TEENT FISHING. 39 



tackle, the bottom one not less than a foot or so from the 

 hook ; the others are placed on up the tackle, at distances 

 of five or six inches from each other, till you get as many 

 on as you require. This plan is a deal neater than that 

 sometimes practised on the Thames, where all the shots are 

 crowded together in one place, about six inches from the 

 hook. With a fine line, quill float, and thin tackle 

 weighted with some half dozen split shots, the Trent or 

 Nottingham anglers fish for roach, dace, chub, bream, and 

 sometimes for barbel, although we have a set of heavier 

 apparatus, called "light corking tackle," for fishing in a 

 heavier stream. 



I think I have made it pretty clear to the tyro, or the 

 would-be angler in the Nottingham style, the kind of the 

 various appliances required for its practice. A very formid- 

 able list of articles is sometimes given as being necessary for 

 an angler's outfit, which would suggest the necessity of having 

 a room to itself, in which to store and label the several items, 

 but they, or at least very many of them, are not required. 

 I have given what will be sufficient for every purpose of the 

 bottom fisher. 



Angling, we are told, is becoming more and more a science 

 every day ; fish are becoming more scarce, and more difficult 

 to catch, while the sport is becoming more and more popular ; 

 new lines, new hooks, new baits, and tackle are being so con- 

 stantly invented, that they puzzle the most practised angler 

 to become acquainted with them, much more the fish, cunning 

 as they are ; but the fisherman may have one consolation amid 

 all these new inventions, the old skill and the old appliances 

 have not yet lost their charm, but will secure a basket of fish 

 when some of the modern inventions are completely at fault. 

 I have seen good sport obtained with a willow rod, a yard or 

 two of string for a line, and a bit of stick for a float, when 

 the most expensive outfit was useless for the purposes of 

 sport ; attention to minute details are of more value than an 

 expensive outfit. Skill is of a deal more importance than 

 costly tools, and even theory itself is not of much value 

 without experience. 



Having now given the outfit of a Nottingham bottom- 



