THE DEVONSHIRE AVON 



missible, are to be found on lakes, too, which is still more 

 curious ; for lake fishing from a boat, the least attrac- 

 tive to my mind under most conditions of all forms of 

 trouting, one would think, reduced all practised fisher- 

 men who indulge in it to more or less even baskets. 

 But I have encountered at least three lake-fishers in my 

 life who are admitted to be supermen in this respect, 

 and invariably bring home the largest basket in what- 

 ever company and on whatever water they may find 

 themselves. One of them was a Welsh squire, the 

 other an English parson, and the third a commercial 

 gentleman. The latter represented England against 

 Scotland in the competitions that are or used to be 

 held on Lochleven. He was quite frank himself re- 

 garding his phenomenal gift, and admitted his in- 

 abihty to account for it. Lake fishing over a drift of all 

 methods of trouting one would fancy left nothing by 

 which the most gifted angler could consistently lift 

 himself above his brother experts. The last-men- 

 tioned one had a theory that some kind of fourth 

 sense had been vouchsafed him which enabled him in 

 some mysterious way to divine and anticipate the 

 movements of unseen fish. 



The Avon isn't everybody's river — ^not by any 

 means ! There has been, I think, some thinning out 

 done of late years, but I have often seen strange anglers, 

 officers or the like from Plymouth, wandering down 

 the woody banks below Garabridge or, Avonwick, 

 asking in despair where the river was get-at-able. 

 These were mostly no doubt what the Devon folk used 

 to call ' up-countrymen,' handy enough some of them 

 perhaps on moorland, or water meadows, or on lakes, but 



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