hang, the raising of the 

 rod point will loosen it. 



Now, having found the exact depth and had a swim or two 

 down the entire length he intends to fish (for a Nottingham 

 angler's swim is very often twenty or twenty-five yards in 

 length), our fisherman throws in his ground bait so that it is 

 distributed over the swim. Considerable judgment is re- 

 quired for this, according to the strength or set of the stream, 

 for it is necessary to fish over your ground bait, and you must 

 calculate carefully whereabouts your ground bait is likely to 

 fall. If it is thrown up the stream too high it will ground 

 too soon, or if too low, it grounds out of your reach below 

 the swim. There is a good deal in this, and many a bad day's 

 sport has been ascribed to any other cause but the right one 

 in consequence of a miscalculation on this important point. 

 We will now suppose the swim the angler has selected is from 

 twenty to thirty feet from the bank, and he is fishing with 

 very light tackle, too light to be cast from the reel (for the 

 reel would not revolve sufficiently for casting with such a 

 light weight), and that he cannot coil it on the grass at his 

 feet, nor allow any to hang loose from the reel ; the fine line 



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