72 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



had them as usual astride his nose, when, by accident, they 

 fell off and sank to rise no more. There, in fact, we were in 

 fine water with coarse tackle, trying to catch barbel. Of 

 course it was " no go." The result was only two small fish 

 in five hours. " There are no barbel in the swim," said my 

 old friend ; " let's give it up and go home." " Oh no," said 

 I, " let's try a little longer. I believe it is all owing to 

 your spectacles that we are getting no barbel, for I believe 

 there are a lot down there, only they keep putting your gig- 

 lamps on in turns to examine the bait." The idea of a big 

 barbel with a pair of goggles on was too much for my old 

 friend's risible faculties. He looked at me and laughed, then 

 drew the cork from the bottle, and, as he said " the joke was 

 too good to pass by without wetting," took a good swig. 

 About half an hour after, another angler came down with his 

 rod and tackle, we explained our difficulty to him ; he knew 

 his business ; he looked at our worms, they were all right ; 

 so, at our invitation, he put his tackle together, and now, for 

 the first time, I saw my mistake. His tackle did not look 

 strong enough to land a roach, while his line, I thought, 

 would hardly do to whip hooks on with, so fine was it. In 

 about an hour, however, eight more good barbel lay on the 

 grass, all killed with his fine pale blue tackle, without losing 

 a single fish. This was rather a severe eye-opener to us, and 

 proved by demonstration that fine tackle was decidedly 

 superior to ours. Those anglers who go in for extra fine 

 fishing, use a sort of gut that is sold at the tackle shops, 

 called " patent gut :" it is very fine and very strong. I like 

 a length of it on the bottom of my barbel tackle. I have seen 

 Mr. Kudd, of the Reindeer Inn, !N'ewark, use a barbel tackle 

 made entirely of this fine patent gut, and with a very light 

 float he has succeeded in making some grand catches of 

 barbel. Once, in particular, I remember he and three visitors 

 were barbel fishing and used that sort of tackle, and at nearly 



