SALMON FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 137 



from one end to the other of it. I know of several swims where 

 it is absolutely necessary to fish in this style, there not being 

 above four or five feet of water and a very strong current, so 

 much so, in fact, that no matter how heavy your lead is, it 

 will travel along the bottom at a very rapid rate ; in fact, 

 it is very hard work to fish a strong swim properly in this 

 style; you cannot throw your bait out and rest the rod 

 across a forked stick and sit on the bank and lazily watch 

 the rod point for a tug, but you must always have rod in 

 hand and eye and fingers always on the alert. By this plan 

 the angler is enabled to cover a lot of water, and if he is sure 

 of his ground as to what sort of a bottom it is, it will be best 

 to first have a few swims as near to the bank on which he 

 stands as possible, say within five or six yards, and then to 

 keep increasing his distance, or cast, till he has covered the 

 whole of the water between where he stands and as far across 

 the river as he can comfortably throw his leads and bait. Of 

 course the angler can, if he likes, hold his bait a bit, that is, to 

 not let it travel down the swim as fast as it likes, but only 

 pay off the line very gently so that it will take more time in 

 its passage down ; in fact, I have seen a bait thrown nearly 

 across the river, and before it has travelled thirty or forty 

 yards down stream it has worked to within a very few yards 

 of the bank on which the angler stood by his merely 

 checking it a few times for a second or so at once. But the 

 angler will soon find out the best and safest plan to fish a 

 swim after he has once mastered the ground-work of his 

 proceedings. 



Long corking is a plan that is sometimes adopted in 

 certain swims, and these swims are within three or four 

 yards of the bank and, say, from eight to twelve feet deep, 

 with a very steady current. The tackle for this plan is 

 exactly the same as for float fishing, only you must arrange 

 the float so that the bait is well on the bottom, say a couple of 

 feet more between the bait and float than the swim is deep. 

 This is a very easy and lazy plan, for the place is such an one 

 that the angler can sit down on the bank and just toss his bait 

 out and allow it to float down some eight or ten yards and 

 then hold it stationary, or let it creep down inch by inch if 



