A DAY WITH AN ARTIFICIAL 129 



were smashed to atoms, and we were thankful when the 

 storm abated. We remember a mighty jack that had 

 its home in the deep hole there, and how many times it 

 was hooked, but never landed, and how my old friend Joe 

 Corah got a ten-pounder on his spoon, and landed it 

 without net or gaff ; but Joe's mangled hand, which he put 

 under the gill-covers of that fish, and got the skin scraped 

 off in long streaks and ribbons, haunts me even now. 



We cast over the old place just for the sake of " auld 

 lang syne," but the relatives of that departed pike had 

 evidently moved into a new residence, or else meant to 

 lay low and say nothing. So we will in imagination go 

 on all down to the gap, and Denman's Marsh, where an 

 abrupt bend of the river forms a deep, quiet pool, that good 

 jack sometimes in the old days used to patronize. We go 

 through the famous Holme fishery, where there is some 

 capital spinning water, but we must not linger ; so on and 

 on, to the Jolly Bargeman Inn near Collingham Wharf, 

 the scene of many angling contests ; and it is here that 

 we take stock of our surroundings, and wonder which of 

 the four artificials is likely to suit the clouded water. 

 After a trial we decide that the Clipper shows up the best, 

 and so we make a start, and spin down to the corner, 

 where an old turnpost stands. That corner on the opposite 

 side is a right famous place ; many an old Trent angler 

 can remember the big bags of bream taken from it during 

 the seasons that long since are passed and gone. 



We like the look of the corner on this side, with the 

 fringe of weeds, so carefully spin it over inch by inch. 

 We spin that Clipper slowly, we spin it quickly, we let it 

 sink deep down ; we spin it near the surface ; but nothing 

 disturbs the even tenor of its way, and we are just think- 

 ing of going to the eddying swims nearly opposite Carlton 

 Church, when in leisurely sinking and drawing that bait 

 we feel a strong tug, and know that with luck the bag will 

 soon have its first occupant. It is only a five-pounder, 

 but it fights as only a Trent pike in a strong stream can 



