44 ANGLING. 



and this is much worse in bank fishing than in punting, as 

 it drags the float out of the swim. The roach tackle and 

 method have already been described, and barbel often 

 give capital sport with them, particularly when the big 

 ones take a single hair hook, as they are prone to do. 

 Then the angler must prepare for a long fight, extending 

 to one, two, or even three or more, hours, as I have expe- 

 rienced, and it generally ends in the fish getting away after 

 all, as I have also experienced. I once hooked a barbel on 

 single hair, and played him for three and a half hours, 

 and, when I got him in, he only weighed 61b. ; luf he was 

 hooked in the back fin, and though I was much disap- 

 pointed in the size, it was almost equal to killing a fish of 

 double the weight hooked fairly ; and I count it the 

 greatest angling feat I ever did, as the stream was strong, 

 and at least half the struggle was carried on in the 

 darkness of a November evening, as the care required, and 

 the delicate handling of so large a fish, hooked foul (and 

 very badly so too), in a sharp stream, with a single horse- 

 hair, was by no means an easy matter to administer. My 

 arm was stiff for a day or two from the strain. This hap- 

 pened at Hampton Court, just below the weir, in 1846. I 

 could not do it now, I am sure, though I have landed 

 bream of the same weight in my own stream with single 

 hair ; but the fish are very different in their powers, the 

 stream is easy, and you stand well over your fish. 



The clay ball already mentioned is also a capital method 

 of taking the barbel. When they are shy, and the water 

 is low and clear, a small triangle and a bunch of gentles 

 should be used. Barbel sometimes take the spinning 

 bait early in the spring at the weirs, when the angler is 

 spinning for trout, but it is not a recognised method of 

 fishing for them. Barbel run up to 161b. in weight, but 



