AXIOMS, NOTES AND THEORIES 135 



There can be no harm in filling one's creel if its contents 

 are employed in " pleasuring some poor body " as Izaak 

 Walton has it, but to effect the depletion of a trout stream 

 for no other purpose than that of proving one's skill, and to 

 toil during the day under a creel loaded with those beautiful 

 fish in order to establish our own prowess on our return to 

 our fishing quarters, is a vanity which calm consideration 

 should soon permit us to conquer. 



A fisherman's day may be considered to be one on which 

 trout are difficult to capture. A duffer's day may be con- 

 sidered to be one on which the fish are superlatively easy to 

 capture. 



It should always be remembered that the killing of a 

 two or three year old fish puts an end to the most 

 valuable and interesting period of its life. 



Always be charitable ; never discredit a reputed trout 

 stream because you have been unlucky on one or two 

 occasions. " No fish in the river " is a rash statement to 

 advance, because, after one or two visits, no fish have 

 been caught, or possibly seen. A futile visit to a stream and 

 a hasty opinion thus formed may be regretted. I remember, 

 by the kindly courtesy of a French landowner in Normandy, 

 taking a day on his stream, in which he told me were many 

 trout. I had been doing well all the week, but on this day 

 I had the poorest luck, and, therefore, hastily concluded 

 that the stream was almost barren of trout. Consequently, 

 on one memorable day on which the May-fly was dominant, 

 instead of going with a friend who was fishing this stream, 

 I went farther and fared worse, and found, on meeting my 

 friend in the evening, that he had enjoyed a glorious day's 

 trouting. I still regret losing that excellent day, and consider 

 that, as regards any water, first impressions are not always 

 the soundest. 



