THAMES TROUT-FISHING. 431 



itself a fly, with a long silver body and two superfluous wings of 

 peacock's herl, which is doubtless taken for a tiny fish. I would 

 not use it myself in a stream where I was limited to the artificial 

 fly, but I have no doubt it will kill in ordinary waters, though 

 scarcely showy enough for the Thames. Something midway 

 between this and the full sized fly- minnow ought, I think, to 



succeed. 



Si quidnovisti rectius istis, 

 Candidas imperti ; si non, his utere mecum. 



There remains for mention only one bait with which Thames 

 trout are too often taken. Briefly, if you bait a good barbel - 

 hole especially one adjoining a hollow bank you are very 

 likely to kill a good trout with the worm designed for the 

 humbler fish. It can't be helped, though it seems a great pity ; 

 but I certainly will not make the case worse by suggesting any 

 other deadlier plan for using the base lobworm against a fish 

 so much honoured and prized as the trout of Father Thames. 

 He is not, let me observe, valued merely for his size and rarity. 

 He is an admirable fish for the table ; not the very best of trout, 

 but among the best. I know two or three cold lakes where the 

 trout are redder in flesh and richer in flavour ; but a Thames 

 fish of three or four pounds is as highly coloured as a grilse of 

 the same size, and I think better tasted, and his diet is so 

 ample that he improves with his growth. If you are about 

 to take one home for your dinner, as soon as he is out of the 

 well and knocked on the head, crimp him, judicious gonnnet, 

 scoring him to the very bone with a sharp knife. Let your 

 cook in preparing him for the kettle wipe him out most carefully 

 after ' gralloching,' but let the first water which visits his interior 

 be that in which he is cooked, and see that it boils briskly to 

 receive him and has a good handful of salt in it. Thus simply 

 cooked he is worthy of the stateliest table. If you prefer not 

 to boil him whole, let him be cut through the backbone into 

 slices about an inch and a quarter in thickness ; boil rapidly and 

 serve up with caper sauce as for salmon cutlets. A small fish split 

 through and well broiled makes a capital breakfast. If you want 



