Giving Him- the Rod. 181 



fish indeed; if I had had the luck to 

 have taken up that Rod, then 'tis twenty 

 to one, he should not have broke my line 

 by running to the rods end as you suffered 

 him : I would have held him within the 

 bent of my Rod (unless he had been fellow 

 to the great Trout that is near an ell long, 

 which was of such length and depth, that 

 he had his picture drawn, and now is to 

 be seen at mine Host Rickabies at the 

 George in Ware), and it may be, by giving 

 that very great trout the Rod, that is, by 

 casting it to him into the water, I might 

 have caught him at the long run, for so 

 I use alwayes to do when I meet with an 

 overgrown fish, and you will learn to do 

 so too hereafter ; for I tell you. Scholar, 

 fishing is an Art, or _aL.ieast, it is an Art 

 to catdE"!isrr* K ~ 



"irTTrTe absence of any reserve of line 

 on a reel, and with a rod which would 

 float, Walton's advice is sound enough. 

 Some correspondent of The Fishing Gazette, 

 who had campaigned in Afghanistan, de- 

 scribed how the native fishermen captured 

 the heaviest fish in this way. Dr. Bethune 

 says, "This bungling practice is condemned 

 by Cotton, and should never be resorted 

 to by any one who has a reel at his hand." 

 Cotton had no chance of meeting with 

 a great Lea trout, and Walton had no 



