40 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



difference to him ; he can be taken by anglers knowing his 

 habits and haunts in the winter months as well as in the 

 summer, spring, or autumn ; only he seems to me to be a bit 

 of an epicure, for the bait that he will take one month he 

 utterly ignores during the next. I don't mean this in regard 

 to all baits, but in some particular instances. For example, 

 he will revel in the luxury of a nice bunch of gentles, 

 and then perhaps one may go a few days after, and the 

 fish will have none of them, but just drop a wasp grub 

 over Master Chub's nose, and your float will disappear with a 

 rush. 



In England the chub seldom exceeds the weight of six 

 pounds, though odd ones of seven or eight pounds' weight 

 may exist. I question, however, if there are a score of fish 

 of the latter weights in the whole of the five hundred miles 

 of the Trent and the Thames. Indeed, if an angler is for- 

 tunate enough to capture a chub of six pounds, supposing he 

 can afford it, I should say by all means have it preserved. 

 It will be an ornament to his room ; and every time he sees 

 it, it will bring back to his recollection the glorious bit of 

 sport he had with it before it was grassed. The largest chub 

 that I have as yet taken out of the Trent weighed five and 

 three-quarter pounds — a splendid fish, short, thick, and well 

 fed, who fought hard for his liberty. I was fishing the 

 locust in a smart stream, when he took with no more break 

 than a four-ounce dace. The largest that I ever saw is one 

 that was taken by Mr. Cubley, Crown Street, Newark, out 

 of the Muskham waters of the Trent. This gentleman is a 

 first-class angler, and the chub just mentioned is now in a 

 glass case, as a trophy of his angling skill, and measures 

 twenty-five inches in length, sixteen inches in girth, and 

 weighs a little over six pounds; a splendid fish in the 

 opinion of all anglers who have seen it. I have had also 

 authentic information about the capture of a chub, that I 



