120 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



angler. Play the fish firmly but carefully, and keep a tight 

 line on him, for if the line be slack and the hooks not very 

 fast in, he will shake his head like a bulldog sometimes, 

 and probably shake hooks and bait out of his mouth. We 

 had rather a curious experience of this character two or three 

 seasons ago. A very large pike had its home in the deep 

 water of the " Corporation swim" at Winthorp; every now 

 and then he would startle anglers by suddenly, with a 

 mighty swirl and rush, coming surging into the bream swim 

 just below, and on one or two occasions robbing their hooks 

 of a large roach or a pound bream. Of course he was not 

 allowed to continue this little game without some effort 

 being made to stop him ; and several of our bbst pike-men 

 made that particular one the object of their especial attention. 

 During that season he was hooked no fewer than half a dozen 

 times, and always lost. " Strange this," you may say, but 

 nevertheless it was no more strange than true ; he clean 

 beat several of us (and I have to own that I was among the 

 list of beaten ones). He seemed to prefer a small roach on 

 the wobbling flight, as noticed a little while ago ; and we 

 fancied that he seemed to enjoy the fun of being hooked. 

 When a favourable breeze used to ripple up the water, and 

 tiny waves liplapped among the stones at our feet, some 

 one or other of us used to stand on a particular ledge of the 

 bank and throw over him ; when, sometimes at the very 

 first cast, out he used to come with a rush that made our 

 hearts leap into our throats, and snatch at the bait like a 

 hungry dog at a bone, hardly ever missing his grab; then we 

 used to strike well, some till the line tightened with a 

 heavy " thung." Back into his home went the fish with a 

 bang that made the reel screech again, and then in an 

 instant he would double again, and come towards you at a 

 pace that fairly baffled all efforts to wind the line on the 

 reel, so as to keep a tight line on him ; the next instant he 

 rose to the surface, shook his head like a terrier with a rat, 

 the hooks would then come out of his mouth, and with a 

 swirl of his mighty tail he vanished into the depths below. 

 This was the experience that a full half-dozen of us had to 

 undergo, and some of them two or three times over. I am 



