10 THAMES FISHING. 



boarded piles, which are here and there placed on 

 the sides of the river to throw the current of water 

 into the main channel for the purpose of facilita- 

 ting the navigation of barges. From the position 

 of these piles, and the action of the water, deep 

 holes are generally found near them, in which the 

 perch harbour. The pike which are caught in 

 trolling, are generally small, but there is the pic- 

 ture of one just hung up on the walls of the entrance 

 to the Bell Inn, at Hampton, which weighed ten 

 pounds and a-half, and was lately caught in an 

 odd way by a gentleman of the name of Waring, 

 whose feat is duly recorded, and authenticated, on 

 the picture. He was fishing with fine tackle for 

 some other sort offish, when the pike in question 

 came at his bait ; he was taken unawares at seeing 

 so large a fish, though he has the character of being 

 a tolerably expert practitioner, and snatched away 

 his line; in doing so he hooked the pike in the 

 belly, and the boat being luckily adrift, he was 

 enabled to secure it, after playing it for a consider- 

 able length of time. Indeed, many extraordinary 

 stories are related by Thames anglers, as well as 

 by the fishermen, of the way in which fish have 

 been caught, after having been hooked foul. I 

 have been assured, indeed, that on one occasion a 

 good sized trout was landed, that had been en- 

 tangled in an accidental noose in the line, by a per- 

 son who was trolling in the rapid at Hampton. 



