172 TROUT FISHING 



execution on the lake, and which Donald Carr, I 

 believe, christened " The Field." It is really not 

 much more than an elaboration of the Wickliam 

 by the addition of a topping and a red tail ; but it 

 is a very killing pattern for big trout of minnowing 

 propensities. Such a fish on my first day at Blagdon 

 made me very pleased with myself, especially as it 

 was companioned in my bag by two others of four 

 pounds ten ounces and three pounds eight ounces. 

 Another man got one of nearly the same weight on 

 that day, and it was an extraordinary circumstance 

 that there was not another trout over six pounds 

 caught for some years. The eight and nine- 

 pounders, average weights of five pounds or more, 

 and other portents that made Blagdon so famous 

 all belonged to the two seasons before my first 

 visit. 



Afterwards the weight of the fish caught fell 

 considerably, though latterly it has been going up 

 again. The big ones were still there — as I said 

 earlier, I have seen some of them — but for some 

 obscure reason nobody caught any for several 

 seasons. There were tragic losses each year though, 

 and it may have been simply luck. One reason 

 why fish used to be lost there at first was the fact 

 that so many men visited the lake with ordinary 

 trout tackle, the sort of gear which would be well 

 enough for waters where the fish run up to a pound 



