144 TROUT FISHING 



pool. They made a tremendous pother for their 

 size, and it was quite nervous work casting for 

 them. I do not suppose that I covered one properly 

 at all, for very odd things kept happening to the 

 reel and line, over-runs, tangles, and so on. I had 

 all the time, too, a feeling that it was quite useless 

 casting to a spot where a trout had shown, because 

 by the time the bait reached it the fish would be 

 somewhere else. The period of feeding was very 

 short, not more than twenty minutes each evening, 

 so I never seemed to have a chance of getting cool 

 and deciding on a definite policy. Good resolutions 

 formed earlier all went to the winds. If I could have 

 the time over again I would " lay for " the fellow who 

 jumped off the weed-bed in the neck of the pool and 

 try to ignore the others. I am sure he was well 

 into the 'teens. But I never got a bait near him. 



I suppose most Thames weirpools contain a num- 

 ber of big trout. Certain it is that they all have a 

 number of assiduous anglers. Except for the period 

 in the Benson district I have only fished seriously 

 for trout at one place, Penton Hook. That fine 

 combination of stream and pool took my fancy 

 mightily at the first sight, and whenever I have 

 wanted a day of solid spinning for trout I have been 

 to the Hook. It is a water which, from the bank, 

 needs long casting. Once, in May, I found two fish 

 furiously feeding on the shallow below the weir. 



