tti LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES 



stream at racing speed, before I could get command 

 of him. 



This, let me tell the young angler, is a dangerous 

 position to be in. The handling of a rod under such 

 circumstances, with a fine line like that with which 

 you always ought to fish for barbel, requires great care. 

 The tendency is to be over excited, and in the agita- 

 tion of the moment one frequently commits the grave 

 error of striking hard at a running fish. The result 

 is obvious. With a fish going strongly away, and a 

 man striking more strongly perhaps than he imagines 

 in the contrary direction, it is almost a certainty that 

 something or other will give way. However, an old 

 stager at that kind of work gets out of the predicament 

 without any loss, and after the usual resistance secures 

 the fish. The battle was really fought about fifteen 

 yards below the punt. 



Why the barbel should choose that particular ground 

 to try conclusions I am not aware. The water I know 

 was deepest there, and, as I afterwards satisfied myself 

 by plumbing, formed a saucer-like hollow, and there 

 were also some obstructions about, of what nature I 

 could not exactly make out. But I shrewdly suspect 

 that there were either stakes or an ugly piece of wood, 

 or some other object that would be dangerous to the 

 line, and that the enemy went straight away for this, 

 having probably tried the dodge successfully before, 

 with the object of boring and boring until he parted 

 from the hook that held him. A barbel is artful and 

 apt to play games of this description, and it is prudent 

 when you find a barbel making for a particular place 

 and again returning to it after he has been brought 

 away, to use every exertion compatible with safety to 

 keep him away. This was not a large fish something 

 about 6 Ib. or 7 Ib. and as he lay in the bottom of 



