Martin - Float fishing and spinning in the Nottingham

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2 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. stand by the flaming forge, or busy shuttle, and are slowly poisoned by the foul, smoke-polluted air, are glad to get away to the river side, and breathe the pure breath of heaven. These are the men who feel the blessings of the river side, and there is no wonder at it, after being " cabin 'd, cribb'd, confined " in unhealthy workshops in the heart of our large towns. These men see the beauty of the country in their brief sojourn by the water side, where country-bred people would fail to observe it. Probably they often wondered why the poet-priest wrote " Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood Are clad in living green," when there are such beautiful fields, and sweet scenes in this vale of tears, without having to cross the mysterious borderland to find them. What health and vigour again have they not drawn into their lungs, arid how invigorated do they not feel ! and how much better can they not cope with the cares of the world, when they go back to its duties after a day's fishing ! These are the men, I say, who feel the benefits of the water-side, and it is to these thousands of my fellow working-men anglers to whom I am more particularly writing. I am one of yourselves, only my lines have been cast in pleasant places, and a splendid river flows as it were past my door, so that I have had every facility for following my favourite pastime, and I am willing to convey a little of this it will be knowledge to my less fortunate brethren ; in fact, their own faults if they do not know as much as I do after following me carefully through these pages. Most works upon angling, I have heard, are nothing but learned discussions on the natural history of the fish (which are all very well in their way), and when our tyro has read them carefully, he does not know then the best way of taking the various fish. Moreover, most works upon angling, as I have before hinted in my preface, treat so fully of salmon, trout, and grayling, that they don't do justice to the so-called coarse fish. Salmon, trout, and grayling are utterly beyond the reach of thousands of our humbler anglers, so I shall content myself by only giving a short chapter on worm or bottom fishing for salmon, as it is practised on the Trent, in
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 the hope that it may prove interesting and instructive to those anglers who can indulge in this branch of sport, but the so-called coarse fish will be dealt with in a most com- plete manner. Little things connected with the natural history of the various fish will be referred to, and they will, I think, instruct and interest the tyro, so that he may be able to know the habits and haunts, and also recognize the fish when he sees it. I would also have him bear in mind that the instructions laid down here are the results of careful experience, from which, perhaps, the better class of anglers who only get an occasional day by the river side may also derive profit. We will look for a few minutes at Sheffield, as T believe it will be interesting to many anglers at that town, which is the very stronghold of bottom fishers, and it is necessary to go back twenty years or so. A busy and clever community of nearly 200,000 souls existed then, which had made its home in a position of unrivalled healthiness and natural beauty ; hill and valley gave Sheffield a variety of surface ; which lends its aid to sanitary arrangements, the rivers Don and Sheaf meet here and mingle their waters, the town was thousand acres then not crowded, it spreads itself over twenty of ground, stretching ten miles in one direction and four miles in the other. There was then actually an inhabited house for every five inhabitants of the town. Add to this the fact that Sheffield possessed even then a public supply of pure water, unequalled in quality by any other town in England ; and any one would have said at that time, " Surely here is the place where the working man may enjoy life, uncankered by disease, and stretching out to its natural length," yet, what was the state of affairs then 1 There was a death-rate of thirty-four in the thousand, ten or twelve per thousand more than London with all its overcrowding, and double that of the percentage of country districts throughout England ; two or three thousand souls were killed annually in Sheffield by unsanitary conditions, as certainly as though that number had been gathered once a year in some horrid " black hole," and suffocated in their own poisoning exhalations. One could see the alleys from which reeking and undrained cess- B 2
Page 1 and 2: PRICE TWO SHILLINGS. THE NOTTINGHAM
Page 5 and 6: FLOAT FISHING! AND SPINNING IN THE
Page 8 and 9: a. Angler's right hand holding rod
Page 10 and 11: LONDON : PRINTED BY GILBERT AND BIV
Page 13 and 14: PEE FACE. SOME may say that there i
Page 15 and 16: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS CONTENT S. CHA
Page 17: BOTTOM PISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM ST
Page 21 and 22: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. of the social
Page 23 and 24: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 7 flies are t
Page 25 and 26: INTRODUCTOEY EEMAEKS. 9 It is not a
Page 27 and 28: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 11 capable of
Page 29 and 30: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 13 perhaps th
Page 31 and 32: INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 15 In closing
Page 33 and 34: TRENT FISHING. 17 of my life was sp
Page 35 and 36: TRENT FISHING. 19 scenes. None but
Page 37 and 38: TRENT FISHING. 21 this is impossibl
Page 39 and 40: TEENT FISHING. 23 required depth. N
Page 41 and 42: TRENT FISHING. 25 kinds of rings th
Page 43 and 44: TRENT FISHING. 27 always among the
Page 45 and 46: TRENT FISHING. 29 with the larger-s
Page 47: III.
Page 50 and 51: 32 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM
Page 67 and 68: THE CHUB. 47 In England the chub se
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THE CHUB. 49 minious fate ; for he
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THE CHUB. 51 Very small chub, of sa
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THE CHUB. 53 bush or its roots will
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THE CHUB. 55 the hole full and pack
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THE CHUB. 57 some hanging in a bag
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THE CHUB. cake over every day, i.e.
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THE CHUB. 61 be extravagant in this
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THE CHUB. 63 ever, and therefore th
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THE CHUB. 65 tion that he cannot he
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THE CHUB. 67 needle, and then push
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o V. 5. Wasp, grub, and pith tackle
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70 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM
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78 BOTTOM PISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM
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THE EOACH. 99 Sometimes I have mana
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THE ROACH. 10 L worked the float to
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THE ROACH. 103 August. We don't exp
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THE ROACH. 105 especially in the wi
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THE PIKE. 107 CHAPTER VI. THE PIKE.
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THE PIKE. 109 eaglo ; the eagle, it
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THE PIKE. Ill of fifteen pounds or
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THE PIKE. 113 The reel described an
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THE PIKE. 115 gimp, which in turn a
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VII. Trent spinning flight and trac
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118 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHA
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140 BOTTOM PISHING IN THE NOTTINGHA
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THE PERCH. 145 few inches from the
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THE BREAM. 147 namely, very dark fi
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THE BREAM. 149 Charlie Hudson, who
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THE BEEAM. 151 hanging down), and t
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THE CAEP AND TENCH. 153 nine feet l
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THE CAEP AND TENCH. 155 The rod, re
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THE DACE. 157 CHAPTER XL THE DACE.
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IX. The TENCH. The PERCH and GCDGEO
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172 BCA'TOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGH
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APPENDIX. BELOW will be found a few
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178 APPENDIX. Wax, hard. If at any
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180 INDEX. Dead gorge fishing
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182 INDEX. Spawning of chub
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KING'S "NATURAL" BAIT (REGISTERED).
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THE GOLDEN PERCH, 4OS, OXFORD STREE
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Martin - Float fishing and spinning in the Nottingham

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