266 AN OPEN CREEL 



them out when heavy in spawn, had apparently played 

 havoc with them at any rate, in such waters as I 

 could get at. Then one day I found the drain behind 

 the windmill. It was but a small place, a yard or two 

 wide and about three feet deep, and not more than 

 about fifty yards were fishable, but it appeared to have 

 escaped the angler's attention, and was full of fish. 

 From it in one way and another, with worm, artificial 

 minnow, or small rudd I got quite a dozen handsome 

 perch in a couple of days, besides some roach and rudd, 

 and a couple of jack of about four pounds each. After- 

 wards I found and explored other drains, not, it is 

 true, with such good results, but seldom without some- 

 thing to show for the venture. 



Another odd bit of luck came to me when I had 

 about had enough of trying to catch rudd on Heigham 

 Sound. I attributed my lack of success to the mis- 

 placed generosity of anglers in general. The system 

 of baiting for rudd is, as I have said, to throw bread 

 into the water, so anglers threw bread. I threw bread 

 myself. We threw it in unbelievable quantities. We 

 no, I had better speak for myself I increased the 

 quantity of bread as the number of bites grew less. 

 The result was that one could, in a manner of speaking, 

 hardly see the water for the loaves. Therefore several 

 days of determined angling, sacrificing of bread, and 

 chasing of fugitive shoals had produced no success 

 worth mentioning. The fish were simply overfed, and 

 they would hardly look at a hook bait. It was very 

 vexatious, because the rudd is one of Norfolk's choicest 

 products. 



At this moment of despair there came to me a 



