CHAPTER V 



FISHING GENERALITIES 



CHARLES KINGSLEY, in that most delightful of all 

 fishing tales, * Chalk Stream Studies/ at one juncture 

 admonishes his pupil to * take off that absurd black 

 chimney-pot, crawl up on three legs, and when you 

 are in position, kneel down.' It is far easier nowa- 

 days to procure proper and suitable requisites for 

 fishing, whether as regards clothing or tackle, than 

 it was forty years ago when Canon Kingsley wrote. 

 Presumably in this instance the fisherman was 

 wearing a tall hat. Fancy trying for Test or Itchen 

 trout in these days, clad in such a headgear ! If 

 it were anything like a sunny day the fish would 

 wonder, awestruck, for the fractional part of a second 

 and then flee en masse. 



Of course at the date when Canon Kingsley went 

 a-fishing, trout were easy to catch compared with 

 what they are now, at any rate in the best known 

 English rivers ; but it will be noted that even then 



