64 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



proceeding is to bait it, and there are various methods of 

 doing this. In order to suit the bottom, you should know 

 how the current is. It may, perhaps, be different under the 

 surface to what it is at the top, and you must bait accord- 

 ingly ; a little practice will make you judge this to a nicety. 

 If you fail to see any barbel jump, then you must choose a 

 swim where there is an eddy by the side of a swift stream, a 

 ledge, or a deep hole where some old posts stick up, &c., as 

 these afford shelter for the fish. The big fellows like a lazy 

 eddy by the side of a swift stream, the curl of the water 

 bringing the food round to them as it is swept down the 

 stream. A good place to find barbel is at an abrupt bend of 

 the river, where the stream rushes hard against the opposite 

 bank. At the inside of this stream a big curl or eddy is 

 generally formed, and in this the fish are wont to congregate. 

 If, when you carefully try such places as these you find a 

 tolerably level bottom with about eight or ten feet of water, 

 you are almost certain to find barbel, and then you must mind 

 and throw your ground bait in so that it glides into the hole 

 or eddy, or else it will perhaps be swept away down the 

 stream. The best way to try the set of the stream is to take 

 two or three small pieces of wood or stick and throw them on 

 the water, and you will see by the way they float down where 

 to put your ground bait in to suit the circumstances of the 

 case. And now having found a swim that holds barbel, the 

 next thing is to bait it. One way of baiting a swim, as 

 practised on the Trent, is to procure half a stone of scratch - 

 ings. Be sure and get English cake, don't be put off with 

 anything the dealers might want to impose upon you, for the 

 foreign stuff is not fit even for ground bait. When you have 

 got the right sort, break it up small and put it in a pipkin 

 and pour boiling water upon it sufficient to cover it, and let 

 it stand all night. Then take about half a peck of small or 

 refuse potatoes (but not diseased ones) and boil them until 



