104 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



following passages occur : "An old Nottinghamshire angler 

 to whom, when a boy, I was indebted for many valuable 

 hints, told me that when fishing in the Trent, he used to 

 meet an old collier, who was not only a most successful 

 angler, but one who could lure the fish on to his hook when 

 everybody else failed; this naturally excited the curiosity of 

 the neighbouring fishermen, and as the taciturnity of the 

 collier equalled his skill, they resolved to find out his 

 secret. They watched him, and found that his pastes were 

 coloured arid scented ; but with what 1 After an investiga- 

 tion not much unlike espionage, they discovered that a 

 variety of essential oils, saffron, and balsam of Tolu entered 

 into the composition of the old man's pastes, and that he 

 changed them month by month to suit the varying appetite 

 of the fish he angled for." A friend also told me a little 

 while ago that when he lived at Stratford-on-Avon, there 

 was an angler there who could catch quantities of roach 

 with his scented paste ; he said he told him how to make 

 it, and it was nothing but <; oil of rhodium " that was mixed 

 among the bread. My friend says he has been to and 

 worked in several counties since then, and he could never do 

 anything with it in any other river than the Avon ; in short, 

 I don't believe in scented pastes, and I will leave the experi- 

 ment of trying them to those who have more time on their 

 hands than I have. Plain bread paste is good enough for 

 me, when I feel inclined for a bit of paste fishing. Mr. 

 King's " Natural Bait," however, is an exception to the 

 general rule of bought nostrums. This powder, when mixed 

 among the bread paste, forms a very white and tenacious 

 bait, and is very attractive ; I have tried it and found it 

 to be a genuine lure, as I have made several very nice 

 bags of roach by its agency during the last two or three 

 seasons ; a threepenny packet mixed in a lump of paste the 

 size of a small hen's egg being plenty for a long day's fishing. 

 As the winter advances and the roach begin to get in the 

 deep holes, the cockspur worm is a good bait, as also is the 

 tail end of a lob-worm ; large worms clipped up very small 

 are the best ground baits you can use for this method, only, 

 as I have before said, be very sparing with your ground bait, 



