54 Sporting Sketches in Pen and Pencil. 



fayourite bit of mine. It is a veiy free rising bit, and the stream is sharp 

 and ripples over lovely gravel. The fish are always in fine fettle, and often 

 of good size ; here I nearly always get a fish or two, and sometimes more. 

 To-day I delude a nice fish of a pound and half, and one of three-quarters, 

 and then we walk on past Mr. Giles's water and his mill, till we strike the 

 top of Ladymead, a stream famed for its superior trout, and not locally only : 

 they do say that the trout here were known in London formerly. But 

 Ladymead is too calm to-day, so we skip about a mile of water whilome 

 belonging to others, but which happily at this time of printing belongs to us, 

 and get down below the next mill, over a high bank, through a bit of boggy 

 stuff, and here we are upon an exceedingly useful bit. 



This wide open shallow holds a great quantity of trout, and, though the 

 great bulk of the fish do not run large, there are very good ones among 

 them, and the beauty of this reach is that you can always find a rising fish 

 or two somewhere about it, either in the bits of sharp, or in one of the many 

 little eddies, or under the banks, and there is another good point in it, 

 viz., whether you see fish rising or no, you may fish it blind and stUl catch 

 fish. At present all seems pretty stUl. The fly often is late in coming out 

 on this lower water, but nevertheless, put you on either a blue or olive, and 

 a yellow dun, or put on a small governor for a stretcher, and use a 

 Wickham's fancy (a capital fly for this river) as a dropper, and it is a 

 curious fact that with those five flies you may fish this river all through the 

 season more or less. 



" So, that cast will do — cast away as far over to the opposite bank as you 

 can, touching the opposite grass almost, when you can, and it will be much 

 to me if you don't pick up a brace between this and the hatches. Penton, 

 do you go on down to the hut, and see if you can see any fish rising down 

 there ; I'U land Mr. Crayon's fish." 



" Ay, there he was ; did you touch him ? " 



" I felt him touch the fly." 



" Then it is no use to try him again. They will do that sometimes with 

 the wet fly, and when they do they won't come again. You had better go 

 across to the island and fish that down ; it is nice water and you should get 

 a fish there about the top part ; and sure enough there he is, a nice pound 



