CHAPTER XX. 



THE OPENING DAY OF THE TROUT SEASON 1907. 



Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious 

 springtime on the first of April, when trout anglers, 

 alert and hopeful, resort to the banks of the Thames 

 with their spinning rods, and fly-fishing enthusiasts 

 to many other rivers even more sanguine of sport, 

 because the quarry they are in quest of is usually 

 found in greater numbers and will rise to their 

 artificial lures. In imagination I. was again in a 

 punt, gliding along the quiet highway of old 

 Father Thames with the crowded retrospect of 

 thirty successful seasons during my residence at 

 Maidenhead and Marlow, albeit of some failures on 

 the opening day ; for, whatever the weather might 

 be, I and two friends (the late John Wood, of 

 Woodhurst, Maidenhead, and John Grould, the 

 author of "The Birds of Europe" and forty folio 

 volumes on kindred subjects) always made a be- 

 ginning trial then, and too often the trio did not 

 land a fish. But in reality on the first of the 

 present April at mid-day I was beside the Itchen, 

 kneeling and bending low, intently waiting for 



