CHAPTER IV. 



April 



THAMES TROUTINO. 



THE Thames trout the only salmon, in my opinion, 

 that will ever flourish in our noble river, the 

 quarry of the keenest sportsman, bar, perhaps, 

 the dry-fly fisher have we not all longed, and 

 many tried, to capture him ? A few have suc- 

 ceeded, and those few know the pleasure that such 

 captures have brought them. 



By the Thames trout is not meant the fish of from 

 Jib. to 31bs., which is now getting so common in the 

 river owing to re-stocking operations. No, what is 

 written of is the tyrant of the weirpool and the weedy 

 reach, who long ago abandoned flies, and such small 

 deer, to betake himself to a dietary of fish ; and who, 

 daily at the appointed hour, takes toll of the shoals of 

 bleak, dace, and gudgeon that populate our grand old 

 river. 



For such a great trout the fly, even of the salmon 

 variety, has few attractions. He wants a fish, and a 

 fish, live or dead, on spinning tackle or simply lipped, is 

 the best lure. Early in the season, before the boat 

 traffic gets too thick, the finest trout are to be found in 

 the open river ; but later they are frequently driven up 

 into the weirs. Spinning is undoubtedly, in the hands 

 of an expert, the most killing method of taking Thames 

 trout. By " spinning " is meant casting from the reel, 

 coiled down, over a definite, feeding fish, whether the fish 

 be at that moment feeding or no. A kind of bastard 

 spinning is popular in the weirs, in which the angler 



