140 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



from each other. The hooks are big ones, and are tied 

 on strong twisted horsehair ; the bait is a very large lob- 

 worm, or a young bird, or a bleak, for it must be noticed 

 that large eels are fish and flesh eaters ; a piece of lampern 

 is also a very good bait on a night-line. Grand fish of four, 

 five, or six pounds, are taken on these lines, while a big barbel 

 or chub are occasionally pulled out on them. A piece of 

 brick is fastened to each end of these lines to sink the baits 

 well. The lines are then thrown in the river and left, and in 

 the morning a drag hook and cord is used to pull them out. 

 Sniggling is another method of taking eels ; for this a stick 

 about six or eight feet long is used, with another short piece 

 lashed at the top so that it forms a right angle, a few yards of 

 coarse twine and a stout needle wiU complete the outfit of 

 a sniggler. The string is lashed to the needle with a bit 

 of waxed silk, beginning at the eye end of the needle, and 

 finishing about the middle, the point of the needle will then 

 be upwards. The end of the needle-point is stuck into a very 

 thin bit of stick or a crowquill, and the needle is thrust into 

 half a lob-worm at the broken end, until the whole of the 

 needle is in the worm. The point is then just brought out 

 of the worm, and the point of the needle is stuck very lightly 

 in the end of the cross piece of stick, at the top. The cord 

 is not tied to the stick at all, but held in the left hand, while 

 the right holds the rod ; and then the angler looks about him 

 for a suitable place, such as a hole under the water in an 

 overhanging bank, or under a stone, or in old walls, or old 

 rotten boards under a landing-stage, &c., and when he finds 

 one, he puts the worm on the end of the stick into it. If 

 there happens to be an eel there, he will seize hold of the 

 worm and pull it and the needle from the stick ; the angler 

 will feel the tug, and then he gently moves the stick away 

 and throws it on the bank. After a few seconds, when the 

 eel has swallowed the worm, the angler pulls the string, and 



