SECOND DAY.] TROUT DESCRIBED. 35 



possible, till he is needed to be crimped; for the 

 sooner he is dressed after this operation the better ; 

 and I assure you, a well-fed trout of the Colne, crimped 

 and cooled ten minutes before he is wanted for the 

 kettle or the gridiron, is a fish little inferior to the 

 best salmon of the best rivers. It is now nearly two 

 o' clock, and there is a cloud over the sun : the fly is 

 becoming less abundant ; you are now likely, Poietes, 

 to have better sport. Try in that deep pool below the 

 Tumbling Bay; I see two or three good fish rising 

 there, and there is a lively breeze. The largest fish 

 refuses your fly again and again; try the others. 

 There, you have hooked him ! now carry him down 

 stream, and keep his head high, out of the weeds. 

 He plunges and fights with great force ; he is the 

 best-fed fish I have yet seen at the end of the line, 

 and will weigh more, in proportion to his length. I 

 will land him for you. There he is, and measures 

 19 inches; and I dare say his weight is not much 

 short of 3 Ibs. We will preserve him in the well. 



POIET. He has hardly any spots, and is silvery all 

 over ; and the whole of the lower part of his body is 

 beautifully clean. 



HAL He is likewise broad-backed ; and you may 

 observe his few spots are black, and these are very 

 small. I have always remarked, in this river, that 

 the nearer the fish approach to perfection, the colour 



