Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/43

Rh punt, and repeats the operation time after time. In the middle of these punts there is generally a well, so that the fish when caught are kept alive in the well until the day's fishing is over. On the Trent the method adopted is different. The punt or boat, if used at all, is fixed diagonally and not directly across the stream. A very fine and light silk line is employed, which will float easily and docs not sink much at any time. A very easy-going reel or winch is used, which turning on an oiled spindle lets off the line very rapidly, and is set running with the lightest touch of the finger. The rod being held at an angle of 90, the line is allowed to run freely, until the float and bait go sometimes as far as 50 or 60 yards down the stream, a plan which has many advantages, as much more ground is covered than in the restricted swim of the Thames method, and the fish are less shy in biting so far from the boat. The ground-bait is usually thrown in loosely above the punt, and generally consists of chopped worms or greaves (tallow-nielters refuse), and as the swim is so long an one the ground-bait is certain to fetch the bottom somewhere within it. In Norfolk a different plan still is adopted. The punt is anchored lengthwise straight up and down, and the anglers fish on either side of it; but the water being usually very deep the rods are longer and the tackle heavier, and besides the moving float they have another rod, the tackle to which is so heavily weighted that the baited hook rests on the bottom, and is not to be moved by the stream the fish picking up the bait at leisure, and the float showing the bite. This is termed "tight corking." These are the chief methods employed in float fishing at the bottom. But other methods of fishing with a stationary bait without a float are often adopted. The ledger is the chief of these (see fig. 1 in the cut). This consists of a gut line a yard or two long, which runs through a bullet or a lump of lead pierced with a round hole. On the hook side of the line an obstruction is fastened so that the lead cannot slip down to the hook, but the line is free on the rod side of the lead. The hook being baited, the lead is dropped into the water and rests on the bottom, a tight line between the rod top and the lead being kept. The instant a fish bites at the hook, the line being free in that direction, it is felt at the rod top, and the angler, yielding a little line to let the fish get the bait and hook well in his mouth, strikes, lifting the lead, and so Looks the fish. Another method, called the clay-ball, is to tie a bit of stick across the line a little above the hook, which is baited with gentles and greaves, and then to weld a lump of clay and ground-bait on the line round about the bit of stick. This is dropped to the bottom, and the fish, attracted by the ball of bait, come up to devour, and in time find the baited hook and take it most unsuspectingly. Sometimes the baited hook is buried in the ball of bait, and the fish are allowed to dig it out. Sometimes a float is used in conjunction with a small clay ball to show the bites. Another plan of bait fishing at the bottom is with a free line, with only a very light sinker of a split shot or two on the line. The hook is baited with a worm, and allowed to travel along the bottom, the bite being felt or seen in the action of the line on the water or the rod top. This is chiefly employed in trout fishing.



Mid-Water Fishing.

Spinning is the first branch of this kind of fishing, and is used chiefly for pike and trout, though salmon and other fish occasionally are fished for and taken thus. It consists in drawing along through mid-water a bait so