188 THE BOEDER ANGLER. 



a mile of water nearly clear from wood below Grant's 

 but a General Somebody, who rents a bouse in the 

 neighbourhood, has set up a claim to preserve part 

 of it. It is less than a quarter of a mile in extent, 

 and is not a very choice piece of water ; so before the 

 hulking ploughman who acts the gamekeeper can get 

 down to the trespasser, he will probably have pretty 

 well ransacked the General's treasures, and can either 

 make an apology or not, as he thinks proper, before 

 walking off. The worm, used with a short line and 

 dropt into the streams from behind trees, is, however, 

 effective in the Eye ; and in a flood, we should think 

 a basket-full of very good trout might be got with the 

 dipping-minnow, which we have already described 

 (see the Dye, in Chap. VII. p. 170) and which could 

 be wrought under the tree-roots, where the large fish lie 

 on the look-out. There are some bleaching-mills or 

 other works a little above Keston, which spoil the Eye 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of that visage ; but a 

 little farther down it in great measure recovers itself. 

 There is still, in the four miles between Keston and 

 Ayton, a good deal of interruption to angling caused 

 by wood ; but much of it is open, and may be fished 

 profitably with fly. The worm, however, is the most 

 effective lure, the stream running favourably for its 

 use. There is also a paper-mill at Ayton, which has 

 anything but a beneficial effect upon the angling. 

 Below that little town, the Eye flows through the 

 grounds of Ayton Castle, and is probably preserved, 

 although we have fished it without interruption, but 

 so early in the morning that perhaps the gamekeeper 

 had not got up. There are capital trout in this part 



