THE BAEBEL. 73 



be stained as recommended in chub fishing. When you 

 make your tackle, it would perhaps be as well to pick out 

 the strongest lengths, and leave the very finest for chub or 

 roach tackle, but always remember and have the thinnest 

 length of gut at the bottom for the hook or hooks to be 

 whipped to. Your tackle should be about four feet long ; I 

 like a long tackle because you can have all your split shots 

 on the gut without having to pinch any on the line. There 

 are several sizes of these split shots, and the angler ought to 

 have a supply of different sorts in his bag. For a float he should 

 have a pelican or swan quill when fishing a light stream, and 

 a cork float for a heavier one. A No. 5 or 6 hook will be 

 the best for the bottom one, and about an inch above this 

 there is a No. 8, called a lip-hook. The angler, when he 

 whips these hooks on, should use the pink silk mentioned 

 in Chapter II. This is a worm tackle (the tackle required 

 for other baits will be described further on); and there 

 should not be a split shot less than fifteen inches from the 

 bait. Some anglers for float fishing put a long lead on the 

 line close to the loop of the tackle, but I like the split shots 

 on the tackle, the larger ones nearer the top, and the smaller 

 ones lower down. Enthusiastic anglers, or tyros in the art 

 would perhaps be the best name for them, would, perhaps, 

 on receiving information that the barbel were biting, get a 

 lot of ground bait in a hurry and dash off to the river and 

 pitch it in anywhere, in the belief that any quantity of 

 barbel would be attracted into the swim, only waiting for a 

 bait to be dropped over their noses in order to be dragged 

 out wholesale. Now, my dear brother angler, let me caution 

 you in this respect don't waste any ground bait if you can 

 help it, let caution mark your every movement in this respect 

 You might pitch your ground bait in a place that is entirely 

 unsuited to the barbel, and wonder why you don't catch 

 them, when the fact is there are none there to catch, and then 

 go home disappointed, and say that barbel fishing is all a 

 delusion and a snare, and that there is not such a thing in the 

 river as a barbel. You are furthermore as cross as two sticks, 

 and vow you will give up fishing for ever, when in reality 

 the fault is yours and does not lie in the fish or river at alL 



