138 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



These two sorts are commonly called " browett eels " on the 

 Trent. Last year I and a friend caught two eels down at 

 Carlton about two pounds each. They were the silver eels, 

 and they were very marked and distinct species, as I have 

 described above. The non-migratory or yellow-bellied eels 

 are also divided into two sorts, the nose of the one being 

 very much sharper than the other. I have caught some of 

 these yellow-bellied eels with a mouth like a frog ; they are, 

 however, not so big, nor anything like so good eating as the 

 silver-bellied ones. Trent eels will sometimes reach a very 

 great weight — four, five, or six pounds being frequently taken 

 in the net. The two largest eels I ever saw taken from the 

 Trent were caught on a night-line at Collingham, with a 

 nest of young blackbirds for bait. The two weighed a trifle 

 over fifteen pounds ; one was eight pounds and the other 

 seven. I have seen several six pounds each ; but these big 

 ones, when you come to cook them, are very oily. The best 

 for the table are those from a pound to two pounds ; they 

 are very rich and luscious. The poet truly says, — 



" The Trent hath such eels, and the Witham pike, 

 That in England there is not the like." 



In Italy I have heard that the eel will reach the extraor- 

 dinary weight of twenty pounds, but I believe the biggest 

 that was taken in English waters weighed a trifle over eleven 

 pounds. The yellow-bellied or non-migratory eels in the 

 Trent very seldom exceed a pound and a half ; though in 

 some lakes and ponds they range considerably over this. In 

 Balderton ballast-hole, for instance, eels of this species, are 

 taken of the weight of three or four pounds. 



There is hardly a piece of water of any description in Eng- 

 land, even a muddy horsepond, or ditch, that does not con- 

 tain eels of some sort. They are found in almost any place, 

 in the foul, muddy, and stagnant water of a cutting, or in the 

 boiling waters of a weir. The eel gets under stones, in holes 



