THE BAEBEL. 83 



in fact, you may put us down as being very much un- 

 initiated just then. Well, as it happened, we had got our 

 ground bait in all right, more by good luck than good 

 management, I must now confess ; the water was very bright, 

 the tackle very coarse. My old friend, who had a predilec- 

 tion for spectacles, had them as usual astride his nose, when, 

 by accident, they fell off, and sank to rise no more. There, 

 in fact, we were in fine water with coarse tackle, trying to 

 catch barbel. Of course it was " no go." The result was 

 only two small fish in five hours. " There are no barbel in 

 the swim," said my old friend ; " let's give it up and go 

 home." " Oh, no," said I, " let's try a little longer. I believe 

 it is all owing to your spectacles that we are getting no barbel, 

 for I believe there are a lot down there, only they keep 

 putting your gig-lamps on in turns to examine the bait." 

 The idea of a big barbel with a pair of goggles on was too 

 much for my old friend's risible faculties. He looked at me 

 and laughed, then drew the cork from the bottle, and, as he 

 said " the joke was too good to pass by without wetting," 

 took a good swig. About half an hour after, another 

 angler came down with his rod and tackle, we explained our 

 difficulty to him ; he knew his business ; he looked at our 

 worms, they were all right ; so, at our invitation, he put 

 his tackle together, and now, for the first time, I saw my 

 mistake. His tackle did not look strong enough to land a 

 roach, while his line, I thought, would hardly do to whip 

 hooks on with, so fine was it. In about an hour, however, 

 eight more good barbel lay on the grass, all killed with his 

 fine pale blue tackle, without losing a single fish. This 

 was rather a severe eye-opener to us, and proved by demon- 

 stration that fine tackle was decidedly superior to ours. 

 Those anglers who go in for extra fine fishing, use a sort of 

 gut that is sold at the tackle shops, called "drawn gut:" 

 it is very fine and very strong. I like a length of it on the 

 bottom of my barbel tackle. I have seen Mr. Eudd, of 

 the Eeindeer Inn, Newark, use a barbel tackle made 

 entirely of this fine-drawn gut, and with a very light float 

 he has succeeded in making some grand catches of barbel. 

 Once, in particular, I remember he and three visitors were 



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