THOUGHTS ON BIG FISH 175 



downstream for quite 300 yards and felt like a 

 salmon the whole way. Had I lost him at the end 

 of it I should unhesitatingly have put him down as 

 seven pounds at least. As a matter of fact he 

 weighed three pounds five ounces and proved to 

 have been hooked in one of the ventral fins. For 

 that reason I have never liked to be too positive 

 about trout which have got off after being hooked 

 in the late evening. But I have twice had to do 

 with fish that felt as the Kennet fish, and for a 

 considerable time had me absolutely helpless to 

 stop or turn them on their downward course. One 

 was in the Itchen and the other m the Test, and 

 both made nothing of a powerful rod and strong gut. 

 Both got off before I had a chance of seeing them. 

 I have had one similar contest besides in the Itchen, 

 but that was in daylight, and I was, and am, pretty 

 sure that the fish was a huge grayling; there were 

 known to be several very big ones at the spot where 

 it was hooked. 



Except in southern waters I have liad very little 

 experience of big trout, and I have never had the 

 luck to catch anything out of the common on 

 mountain streams or lakes when I have been 

 definitely fishing for trout. I have had a few 

 relatively big ones when salmon fishing. Once I 

 got hold of one of those old stagers for which the 

 Coquet is famous. I thought it was a grilse when it 



