THE BAEBEL. 71 



had been shot from a bridge into the river ; this sound is 

 made by a shoal of barbel cleaning themselves, and if there 

 is a lot of weeds on those shallows, they go rushing in and 

 out among them, and thread them in all directions. I have 

 seen weed beds twenty yards long and five wide, that have been 

 literally alive with them. Poachers, too, take advantage of 

 this peculiarity of the barbel, and put a long net over the 

 weed beds, and take them to the extent of stones, I might 

 say " tons ;" for a few years ago a party of three went every 

 morning for a fortnight, and came back every time with as 

 many fish as they could fairly stagger under. I am afraid 

 this was a general plan in many districts on the Trent. It 

 was grievous to see so many fine fish out of condition, to be 

 sold for about one penny a pound as wholesome food, when 

 it was anything but wholesome. I last year saw two or 

 three lots of barbel and chub that had been taken in the 

 same manner, but it was a few days after the fifteenth of 

 June, and I have also seen numbers too that have been taken 

 with the cad-bait during May and June, when they have 

 been in a gravid state. Barbel spawn about the latter part 

 of May, and retire to the deep holes about July ; they should 

 certainly not be taken before then. This fish delights in 

 such places as old walls, where old piles and posts stick up 

 out of the water, or in an eddy under a shelving bank, or 

 about old sunken trees or timber, providing the water is 

 tolerably deep ; he delights, too, in the rushing, boiling 

 waters of the weir and other deep rapid waters, for his power- 

 ful fins enable him to stem the strongest current. 



I have heard anglers again and again remark on the scarcity 

 of the barbel in the Trent ; there is no wonder at it when we 

 consider the vast quantities that used to be taken in the 

 manner I have described, but we must hope for better things. 

 In my opinion netting ought to be stopped from the first of 

 March till the first of August, or better still for altogether, 

 and then we may hope for a return of the good old days in 

 barbel fishing here, when a hundredweight of fish was not 

 considered anything extraordinary. The baits for a barbel 

 consist of worms, slugs, gentles, grubs, scratchings, or cheese ; 

 although odd fish are sometimes taken by strange baits, such 



