THOUGHTS ON BIG FISH 173 



and a half or so, but which was no good for a 

 six-pounder which behaved hke a torpedo. Gut 

 should be strong for such a fish, and there should 

 be plenty of backing on the reel. 



When I get down to lesser weights I can point 

 proudly to considerable losses. The worst certainly 

 was that of a trout which I hooked on a dry fly in 

 a small tributary of the Kennet. I am sure that 

 trout was over five pounds and he would have been 

 the most valued of all my trophies. I had him on 

 for a full quarter of an hour, most of which he spent 

 in a thick clump of sedges right at my feet. He 

 had run a good long way downstream after being 

 hooked, and then turned into the sedges and 

 burrowed well in before I realised what he was 

 doing. I tried every conceivable method of getting 

 him out, and finally endeavoured to tail him — by 

 wetting my arm almost to the shoulder I could just 

 manage to get a hold on him. But, alas ! the tail 

 of a trout is not as that of a salmon, and he slipped 

 through my grasp, broke the gut, and was gone. I 

 can remember sitting on a gate for half an hour 

 after that wondering whether I should drown myself 

 immediately or take the next train back to London, 

 for I knew that I should never have another chance 

 with that trout, and I never did. In earlier days 

 there had been a hatch of Mayfly on that little 

 stream, and then it was possible to look forward 



