A CONTRAST IN THAMES ANGLING 107 



seething pool, you see the stately grey towers of Windsor 

 rising above the land, and the level meadows stretching 

 green towards the eminences made picturesque by the 

 woods. 



The tradition amongst the fishermen is that Boveney 

 Weir is full of " rum uns." This I take to be a con- 

 fession of faith in the existence of large trout, and at 

 the same time a delicate compliment to their wariness. 

 All Thames trout are wary, and it is probably their out- 

 rageous artfulness which adds to the rapture of cir- 

 cumventing them. Old Nottingham George would tell 

 many a tale of cunning trout which had been angled for 

 so often and pricked so many times that they were 

 supposed to have become as learned in the matter of 

 fishermen and fishing tackle as humanity itself. The 

 reader may not have read, or, reading, may have for- 

 gotten, that the principles of the Thames Angling 

 Preservation Society were very early applied to Boveney 

 Weir, for it is written that William, the son of Richard 

 de Windsor, in the first year of the thirteenth century, 

 gave a couple of marks to the king, in order that the 

 pool and fishery might be maintained in no worse a 

 condition than it used to be under the reign of Henry II. 



Spinning for Thames trout, which is undoubtedly the 

 most legitimate way of treating them, seeing that they 

 so little appreciate the beauties of an artificial fly, is an 

 art that requires perhaps more patience than skill. 

 Your bleak, dace, gudgeon, minnow, or phantom, in 

 point of fact, humoured fairly into the stream, does its 

 own work ; but anyone who watches the old-timers at 

 such weirs as Eton or Boveney must perceive that 

 there are many degrees of such science as the catching 

 of a Thames trout demands. No doubt it is delightful 

 to sit on a weir-head, reading your favourite author, 

 while the rod is conveniently placed to give early notice 



