JUNE 89 



beginning, although another try in the eddy produced 

 no result, the other fish having been evidently scared 

 by the dashing rushes of number one. About 50 yards 

 above, after a series of sharp stickles where small 

 trout were well in evidence, the river undercut the bank, 

 and here, in one of those tiny eddies where big fish love 

 to lie in wait, a succession of quiet rises close beside 

 the bank were observed. Every fly that circled in was 

 taken immediately, so the artificial was promptly got to 

 work The fly was cast with plenty of slack line .to 

 avoid drag, and curled into the eddy ; there was a qu*et 

 dimple, the fly disappeared, a turn of the wrist, and 

 next moment a good fish was fighting for his life. Just 

 below his eddy was a fallen, half-submerged tree trunk, 

 and here, evidently, was his lair. How he fought for the 

 trunk ! and how one slipped and stumbled in the rapid 

 stream, about 2^- feet in depth, and full of trailing 

 tresses of water weed. Suffice it to say that both fish 

 and man were pretty tired when the net was slipped 

 under him. The net was placed on the bank, and the 

 fish weighed on the steelyard ; 21b. 6oz. he went, and a 

 picture he looked as the hook was taken out of him. Get- 

 ting a fresh grip to throw him to the boy, in order that he 

 might be knocked on the head and stowed away to keep 

 cool, a terrible catastrophe, from the angler's point of 

 view, occurred ; the fish slipped, bounced off the edge of 

 the bank, and in an instant was in the river, rolled over 

 and disappeared. " A bad start to a good day," said 

 my old friend, and it seemed as if his words were 

 correct, for, try as one would, not another sizeable fish 

 could we get on our way up the water. Small trout 

 and dace rose greedily, but the Kennet monsters from 

 31b. to 51b. were conspicuous by their absence, or 

 rather abstinence. 



About two o'clock the rise proper began, but still the 

 grandfathers refused to dine. A still, muddy, deep 

 reach amongst overhanging trees gave an occasional 

 indication of the presence of fish, and upon casting 

 over a quiet rise just at the edge of some rushes the 

 Mayfly was taken, and I landed a 31b. chub. A few 



