THE BARBEL. 9 



through both rings, the upper one first, and affix 

 the tackle in the ordinary way. Then, at the 

 precise depth you wish your float to remain, insert 

 a " stop " in a knot in your running line. The knot 

 may be made by two half hitches. The " stop," as 

 its name suggests, then stops at the lower ring (it 

 cannot get below this ring), and thus compels the 

 float to carry the bait at any depth you may fix, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the float is loose on 

 the line. With a ten-foot rod, fishing swims of not 

 greater depth, the " stop " may be made of a piece of 

 match a little less than half an inch in length, nor 

 does it matter whether the match be of wood or wax. 

 This stop will lodge across your top float-ring, but 

 you must remember it will not come through the 

 rod-rings unless it slips somewhat askew on the 

 line, even then it will not come through the rings 

 easily and comfortably. A stop made of this 

 material is easily detached on changing the depth ; 

 but in fishing deep swims, the stop must be made 

 of some smaller substance, and of a softish one, for 

 in a twenty-foot swim the stop will be down on 

 your reel when the hooked fish is near the landing 

 net. Handy materials for stops in deep swims are 

 a strand of single salmon-gut, double gut, a piece of 

 soft twine or string, or a bit of Manila hemp fibre. 

 This last can be snipped off the end of the ropes 

 that carry the punt-weights, if you are punt-fishing ; 

 none of them need be more than about an eighth 

 of an inch in length, provided your lower float-ring 

 will not allow the stop to slip through. A swim 

 twenty feet in depth is easily fished with a ten- 

 foot rod, and the fish can be wound in to a very 

 short distance of the rod-top, say three or four feet, 

 according to the position of your top shot on 



