152 DOVE DALE REVISITED 



and that of the other anglers whom I have 

 met here, is that that date is unnecessarily early. 

 All the trout taken by us were in perfect 

 condition, and if the close time for trout had 

 been October i5th instead of October 2nd, I 

 am sure that I should have had a different 

 story to tell. I suppose it may be taken for 

 granted that trout in the same river do not 

 all spawn at the same time some are early, 

 some late, and some barren. Of course, it is 

 at all times a thrilling and pleasant sensation 

 to have a struggle with a big trout, even when 

 he rises to your grayling fly, and the grayling 

 are sulking on the bottom ; but one's pleasure 

 is just a little modified by the pain one cannot 

 avoid inflicting on the trout in extracting the 

 hook, and the grief one cannot help feeling 

 in parting with him by consigning him to his 

 native element instead of to one's bag. 



" Well, Mr. Painter \ " says Angler, in " The 

 River Dove," " what say you now to my 

 Dove?" 



"Painter. I declare to you it is all a be- 

 witchment : my tongue is ever ready to praise 

 every next turning of the river more than the 

 Other and I scarcely know which to like best, 



