134 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



worm fishing with, a float for salmon ; no lengthy list of 

 articles is required that would involve him in a very great 

 expenditure ; but I had nearly forgotten to mention that he 

 ought to have a good strong gaff" hook and staff, hut this 

 need not cost him above three or four shillings. A stout 

 clearing ring and cord would be a very useful thing in one 

 of his coat pockets, in case his tackle should get fast over 

 some obstruction on the river bottom. 



If the angler is in the habit of spending a lot of his 

 spare time by the waterside, he will probably notice the 

 places that the salmon frequent, for they very often jump 

 clean out of the water, and drop on the surface again with 

 a splash as though a big dog had been thrown in. He will 

 soon notice that the places where they are seen to jump the 

 most are those deep steady swims which the barbel fishermen 

 patronize so much ; although sometimes he may see them 

 jump from a shallow rapid current ; but still the deep steady 

 swims are the best to try for them in, as these are their 

 resting-places in their journeys up and down stream. 



We will suppose now that the angler has selected a swim, 

 and clipped up some half a dozen or so big worms and thrown 

 them in by the way of a bit of ground bait, and has put 

 his tackle together with the corking weight on the line 

 close to the loop of his bottom tackle, and his split shots on 

 the latter, sufficient to cause his float to ride nicely down the 

 stream, with the red-tipped quill and about half an inch of 

 the cork out of the water, and has baited his hooks after the 

 following plan : he takes a fair-sized well-scoured lob-worm, 

 and sticks the bottom hook in it about an inch from the 

 head end, and brings it out again about the same distance 

 from the tail, till, in fact, his worm has been worked up the 

 gut as far as the lip hook, then this latter is stuck through 

 the head of the worm to hold it in its position, the point 

 and barb coming right through; he then takes another 

 worm about the same size as the first and hangs its head 

 end on the lip hook, and its tail on the bottom hook, so 

 that there is at least an inch of each end left free to wriggle 

 about ; then he wants another worm rather smaller than the 

 other two, and this he hangs on the bottom hook by about 



