118 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



The baits for spinning are dace, gudgeon, bleak, and small 

 roach. A bleak I may say is more frequently called a 

 whitling on the Trent ; it is a brilliant bait, but soon wears 

 out on the hooks ; the others being tougher, last longer. A 

 Thames spinner when he throws his bait pulls off the reel 

 a sufficient quantity of line, and either gathers it in the 

 palm of his hand, or else lays it in coils at his feet ; the 

 Trent spinner avoids this by casting directly from the reel ; 

 he winds up all the spare line till only the trace and bait 

 hang from the point of the rod ; he has the forefinger of one 

 hand laid lightly on the barrel of the reel, and then brings 

 the point of the rod behind him, and makes his cast by 

 sweeping the rod and bait smartly over the river, in the 

 direction he requires. If the angler is not careful the reel 

 is apt to turn so much faster than the line can travel through 

 the rings, and a sad tangle is the result ; this can be avoided, 

 however, and regulated by the forefinger that is on the barrel 

 of the reel. When the cast is made the forefinger is lifted off, 

 and if he sees it is likely to travel round too fast, he can 

 check it again by laying the forefinger lightly on the edge 

 of the revolving part of the reel. So soon as the bait 

 strikes the water it can be stopped at once by pressing a 

 little harder. It is rather difficult to get into the throw all 

 at once, but as the saying goes, "It is easy when you know 

 how ; " a little practice will soon put you up to it ; and when 

 you do get into it, you can throw your bait anywhere you 

 like to within a foot or so ; and thirty or forty yards are by 

 no means uncommon distances. In casting from the reel, 

 some anglers throw with one hand and some with the other ; 

 that is, some have the right hand above the reel and some 

 the left. I always throw in what I consider to be the proper 

 manner : I tightly press the knob of my long rod into the 

 hollow of the left thigh ; the fingers of the left hand are 

 tightly clasped across the back of the reel, with the forefinger 

 at the top and reaching over the barrel to the front plate, so 

 as to be in readiness to stop the reel as already noticed ; 

 the thumb is clasped over the rod, i.e. the rod is tightly 

 clasped in the hollow between the thumb and forefinger; 

 the right hand firmly grasps the rod about a foot above the 



