A CONTRAST IN THAMES ANGLING 105 



practical test of results, Boveney Weir, in the estima- 

 tion of many practical anglers, is not now what it was, 

 and decidedly not what it ought to be. On the Satur- 

 day after a Good Friday, which fell in April, one of the 

 experts, as he worked a delicious little bleak in a most 

 artistic fashion down the middle of the weir, bemoaned 

 himself in my hearing on this account. Yet he could 

 not complain. He had caught a trout on the previous 

 Monday. And it has come to this ! A man who Evi- 

 dently understands how to do it takes one fish in the 

 course of a week, and, being conscientious, admits that 

 he will not sin by complaining. 



In the course of an hour, four gentlemen, nicely 

 equipped with spinning rods, arrived at the scene of 

 action, and paid out in the orthodox way at the head of 

 the weir. I could see that they had been having brave 

 sport with the above-mentioned species Number Two ; 

 but, so long as I remained, that was the sum total of 

 their spoil. One could almost observe, by the gradual 

 melancholy which settled upon their countenances as 

 the time went on with no thrilling rap to make the top 

 of the limber rod dance again, the hopeless fading out 

 of these unsubstantial specimens from even the im- 

 agination. The east wind of course had been against 

 everything ever since the trout season opened, and it 

 was not surprising to learn that, though the weir had 

 been well fished from All Fools' day onwards, only six 

 fish had been taken, and they of the smallest size. 



A Thames trout of 2\ Ib. is regarded as a mere 

 minnow by the man who has drunk the deep delight 

 of landing a fish of the normal weight of 6 or 7 Ib. ; 

 yet this seemed to have been the average. Put it down 

 to the east wind by all means. An honest Thames 

 trout, properly educated up to the modern standard, 

 would be unworthy of the confidence of_the great 



