152 TROUT FISHING 



There is a curious circumstance about those 

 ponds. I fished them once again, and once only, 

 so far as I can remember, and then witli the fly, 

 which I had studied assiduously in the interval of, 

 I think, a year. I know I had a fine catch then, 

 and I am pretty sure it consisted of eleven fish 

 averaging probably three- quarters of a pound. I 

 know also that I was intensely proud of them. 

 Now I sometimes meet the present owner of the 

 estate, and he always assures me positively that the 

 effect of me on the fishery was as the effect of a net, 

 followed by a draining dry, with a dressing of lime 

 to wind up. The cataclysm, such as it was, occurred 

 before his day, and I suspect a twinkle in his eye. 

 But obviously I somehow gained a great and terrible 

 reputation, and the only conclusion I can come to 

 is that I must have talked at large and multiplied 

 that catch by at least ten. Small boys do that sort 

 of thing when exchanging notes. If you listen to 

 them comparing their fathers you are pretty sure 

 to hear one, in the crescendo of effort, make some 

 such claim as that " My father can hold six lions in 

 each hand." And I fear it has not been otherwise 

 with any of us. 



I have seen some big trout caught with a worm 

 in my time, especially trout of the type found in 

 rivers which are mostly stocked with coarse fish. 

 I remember a brace weighing over five pounds 



