HALFORD AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES 151 



Wandle rods. Halford made it a problem and solved 

 it at the opening of his second Wandle season. He 

 studied the position, obtained the necessary permission 

 to put white paint on a patch of branches, have them cut 

 down during the winter, and next season went down 

 with his plan of campaign in his head. Of course, it 

 succeeded. On the face of it you here have just an 

 ordinary incident with nothing much in it. But it 

 emphasises the value of the horizontal cast and some- 

 thing of its secret, while the kernel of the nut is the 

 fact that it illustrates the efficiency of using the wrist 

 and not the length of the arm in casting. 



You will again and again find Halford's wisdom as if 

 carelessly thrown down upon a bald place. Some of 

 the critics in the daily press were fond of saying of his 

 books, " Yes, yes : this is all very good no doubt, but 

 it does look as if page after page is simply a mono- 

 tonous recital of catching trout that are very much 

 alike by processes that have a strong family likeness." 

 A careless surveyor of the page perhaps would think 

 in this way, and never for the life of him perceive the 

 point sought to be made by the writer of the book. 



Halford was an angler from his youth upwards, and 

 himself tells us that by his family he was considered 

 " fishing mad," which, as so many of my readers may 

 remember, is the orthodox manner in which the young 

 enthusiast is classified by the unbelievers of his family. 

 He fished often and in various places as a youth, but it 

 was not till he became a member of the Houghton 

 Club water on the Test that he plunged into his life-work 

 for anglers. The date may be given as 1877, and the 

 fire was kindled by being on the river one April day, 

 and witnessing one of those marvellous rises of grannom 

 that might once be relied upon every season on the 

 Test. Many of us who still linger have seen thi 



