4M SALMON AND TROUT. 



minnow, and when its mouth was closed over the lead by the 

 lip-hook, and the link, with the triangles, passed through the 

 'eyes' and looped on to a fine trace with two swivels, I felt 

 that I had a tackle suited to the brightest water, and capable of 

 being dropped without disturbance in any quiet nook. When 

 I explained my scheme of tactics to my veteran boatman, I 

 fear he took much the same view of my character as the matron 



at Shrewsbury School did of Master W whom she declared 



to be the most 'poke-into-every-hole-and-cornerest boy she 

 ever see in her life!' But his punting to suit my short, quiet 

 casts was simply perfection. I had but to indicate the spot 

 where I hoped to find a fish, and without splash, stir, or 

 apparent effort, he placed me within easy reach of it. Now 

 it would be a deep rush through a ballast hole ; now a dark 

 eddy behind a barrier of roots ; now the quiet water under the 

 further side of a mill- shoot ; but whatever the difficulties of 

 approach, Andrews never threw a chance away. The outcome 

 of all our manoeuvring was, I confess, very gratifying to me as 

 a novice in those waters. I got four fish not ' boomers,' 

 certainly, for the largest was just under four pounds; but all 

 takeable and three of the other boats had but one small trout 

 between them, nor could I learn that the fourth, which went 

 off down stream, had carried away any spoil. 



No doubt, with ordinary water and weather, the results 

 would have been very different. The fish would not have lain 

 so close, and the caster who covered most water would cateris 

 paribns have had the best chance. Still, that day's experience 

 showed me what is the weak point of the ordinary Thames 

 spinning-tackle. It is not good for exploring a deep hole or a 

 sheltered nook, and I believe much might be done, after 

 fishing the streams in a likely reach, broad-cast, by changing 

 the tackle, and fishing out the odd corners without any lead 

 outside the bait. As the season advances, especially if the 

 summer be a warm one, spinning across the open streams 

 becomes almost useless, unless just at twilight, and the angler 

 who wishes to troll for trout beyond the weir-pools, will do 



