BOTTOM PISHING IN THE 

 NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



AN old fisherman tells me that thirty years ago, you might 

 count the anglers of my native place on the fingers of one 

 hand, while at the present moment they may be counted by 

 hundreds ; and the same may be said of the other towns and 

 districts in the kingdom. We may safely say that anglers 

 have increased a thousandfold during the last half -century ; 

 and there is no other branch of sport or pastime that has 

 made such rapid strides in the same time, and 'tis well that 

 it is so. Civilization in its onward strides has not even 

 spared the fish ; and they, as time has rolled on, have become 

 cunning and crafty, and so craft and cunning have now to be 

 resorted to in order to capture them. Fifty years ago it was 

 comparatively easy to make a good bag of fish ; but now in 

 such well-fished rivers as the Trent and Thames, it is only an 

 artist in the craft that can do so. Then, an angler was a 

 rarity, met only occasionally, and looked upon as a sort of 

 rara-avis ; now we see him upon every length and reach, 

 from the youngster with his cheap rod and primitive tackle, 

 to the grey-haired patriarch who sits silently ledgering for 

 roach, and yet the vast army of British anglers are steadily 

 increasing, as is shown by the ever-growing demand for rods, 

 lines, hooks, and gut. 



The great majority of our anglers belong to the working 

 class. Thousands who toil in our workshops and factories, 



