February 25, 1893] 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
131 
banlts. Many ridicule men for sitting in a boat 
several hours at a time to catch a few roach, dace, 
or gudgeon; but it should be remembered that 
with every fondness for sport in its more exciting 
varieties, age, physical infirmity, or many other 
circumstances may prevent this enjoyment, leav¬ 
ing boat fishing the only means of following a 
favourite pursuit. 
The professional fishermen of the Thames are 
a curious race. As a rule they know the water 
well in their own immediate neighbourhood, 
but cannot be depended on as guides away 
from their homes, although they will tell you 
they know every inch of the water for fifty miles. 
They are generally civil and attentive, but averse 
to hard work. They sometimes iindertake to 
provide tackle and bait, but the former is invari¬ 
ably of an inferior description, such as no real 
roach fisher would tolerate, and the latter 
—except in two or three very frequented 
stations — conspicuous by its absence. 
[There are many accomplished and atten¬ 
tive Thames fishermen, but the mere 
watermen w'ho pose as fishermen should 
certainly be avoided, and here and there 
one meets with men who are lazy, 
impudent, and greedy.—J. B.] 
The choice of swim must be made 
according to the season and state of the 
water, and here the local knowledge of 
the puntsman is valuable. The punt 
being properly fixed, the next step is to 
have the swim -well raked over with the 
gudgeon rake.* This is well worth doing 
—[The previous day—J. B.]—as it clears 
the bottom, exposes various larvm, and in 
most cases attracts the roach and dace 
wonderfully. Fish are very curious,and— 
although shy at times—will frequently 
get close to the scoops of a dredging 
machine when in full work. We have 
often watched a shoal of them, with their 
noses near the edge of the turbid water. 
At such a time they bite sharp and quick, 
knowing that if they do not seize the 
prey others will. 
The rod should now be put together, 
reel fixed, running line passed through 
the rings, and a bottom line and float 
selected suitable to the water, as before 
directed under the heading “floats.” If 
the float be too light, the hook will not 
reach the bottom until a great part of the 
swim is passed over; if too heavy, it 
creates much disturbance, and is not 
sufficiently sensitive, as it must be borne 
in mind that these fish bite more boldly 
and sharper in proportion to the depth 
and turbulence of the water. A very 
good rule is, that the hock, if dropped 
into the water close to the edge of the 
punt, should reach the bottom by the time 
the float has travelled about 2ft. 
The depth is then taken carefully; the 
practice generally being to have the 
distance from the hook to the top of 
the float exactly equal to the depth of the 
water. The line of gut or hair should 
be allowed to remain in the water for 
some time before fishing, to take off the 
brittleness inevitable with a dry line. 
[The damper box is a useful little inven¬ 
tion in which to lay lines, and soften 
them by contact with wet spongio piline 
an hour or two before going fishing.— 
J. B.j 
Some ground bait should now be gently 
dropped in three or four feet in front, if 
in shallow water; if in deeper water, close to 
the punt; and if in a very deep heavy stream, at 
the back of the punt. In the first case, if the 
ground bait were dropped close, the fish would 
be frightened to approach it; in the last, it 
would drift partially out of reach, and part of 
the swim would be lost. [In heavy water, if the 
ground bait is not mixed with clay, each ball 
should contain a small stone to sink it.—J. B.] 
* This is not the common practice, and must drive 
away, or render exceedingly shy, the larger fish; but a 
little gentle raking behind the punt has sometimes been 
found an advantage. The careless way in which punts 
are moored, and the somewhat noisy preparations, may 
account for punt fishers catching so many small fish. 
Raking is more successful with dace than roach, and 
with gudgeon than either.—J. B. 
The line (between float and rod top) is usually 
arranged about two or three feet longer than 
the rod, which for this fishing seldom exceeds 
ten feet in length; so that the swim will 
extend fifteen to eighteen feet from the boat, 
according to the depth of water. When the 
Nottingham tackle is used, the line is some¬ 
times allowed to run until the float has passed 
over ten, twenty, or even thirty yards of water. 
In this manner, particularly when the latter is 
very bright, the largest fish are often taken. [But 
to get fish to feed at that distance the ground 
bait must be of such a weight, and so thrown in 
that it sinks about where you wish to catch 
your fish. It is little use to attract fish close 
to the punt by means of ground bait, and then 
work your float tackle twenty yards away.—J. B.] 
The hook, when baited, should be dropped in 
h. 
Angler’s right hand holding rod just above the reel. 
Angler's left hauil pulling down line in order to make a cast with light tackle in 
Nottingham style. 
close to the punt, and the float allowed to travel 
freely, with as little slack line above it as pos¬ 
sible, the rod being held nearly upright at the 
moment the hook is dropped in, and gradually 
lowered as the float swims forward, until at last 
the rod is quite horizontal, and the float begins 
to drag sideways; then a sharp but not violent 
1 strike should be made, the float gently raised, 
! and the line dropped again close to the boat. 
'' This is supposing no bite to occur during the 
traverse of the float; should the slightest indica¬ 
tion be seen, the strike should be immediate, but 
it is always well to strike as a matter of course 
at the end of every swim. 
The punt cannot be kept too quiet; by quiet we 
do not mean silence in words, but in actions. A 
heavy foot-fall, a blow with a rod, the movement 
of a chair, or any noise of this sort is instantly 
communicated to the water, and may be heard to 
an immense distance ; but talking alone does not 
appear to disturb fish. 
We have now placed the angler fairly before 
the enemy, and can only, in addition, wish him 
success. 
Bank Fishing. —Bank anglers in the lower 
reaches of the Thames meet with but little 
encouragement, at least in those portions of the 
river which are mostly fished from punts. One 
reason is, that in many places the banks are not 
favourable to angling; another, that the fish 
naturally go where they find most food; thus the 
habit of casting in ground-bait regularly at 
certain pitches must necessarily make the 
chances of those who angle from the bank com¬ 
paratively small. Although good bags may 
occasionally be made by fishing from the 
margin of the stream, we would advise 
the bank angler, if possible, to frequent 
those places only which are not visited by 
parties afloat. There are swims near locks 
and weirs, in which, without a boat, the 
angler may have as good a chance as those 
in the centre of the stream; and where 
high banks or over-hanging bushes permit 
of the fisherman screening himself from 
his prey, sport of no mean order may be 
obtained. There is little doubt that the 
true sportsman would rather throw his 
fly from a meadow, or watch his float 
from behind some old willow stump, than 
sit confined to the limited area of a punt. 
The bank fisher, if angling in clear, 
transparent water, should not fish with 
the float opposite to him, but rather sib 
sideways, letting his line travel beyond 
the point from which he would be visible 
to the fish. 
Nottingham Style. —After all, there 
is nothing equal to the Nottingham style 
of angling for bank-fishing. [In suitable 
swims.—J. B.] 
The system has been the result of years 
of experience acquired by a succession 
of close observers. But the Nottingham 
plan can never be generally pursued on 
the Thames until the angler acquires the 
mode of using the thin silk lines and 
light wooden winch, and then much of 
the difference in the character of the 
fishing in the two streams would soon 
disappear. That the Nottingham style of 
angling can be readily adapted to any 
running water has been shown over and 
over again, not only in these rivers which 
are open and free from weeds, but in 
some almost choked up with aquatic 
vegetation. Thus the Nottingham angler, 
when everybody else has deserted the 
water on account of such obstructions, 
may go down to some projecting bank 
or bend, and there, fishing in the run 
between the heaviest hanks of weeds, take 
as many roach, if not more, than when 
the river was free from obstructions. 
These places are very favourite haunts of 
the fish. Let the angler sit still for 
awhile, and he will soon see the fishy 
crowd come out, one by one, into the 
clear water, and swim up and down these, 
their natural thoroughfares, in shoals 
sufficient to make his mouth water, for 
in these runs there is generally clean 
gravel or sand, which they' delight in. 
At Higham Ferrers, on the Nen, some 
few years ago, we were told before 
starting to fish, that there was not room enough 
to get in a float. We took 321b. of roach 
and chub in five hours, merely by throwing in 
occasionally a little half-chewed bread, and 
fishing in the run of the waters, between the long 
weed, as far down the stream as we could manage 
our line with effect. There is this inconvenience, 
however, that the large fish, when hooked, make 
for the weed, and then any injudicious pulling 
upon the part of the angler would be fatal to the 
line. In this case the angler should retire from 
the bank in a stooping position, letting_ out his 
line as he retreats well out of sight into the 
meadow. He should then approacli the stream 
some ten or twelve yards below the point where 
the fish ran into the weeds, and if he there puts 
on such a strain as the tackle will fairly bear, the 
