42 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



Fish have their fast times; so most anglers think, 

 and many loudly proclaim that they are too frequent 

 and prolonged. Thames trout are really very trying; 

 not so much because of their fastings as for their 

 whimsical changings of feeding-time. The month of 

 April may slip by before you have marked down and 

 learnt the time of feeding of a good fish, and May pass 

 away before you discover that the lengthening of the 

 days has caused him to take his first meal so much 

 sooner that a very early start is necessary if one would 

 be with him then. 



Boveney Weir, where lay our second hope, is an 

 old wooden structure that has a fishy look which 

 permits of no surprise that a varied basket results 

 from fishing there. Its rush and tumble at the fall 

 give an aerated sparkling to the flow, even when 

 the river is at its lowest, that hides the going in and 

 out of trout amongst the piles and concrete blocks. 

 The breadth of the river at the falls is great and it 

 broadens out considerably below, where the crumbling 

 clay bank gives way in answer to each flood and frost. 

 Chub and barbel choose such ground as this to grub 

 amongst, and I have had good sport with them when 

 the water has been high and coloured so that they could 

 not see me. 



On the other side there are overhanging trees of 

 lime, ash, and withy, and below them flows a smooth, 

 dark, straight run of water which, I am told, holds 

 one good fish at least. I chose a gudgeon for my 

 first offering and, while I was watching its tossing on 

 the foam to see if it swam with the freedom I desired, 

 it was seized between the big white lips of a chub 

 that, as these fish usually do, hooked himself securely. 

 Careful to avoid this danger-spot for my second 

 gudgeon, I cast beyond it to where the water was 

 easing to a more gentle flow, and then, jealous of my 

 chances, I brought it across and back again at each 

 let out of line. Some half-dozen yards went out in 



