250 AN OPEN CREEL 



spoke the float went under again and the fish moved 

 off at a great pace. The strike went home this time, 

 and after a not very spirited fight I got a great fish up 

 to the gaff, and C. had it in the boat in a moment. My 

 spring balance, which is old and rusty and inaccurate, 

 made him eighteen and a half pounds; but on the 

 station weighing-machine the next day he just failed to 

 touch nineteen pounds, so, making allowance for loss 

 of weight, I can fairly call him nineteen pounds. After 

 this I had time for one more cast before hurrying off to 

 catch the train, and with it I got one more fish, a five- 

 pounder, which went in again. 



The third day the wind changed to the south-west, 

 and it rained appallingly the whole morning. C. and I 

 sheltered behind an old boat, which we turned over on 

 its side, so as to get some cover, and watched the corks 

 as the live bait worked about in the vicinity of the big 

 fish. But never a run rewarded us before lunch, and 

 the only thing that inspired hope was a gradual 

 brightening of the sky, which ultimately culminated 

 in a cessation of the rain about one o'clock. Then 

 the wind shifted towards the north, and increased 

 steadily all day, so that though we had very little 

 more rain, it grew very cold. One little fish came to 

 the spoon-bait about 3 p.m., and he was the only pike 

 I saw feeding on either day. And about 4 p.m., out of 

 a little clear hole among the reeds, I got a fish of some 

 six pounds with live bait. Both were returned, and 

 that closed the day's and the expedition's sport. As 

 a finish to the season, it gave me no excuse for 

 complaint. Some there are who are, or seem to be, 

 in the confidence of big fish, and who reckon on a 



