BASS AND MULLET 191 



intervals of hard work, for a couple of hours in the 

 mornings every other week (spring tides) of summer 

 and an hour or so of an evening. There were no 

 very large fish, the best being the brace already 

 mentioned (July 10 and 11, 1902), one of 10J Ibs. 

 (July 20, 1904), one of 8J Ibs. (Aug. 5, 1904), 

 and several of 6, 5J- and 4^ Ibs. in both years. 



Many and varied are the memories of those days 

 with bass in the Teign. I see again some friends, 

 who fished there with me : Cyril Maude, not act- 

 ing a part now, but in deadly earnest as he hooks 

 and kills a four pounder the very first time we are 

 out, and within a few minutes of starting. " John 

 Bickerdyke," fishing very craftily, trying new 

 dodges, essaying double flights, discussing the con- 

 ditions, expounding the theory, and never far 

 behind with the practice. That fine July dawn 

 in 1903 was the first time he and I had fished to- 

 gether since, at Cowes some years ago, we made a 

 brief and unprofitable raid on a famous ground 

 for pout, but were euchred by a tide that ripped 

 through the Solent at a pace that worried even 

 the pulsing leviathan that set us gaily dancing 

 in her wash as she pointed her nose down Channel. 

 " Frederick the Grocer/' the Southampton water- 

 men call her, and, though the hospitality of the 

 Prince of Wales Pier has lured many of the great 

 German liners to Dover, the " Grocer " remains 

 loyal to the Solent port. 



