24 THE TROUT 



It is, indeed, from possessing a thorough knowledge of the 

 haunts of the trout, that many a skilful angler has managed to 

 take fish under the most unpropitious circumstances, and in those 

 very places the less experienced would pass unnoticed hy. One 

 or two of these spots I chanced to discover in my early fishing 

 career, and in a neighbourhood where trout were remarkably 

 scarce, and these I contrived to turn to great advantage. One 

 particular spot I well remember, in which I seldom failed of 

 catching a trout of at least a pound weight ; and yet I have seen 

 many an angler, of far greater science than I had any right to 

 boast of, pass carelessly by without attempting to try his fortune 

 there. It was a small spot in a rippling shallow, of which there 

 were but few in the brook, which in fact was but a small sluggish 

 stream, running from the village of Ower, in Hampshire, through 

 Moor Court, and merging itself in the Test somewhere about 

 Testwood, and which contained just a sufficient quantity cf pike 

 to make the trout scarce, without being sufficiently abundant in 

 their own proper persons to make up for the deficiency they thus 

 occasioned. In the run just before alluded to, the course of the 

 stream was arrested by the stump of a decayed tree that projected 

 from the opposite bank, and formed a quick turn, in which was 

 n small open space about a foot or two wide, all the rest being 

 choked up with thick weeds ; and into this aperture I scarcely 

 ever cast my bait without success ; it being so eligible a situation 

 in the estimation of the trout of that neighbourhood, that the 

 occupation was no sooner vacated by one tenant, either by capture 

 or resignation, than another stepped into the vacant possession. 

 At any rate I rarely found the place untenanted. 



Very frequently also, particularly in the summer months, I have 

 taken some lusty trouts in such small streams and gutters commu- 

 nicating with rivers from whence they came up in pursuit of min- 

 nows, or whatever food they might chance to find there. On one 

 occasion during the time the May fly was up strong on the river 

 Itchen in Hampshire, I remember fishing in this river just above 

 Bambridge, in company with a friend who was by no means a bad 

 May fly fisher ; but the trout on this occasion were remarkably 

 sulky, not one could I succeed in raising, nor was my companion 

 much more fortunate, as he only caught one fish, somewhat less than 

 a pound weight, which I believe was the only rise he obtained, 

 after toiling away for several hours. Hoping to obtain a more favor- 



