158 TROUT FISHING 



He must have " seen red." And so must Mr. 

 Stewart and some others of the great anglers of that 

 time who counted on from fifteen to twenty pounds 

 of trout as a reasonable day's catch. 



Possibly some one will wish to say, " Ah, you say 

 you don't want big catches because you cannot 

 make them." And part of that would be true 

 certainly. I do not think I could catch twenty 

 pounds of trout on any Border stream in a day either 

 with worm or fly. But, apart from lack of Border 

 skill, I should be handicapped by not wanting to, 

 unless of course the fish were three pounds apiece or 

 more, when the impulse would be different. After 

 a time I should find myself returning quarter- 

 pounders, and if that did not check the run of luck 

 I should return fish of six ounces. A red-letter day 

 seems to me an opportunity for big average weight 

 rather than for a gross total. 



Only once do I remember having such a day as 

 the mid- Victorians seemed to consider their due. 

 On that day I consigned to their fate seventy-two 

 trout ranging from about a quarter of a pound to 

 about three-quarters of a pound. I put it in that 

 way because as I caught them the fish were taken 

 away alive in water cans to be placed in the hotel 

 stew. It was on a German stream which, so far as 

 I could learn, had never been properly fished with 

 fly before. It was a great day certainly, and the 



