10 THE WONDERFUL TROUT 



motion of a fin, the ring, or, as an old mentor 

 of our own youth used to call it, ' No' even 

 the mairk o' a troot.' Nor is it only that we 

 have watched such a reach, but we have over 

 and over again fished it ; and if we caught 

 some trout, they were oftener than not 

 smaller than our river average, or if large, in 

 poor condition, ' without ' (so to speak) ' a 

 kick in them/ We have fished innumerable 

 times under precisely similar and recorded 

 conditions, and have stopped in the middle 

 of killing trout, after putting back many a 

 trout which, had his weight corresponded 

 with his measurements, would have weighed 

 over the Ib. (See Table at p. 137.) 



To reiterate in other paraphrase, we seldom 

 care to c flail ' and ' chuck and chance it ' with 

 a two-handed rod or ' pole ' from the bank of 

 a flooded or high-coloured water in early 

 spring (nor, indeed, at any season) when the 

 trout are not in full condition, on a dark, 

 gloomy, sunless day, and the temperatures 

 do not improve as the day advances ; when 

 the water looks black as ink; when the 

 surface of a pet glide or ripply reach bears 

 the colour of a new pair of patent leather 



