CLEAR WATERS 



days in April and May, and this was, and is, in the more 

 inaccessible and less fished half of the river. After an 

 interval of half a lifetime my own experiences of recent 

 years have only been at the back-end of the season, 

 which is of small avail for comparisons with spring and 

 early summer results in the long ago. But I have had 

 ample opportunity to see that at any rate there is still 

 a fine stock of trout, though such remarks are utterly 

 superfluous when weighed-in baskets, as I have related, 

 are published regularly in the daily press. Nay, more, 

 if any more is wanted ; for as I write these very lines 

 the postman hands in a letter with the Berwick post- 

 mark. It is from a friend up there and not concerned 

 with fishing. But there is a brief PS. 'I went up 

 to the Whiteadder yesterday, and got nine pounds.' 

 Let the owner of a rapid river who thinks a rod 

 over it every other day a bit of a strain take note and 

 mark. For nine pounds is a very nice basket indeed, 

 even in closely preserved water. But it is only what 

 my correspondent expects to get in reasonable weather, 

 and usually does get on this free water, and he can fish 

 some of the best preserves in Northumberland if he 

 choses. I wish the Fly Fishers' club would appoint 

 a committee to examine and take evidence on the 

 Whiteadder and its neighbouring streams. It would 

 reveal a condition of things and possibilities that would 

 astonish the average angler, and cause the normal 

 owner and preserver of fast water, who was a kindly 

 man and not a hopeless egotist, to think furiously. 

 My old fishing companion of these early days and of 

 many much later ones — the Irishman — ^was the most 

 remarkable blend, in the sporting sense, that I ever 

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