46 BARBEL AND BREAM. 



each. ; many of the smaller ones we returned to their native 

 element, apparently none the worse for their trip to the higher 

 regions. We were fishing from a punt anchored lengthways 

 in the stream and hooked several of the best fish upwards of 

 forty yards from the punt. 



The " Traveller " is used thus : the gut-hook, size No. 2 

 is fastened to the gut-line by a small swivel to give the 

 worm free play. The bottom shot should be about a foot 

 from the hook, then five or six large Swan Shot, and instead 

 of a long string of shot above these, it is preferable to use 

 two or three small dip-leads to increase the weight. The 

 running line being now passed through the rings of the float, 

 is fastened to the gut bottom thus prepared ; the line should 

 be sufficiently weighted to show quite an inch of the top of 

 the float, otherwise you will not be able to see it a long 

 distance off. After plumbing the depth, which can be easily 

 accomplished by pushing a small plug of wood into the upper 

 ring of the float to fasten the line while the operation of 

 plumbing is performed, remove the plug and plummet, and 

 make a slip-knot in the line about two inches above the top 

 of the float, inserting a double piece of stout gut sufficiently 

 long to project half-an-inch on either side of the knot ; 

 now draw this latter tight and there will be a sufficient 

 impediment created by the projecting pieces of gut to prevent 

 the float rising on the line higher than required for the depth 

 of water. It must be obvious that this is a most useful style 

 of fishing in deep water, because it is equally easy to .fish a 

 deep hole of twenty feet, for although the gut offers resistance 

 enough to the float to keep the bait at the required depth, 

 still it is sufficiently limp, when wet, to draw through the 

 rings of the rod ; so as to allow the fish to be brought within 

 manageable distance. The float, meanwhile being loose on 

 the line, drops down on the shots ; after the fish is landed 

 and a fresh worm put on, slack the line and the float regains 

 its original depth ; the weight of the shots carrying the line 

 rapidly through the rings on the float, until it reaches the 

 gut-stop. Thus I have easily fished a twenty feet hole with 

 a rod of twelve feet, which I certainly could not have done so 

 comfortably, had I used a fixed float. A sketch of the 



