FRESH-WATER FISHES 215 



considerable depth, laced and interlaced with the 

 large roots of trees that grow on either side rare 

 holds for the trout Once let him rush into that net- 

 work, and your line will come back minus the best 

 portion. He is likely to get it twisted round the 

 posts, too, in trying to get to his home under the 

 bridge. The silvery minnows are on all the shallows. 

 When the trout are hungry they rush out of the 

 holes and gorge themselves, and then return to 

 digest the meal. Sometimes they will feed well on 

 the shallows in the daytime ; but the evening is the 

 best time for the larger ones. Eels come then 

 also ; there are good silver-bellied ones here, as well 

 as trout. 



I was there once the whole day without getting a 

 single fish, and could not make out what was the 

 cause of it, for everything looked just as it had done 

 the day before, when I had met with better luck. As 

 I laid the rod on the grass for a wind up, I chanced 

 to look on the shallow. There I saw a rush, and the 

 minnows flash out of the water like tiny silver strips. 

 My rod was snatched off the grass, the line run 

 through my fingers, and a fresh minnow put on. 

 Very gently I crawled along the ground to where 

 the trout was feeding. I could just see him by 

 craning my neck to the utmost 



