36 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



I have now, I believe, described the outfit and the general 

 modus operandi of the Nottingham bottom fisher. He is 

 not beholden to punts and puntsmen for his sport ; he can 

 wander along the banks, select his swims, and fish them in 

 the deadly and scientific style I have been attempting to 

 portray. He pursues his avocation amid scenes of natural 

 beauty ; he follows the windings of the river, and becomes 

 acquainted with its course. He knows the solitude of its 

 silent depths and the brilliancy of its shallows ; he is con- 

 fined to no seasons ; he salutes Nature with the budding 

 spring, the rustling leaves make music in his ear before the 

 mist has rolled from the water, or the dew been kissed from 

 the grass by the rays of the sun. He throws his line when 

 ruddy autumn, with its wealth of fruit, hangs heavy on the 

 bough, or the corn-fields wave in golden abundance on the 

 slopes of the uplands, the storm and the tempest scarcely 

 checks him, and he can pursue his sport when winter's winds 

 blow cold over the meadows, and the trees glitter like dia- 

 monds, with a wealth of hoar frost. If he is an ardent 

 sportsman, he cares not for the rude blasts of winter, for 

 now is the time for pike and chub ; he can tramp over the 

 snow to his sport with as much zest as though the meadows 

 were clad in the gayest garb, and when the big pike seizes 

 the glittering spinning bait, and when the thin, tapering 

 wand is bending double from his powerful rushes, the angler 

 forgets that the day is cold, and that there is snow under his 

 feet. Let none say this sport is ignoble. " Ignoble," in- 

 deed. Let him answer who has felt the powerful rush of a 

 ten-pound barbel on the fine tackle of a Nottingham bottom 

 fisher. What hopes and fears he has had, what a time of 

 pleasurable enjoyment until, wearied out, the grand fish lies 

 in the landing-net. Such, then, is the tackle and sport of a 

 Nottingham bottom fisher. I wish to initiate the tyro into 



