Jack are straight-grown and do not thicken much in the middle; with trout it is different.

The noose should be about six inches from the top of the rod.

Orion said he would go twenty yards farther up; I went direct from the centre of the withy-bed to the stream.
The bank rose a little above the level of the withy-bed; it was a broad mound full of ash stoles and willow--the sort that is grown for poles.
At that spot the vines of wild hops had killed all the underwood, leaving open spaces between the stoles; the vines were matted so thickly that they hid the ground.

This was too exposed a place, so I went back and farther up till I could just hear Orion rustling through the hemlocks.

Here the dead grass and some elder bushes afforded shelter, and the water could be approached unseen.
It was about six or eight inches deep; the opposite shore was bordered for several yards out with flags and rushes.