TWO SEASONS. 153 



Mr. W. Collett, representing Ny-Bro, or the New Bridge, 

 spanning the Gotha at no great distance from Ronnum, and 

 on the high road leading to Wenersborg. 



Though some trout and it was to this fish my attention 

 was chiefly confined remained in the Gotha all the year 

 round, by far the larger portion left us in the early part of 

 the summer, and ascended the stream to the Wenern, where 

 they passed that season ; and it was not, as I have said, until 

 the autumn, that they returned to us. 



As respected trout, therefore, we had two seasons the 

 spring and the autumn. The months of June and July, 

 which in other rivers are usually the best months for 

 angling, were to us almost a blank; for though we could 

 always kill fish, a heavy basket was not at that time to 

 be calculated on. 



The fishing at Ronnum had also this singularity, that in 

 the spring months good sport was generally obtainable in 

 the rapids about the house; whereas in those near to the 

 Wenern, it was then hardly possible to kill a good-sized fish. 

 But in the autumn, on the contrary, by far the larger portion 

 of the fish were congregated in the upper rapids, while in the 

 lower it was a rare event to take a large trout. 



Our spring fish were far from being in such good con- 

 dition as those taken in the early part of the autumn ; partly 

 because they had not fully recovered from spawning, and 

 partly, it is to be supposed, because they had been on short 

 commons during the winter. Those caught in the early part 

 of the fall were, on the contrary, excessively fat, and were 

 heavier by several pounds. In the spring we seldom killed 

 trout much exceeding twenty pounds weight, but in the 

 autumn a twenty-four or twenty-five pounder was an almost 



