254 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART I. 



viewing the line, it has a fish at it. Look you, scholar ! 

 "Well done ! Come now, take up the other too ; well ! 

 Now you may tell my brother Peter at night, that you have 

 caught a leash of trouts this day. And now let's move 



another large fish?" "No," says Piscator, "it is the very same." 

 " Nay," says one of them, "that can never be ; for it is five hours since 

 we crossed the river ; " and not believing him, they rode on their way. At 

 length our angler determined to do that which a less patient one would 

 have done long before ; he made one vigorous effort to land his fish, broke 

 his tackle, and lost him. 



[Salter knew of a barbel in Hampton Court Deeps, in 1816, that had 

 several times broken away from the hook, and weighed, it is supposed, about 

 thirty pounds. From his bold and piratical practices, he was nicknamed 

 Paul Jones.] 



Fishing for barbel is, at best, but a dull recreation. They are a sullen 

 fish, and bite but slowly. The angler drops in his bait, the bullet at the 

 bottom of the line fixes it to one spot of the river : tired with waiting for a 

 bite, he generally lays down his rod, and exercising the patience of a setting 

 dog, waits till he sees the top of his rod move ; then begins a struggle 

 between him and the fish, which he calls his sport ; and that being over, 

 he lands his prize, fresh baits his hook, and lays in for another. H. [This 

 is somewhat overdrawn. After liberal ground-baiting over night, they will 

 often bite eagerly in the morning at gentles, brandlings, or paste. The 

 writer has seen them taken to the extent of twenty or thirty in two or 

 three hours. ED.] 



Living some years ago in a village on the banks of the Thames, I was 

 used in the summer months to be much in a boat on the river. It chanced 

 that at Shepperton, where I had been for a few days, I frequently passed 

 an elderly gentleman in his boat ; who appeared to be fishing at different 

 stations for barbel. After a few salutations had passed between us, and 

 we were become a little acquainted, I took occasion to inquire of him what 

 diversion he had met with. "Sir," says he, "I have had but bad luck 

 to-day, for I fish for barbel, and you know they are not to be caught like 

 gudgeons." " It is very true," answered I ; "but what you want in tale, 

 I suppose you make up in weight." " Why, sir," says he, "that is just 

 as it happens ; it is true, I like the sport, and love to catch fish, but my 

 great delight is in going after them. I'll tell you what, sir, " continued he ; 

 " I am a man in years, and have used the sea all my life " [he had been an 

 India captain], ' ' but I mean to go no more ; and have bought that little 

 house which you see there," [pointing to it] "for the sake of fishing : I 

 get into this boat " (which he was then mopping) " on a Monday morning, 

 and fish on till Saturday night, for barbel as I told you, for that is my 

 delight ; and this I have sometimes done for a month together, and, in all 

 that while, have not had one bite." H. 



[The barbel-angler has, however, sometimes occasion to exult at the sport 

 which he finds. As recently as August 9th, 1807, at one of the deeps near 

 Shepperton, which had been prepared by baiting the preceding night, a 

 party of four gentlemen, named Ernes, Atkinson, Hall, and Moore, separated 



