PRACTICAL LESSONS IN THE GENTLE CRAFT. 515 



most perfect action for either long corking or the sliding 

 float ; affixing the shorter, and consequently much stiffer 

 top, one gets a tool the very beau ideal of what is required 

 for either paternostering or legering ; and, after that, I think 

 I need hardly say more in praise of my favourite, the 

 Nottingham weapon. If the place selected has a bottom 

 tolerably uniform in depth, there is no method more killing 

 than "tight corking," i.e., using a bottom of the finest 

 natural gut, with the shot equally placed along its entire 

 length ; by adopting this method of placing the shot it 

 will be obvious that the line hangs much more true and 

 straight in the water from the extremity of the float than if 

 they were placed all together. The running line, and there 

 should be from 60 to 100 yards on a reel, cannot well be 

 too fine, while the reel itself should be perfectly smooth and 

 easy in its action in point of fact, so nicely made and 

 regulated that the mere action of the stream on the float, 

 and the weight of the float itself, is sufficient to cause 

 the reel to revolve easily, and without the least stopping 

 or scraping. If the reel acts properly, and the line is 

 sufficiently light, it can be held perfectly taut and straight 

 from the cap of the float to the point of the rod, no matter 

 how long, in reason, the swim may be, and the fish can be 

 struck with almost as great a certainty as the roach 

 fisherman hooks his fish with half a line only of strike 

 line from float to top joint. Five-and-twenty, thirty, or 

 forty yards is no uncommon distance for a swim down 

 from the punt, and the fun that ensues when a three or four 

 pounder is hooked on fine tackle at this distance is no 

 little, rely on't ! The hook used for bream should be size 

 No. 7 or 8, round in the bend, and, if for worm-fishing, long 

 in the shank, so that the worm may be drawn neatly up the 

 shank of the hook, and not hang in loops. Supposing then 



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