BOTTOM PISHING. 53 



the less resistance offered by the air, and the greater 

 chances of success and deception. The hook is also a 

 point of the greatest importance, and one to which meagre 

 attention is but usually paid. A bad or defective hook 

 is an abomination to the user ; to employ one is as detri- 

 mental to sport as the use of pasteboard bullets would be 

 for deer stalking. As we have devoted a separate chapter 

 to the consideration of hooks, we shall merely quote an 

 instance from our own personal experience, anent this 

 subject. 



In company with an angling acquaintance, we were 

 fishing upon a once celebrated roach reach on the Trent, 

 not many miles from Burton. Our companion was rather 

 positive in his ideas of hooks. He inherited a notion 

 from his sire, who it was asserted was the best roach fisher 

 of his day, that the weight and dimensions of one's takes 

 ranged in a certain degree according to the weight of 

 metal and dimensions of the hook employed, the heresy 

 of which doctrine will be obvious to any modern disciple 

 of the rod. The descendant of the redoubtable rodster 

 favored a No. 8 Carlisle hook, and nothing we could ad- 

 vance appeared to convince him of the absurdity of his 

 prejudiced opinions. Finally, we arranged to fish the 

 matter out, hence it was that we repaired to a noted 

 spot upon the noble Trent. Circumstances were favor- 

 able to sport, and as the swim had been nicely and judi- 

 ciously baited the day previous, we quickly did some 

 execution. After an hour or two's fishing, we had gained 

 gradually but at an increasing rate on our antagonist ; he 

 accounted for this by affirming that we had monopolized 

 the best position, on which we "swapped" places. The 

 main result, however, was still the same. Our companion 

 now suggested that the secret lay in our bait, on which 

 our reserve was immediately placed at his disposal. Still 

 the same result appeared, though in a much more marked 

 degree, and our friend now became irritable, and his 



