ii2 FRESH WOODS. 



or the miller above would turn the water off 

 for his mill-stream, and our river would sud- 

 denly sink a foot or two, and the rising trout 

 with it. 



But despite these troubles, up to the very 

 last moment the train would give us we 

 hopefully fished on. Our chance (and for 

 the last half-hour on Saturday night we 

 really thought we had a chance) was swamped 

 by some urchins on the opposite side, who 

 amused themselves by throwing stones, and 

 by villagers bobbing for eels in the cream of 

 the water. Beyond an occasional decent 

 fish, and the catching and returning of one 

 or two under the thirteen-inch limit, our 

 excursions last week were fruitless. True, 

 we did not begin fishing until after five 

 o'clock. 



The conclusion we have come to, Piscator 

 and I, is, that noted as this charming stream 

 is for big trout, it is not very well stocked 

 with them ; for one trout that we saw, there 

 were shoals of big i Ib. and 2 Ib. roach, such 

 as would delight the heart of a London or 

 Sheffield club angler. They were easy enough 

 to catch, and when hooked on a light fly-rod 

 would now and then fight well ; but we did 

 not want them we could only be content 

 with big trout. Anything shorter than 13 in. 



