IN THE WEST COUNTRY 37 



of the best fishers in these parts, but he's in the 

 Navy, now." Afterwards he said, with great 

 good-will, " There be * lovely fishing ' below the 

 bridge, zur." 



" Lovely fishing " what joy in the hearty 

 statement, as compared with the languid " not 

 bad." I am reminded of the pedestrian, in the 

 long ago, who lost a good ride through want of 

 such heartiness. " Have a ride, neighbour ? " 

 said a passing driver. Instead of a downright 

 " Thank you," the reply was an indifferent " I 

 don't mind." With a prompt " No more do I," 

 the vehicle went on, leaving a wiser if sadder 

 pedestrian behind. My young friend watched 

 me for some time. A smaller trout was hooked, 

 landed, and returned to the water. It pained the 

 lad. " That trout was zeven inches, zur," he 

 remarked. If that was a keepable fish, I wondered 

 what the maid at a Kennet hotel would have said 

 to it. When, not without pride, I came back one 

 July evening in 1916 with a fish of i Ib. 7 oz., 

 goodly to see and fat as butter, and asked for a 

 plate to lay it on, she observed : " Why, that's only 

 a small trout for about here." One lives and learns. 



Touching the size of the Barle trout, it may 

 be noted that a day or two previously an angler 

 had captured three weighing 23 ozs., and these 

 were reckoned good-sized fish. The average 

 appeared to be four or five to the pound. 



The blue upright continued to prove first 

 favourite that mid-March week, and next perhaps 

 came the half-stone, though the February red was 



