TRENT FISHING. 41 



twenty to thirty feet from the bank, and he is fishing with 

 very light tackle, too light to be cast from the reel (for the 

 reel would not revolve sufficiently for casting with such a 

 light weight), and that he cannot coil it on the grass at his 

 feet, nor allow any to hang loose from the reel ; the fine line 

 he is using would twist and tangle up. He cannot reach the 

 swim with the rod, and what line there is is hanging from the 

 point. What is to be done ? A Nottingham angler holds 

 the rod in his right hand, and with his left takes hold of the 

 line as high up the rod between the rings as he can reach, 

 and draws down as much line as he requires. He then has 

 some four or five yards of line in his left hand, and with 

 what is hanging from the point of the rod, he can then throw 

 the distance he requires, which he does by bringing the rod 

 away from the river at about an angle of 45. He then sends 

 the point of the rod smartly over the river, at the same time 

 letting go of the line he held in his left hand, the line will 

 now go fair and neatly to its destination without tangle or 

 catch. Some Nottingham anglers, when they want to cast 

 extra long distances, draw down two lengths of line from the 

 rod, the rings of course parting them, and throw in the same 

 way as before. By these means, after a little practice, one 

 can throw to nearly any distance he likes. 



I read somewhere a while ago that there is not an angler, 

 nor yet an angling writer living, who does not owe a debt of 

 gratitude to Mr. Francis Francis. Since I penned the notes 

 for the first edition of this book, I had presented to me a 

 copy of Mr. Francis' "Book on Angling," and I found that 

 in that book we both used very nearly similar language in 

 describing the method of fishing a swim in the Nottingham 

 style. As a practical Trent angler I must say that it cannot 

 be better described than it has been by Mr. Francis, so I 

 have altered my original notes a bit, and willingly and cheer- 

 fully acknowledge my obligation to him in this matter ; 

 although, I must say in justice to myself, that, like the 

 Irishman, I followed his advice before he gave it me ; and 

 I might say while I am on this subject that I found his book 

 very useful to me when I was rewriting and arranging my 

 notes for this volume, as giving me many valuable hints as 



