36 ROD AND RIVER 



regards the age of such fish. As I have before 

 explained, after a certain age trout deteriorate in 

 size and condition. Some fish will grow to a great 

 size before they show any signs of such deteriora- 

 tion, while others again will never reach more 

 than two or three pounds weight ; and in the 

 rocky streams of the North and elsewhere they 

 may never attain to more than a pound or a pound 

 and a half, everything depending upon the food 

 they obtain during their youth. 



The great size to which Thames trout grow is 

 well known, but I do not intend to refer to these 

 fish, since, as they can hardly be included in the 

 list of fish which rise at a fly, their capture being 

 invariably effected by spinning or trolling, they do 

 not come within the limits of this work, which 

 I desire to confine solely to fly-fishing. 



I think I have for the present given enough 

 consideration to the ordinary trout, somewhat dis- 

 jointedly, perhaps, but I am desirous to avoid 

 treating the subject in anything like a stereotyped 

 fashion, trusting by such digressions as I may 

 make from time to time to carry the reader along 

 with me, rather as if we were strolling together 

 beside the banks of the stream, than by trying to 

 string a number of facts together, and having 

 made the mass as dry and unpalatable as possible, 

 to cram them down his throat. I know full well, 

 from my own experience, the strong inclination 



