72 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



as bits of pudding, pieces of fat bacon, or strips of lean beef 

 &c., &c., while a piece of a lampern is a good bait for big fish. 

 In some continental waters we hear of the barbel reaching 

 the extraordinary weight of forty and fifty pounds ; but in 

 England we have nothing like that, from sixteen to eight- 

 teen pounds being the top weight for a barbel in the Trent 

 and the Thames, which two rivers, by-the-bye, are the best 

 barbel rivers in England. The biggest that I ever saw was 

 thirteen pounds in weight, but I heard of one that was taken 

 on a night-line with lampern bait which reached seventeen 

 pounds. Big fellows like these do not, however, often fall 

 to the lot of the angler ; he may be well satisfied with one of 

 ten pounds, and a nine or eight-pounder is not to be despised, 

 indeed, I should question if any angler during the last six 

 years has taken a bag of barbel of, say, twenty fish that have 

 averaged above three pounds each fish. An angler fishing 

 Sir Henry Bromley's water at Stoke, about three years ago, 

 caught, I believe, fifty barbel, and the whole lot only weighed 

 seventy-two pounds. An old angler also told me that the 

 best day's barbel fishing he ever had on the Trent was about 

 thirty years ago. He caught thirty-two fish, five of them 

 weighed from twelve to fifteen pounds each, about a dozen 

 were from six to ten pounds each, and not one of the others 

 was under three pounds a glorious bag. He says the 

 thirty-two fish weighed 224 Ibs., being an average of seven 

 pounds each fish. We must not expect anything of the sort 

 to happen to us, however, until nets are things of the past, 

 and poachers cease to exist. 



Some anglers may suppose that as the barbel is a strong 

 and powerful fish, strong and powerful tackle is required to 

 take them. Now this is not necessary, for the tackle that 

 will kill the chub will, in skilful hands, kill the barbel, and 

 as the fish have become more and more educated, the angler's 

 chance of success is all the greater if he fishes with fine 

 tackle. What I have said in this respect with regard to the 

 chub, holds equally good with the barbel. The rod, reel, 

 and line described in Chapter II. will be just the thing for 

 barbel fishing, and your bottom tackle should be as fine as 

 you like, providing it is good, sound, and strong. It should 



