36 TROUT FISHING 



What half-pounders, aye and better, have I not lost ! 

 I live in hopes of some day really doing justice to 

 the possibilities of a mill-leat, and getting at least 

 a dozen fish out of it, averaging three to the pound. 

 It certainly could be done with luck and a steady 

 hand. That is, perhaps, the trouble. As one 

 works the fly downstream — upstream fishing in 

 so small a water, which is relatively deep, does 

 not seem to rouse the fish so effectually — the trout 

 come at it with a bang, and the hand involuntarily 

 responds with violence, so that the fly is missing 

 afterwards, or, at best, the trout is off after a flounce 

 of surprise The fish should in such a place be 

 allowed to hook themselves, the angler doing no 

 more than hold the rod-point steady when they rise. 

 But it is much easier to preach this doctrine than to 

 practise it, and my progress down the leat has always 

 been a story of catastrophe. Occasionally I have had 

 three or four nice little trout, but what are they to 

 the splendid creatures that I ought to have had ? 



Also to be included in the category of jumpable 

 streams are, I think, the top reaches of some of the 

 chalk streams, and many of the carriers which feed 

 the water-meadows all along their courses. But 

 these are too important to be squeezed in at the 

 end of a chapter, and I have spent so many happy 

 days on them that I owe them a better compliment, 

 which I hope presently to pay. 



