il6 Sporting Sketches in Pen and Pencil 



that spot, only going up the river now and then, when they headed up 

 in one vast shoal. I have seen that shoal swim past me so that I 

 could not see the bottom for the fish, and they would take eight or ten 

 minutes to go by. The difficiilty was to get them quiet that they might 

 feed, for they were always swimming to and fro. One afternoon I did 

 get them in a long deep pool, and baited them with a little bran and 

 clay. Fishing with caddis, my tackle was by no means fine. The water 

 was quite clear, and I could see every fish that came to bite, though, 

 strangely enough, it did not disturb the others, nor did my presence 

 on the bank scare them. I got out four dozen, none under three- 

 quarters of a pound, and I hooked the leader of the shoal — a big 21b. 

 chap— twice; but the second time he left his upper lip on the hook, 

 so he did not come again. A friend, running suddenly down to the 

 bank on the other side, disturbed them, and I couldn't get them on 

 again ; and, though I often caught them before and after, I never got 

 so many. Some years after the sea broke into the haven, and killed 

 them all, and I don't think they have ever recovered that disaster. 



' A PKECIOUS BINO THAT LIGHTENS ALL THE HOLE. 



" Titus Andronicus.' 



