162 TROUT FISHING 



that case, a day's fishing there would be like. They 

 did not give the impression of being educated fish, 

 and I have always believed that the water would 

 give a sort of record bag. But one cannot tell. I 

 have tried one or two lakes where trout reach a 

 heavy old age almost undisturbed, and found that 

 the patriarchs seem to absorb wisdom without the 

 customary course of instruction, which has been 

 very disappointing to me. Perhaps it is as well that 

 I have never had the chance of being disenchanted 

 on that other water. It can remain a sort of dream 

 fishery with a five-pound average and no reserva- 

 tions, mental or actual. 



The biggest trout I ever saw alive and in the 

 water was in the Kennet at Newbury, at the extreme 

 bottom of the Piscatorial Society's stretch which is 

 known as " the Three Fields." It was about 6 a.m. 

 I had come out soon after daybreak with some idea 

 of fishing, but had found the river too low for any- 

 thing owing to the action of the mills which, I 

 suppose, were holding back water for their day's 

 work. So I sat on the boundary fence and medi- 

 tated on things in general and on the differing 

 aspects of a river when it is full and when it is 

 nearly empty. I was roused by a splashing a little 

 below, and looking round I perceived a really 

 enormous trout with half its back out of the water 

 rolling about and gathering in minnows by the 



