112 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



'■ Ay marry, sir, that was a good fish indeed ; if I had had the luck 

 to have taken up that rod, then 'tis twenty to one he should not have 

 broke my line by running to the rod's end, as you suffered him. I 

 would have held him within the bent of my rod, unless he had been 

 fellow to the great Trout that is near an ell long, which was of such a 

 length and depth that he had his picture drawn, and now is to be seen 

 at mine host Rickabie's, at the George in Ware ; and it may be by giving 

 that very great Trout the rod, that is, by casting it to him into the 

 water, I might have caught him at the long-run, for so I use always 

 to do when I meet with an over-grown fish ; and you will learn to 

 do so too hereafter, for I tell you, fishing is an art, or, at least it is an 

 art to catch fish." 



"Well, as Walton calls such fishing an art, I suppose we 

 must admit that it was, after its kind. But when we com- 

 pare it with the artistic handling of a big fish on a fine line 

 and light, pliable rod by a modern professor, the old 

 master's work gives one the idea of being very crude and 

 rough. What would the old man have thought of the 

 modern Nottingham style ? I fancy he would have been 

 more than astonished at seeing any such a method 

 attempted. Such fine work was utterly beyond his ken. 

 This introduction of the Nottingham style a few years ago 

 I consider marked an era in the progress of fishing as a 

 fine art. To see a first-rate Trent or Thames fisherman 

 nick a barbel some thirty yards off or more as quickly and 

 cleanly as you would a roach just beneath the point of 

 your rod, is indeed a pretty sight, or to watch him ten- 

 derly yet firmly handling a wattled monster of some 

 10 lbs. on his gossamer line and " bending reed." Then, 

 again, to what perfection has the art of spinning been 

 brought, say such as is practised on the Thames for 

 Thames trout ! As for artistic fly-fishers ; I feel sure that 

 Walton's friend Cotton, with all his knowledge and 



