ON THE STOUR 39 



careless; but Eric it was a sight to see him 

 when he got hold of his first perch and landed 

 him. And then he had hold of something big, 

 which made his rod bend, and he clung manfully 

 to it. I at the time was sitting in the boat some 

 distance off, and saw the fish dangling in the air 

 near the bank, where it was very difficult to land 

 him. Ted soon came to his assistance, but the 

 net could not be found (no wonder I had it 

 with me in the punt). He knelt down, tried to 

 seize the fish in his hand, and, alas! in the 

 struggle the perch broke away, and Eric's heart 

 sank down into his shoes. It was a splendid fish. 

 Ted says it must have been at least a pound and 

 a half. Eric said it made him feel funny all down 

 his back. 



For a while the punt fishers did little or no- 

 thing, catching only small perch or roach and an 

 occasional chub. We dropped down the stream 

 till we came close to a bridge in amongst the tall 

 reeds. There Uncle Arthur, at his first dip, 

 hooked something big that made a rush, and 

 eventually he brought in a 2 Ib. chub but 2 Ib. 

 chub soon came, like silver in Solomon's days, 

 " to be thought nothing of." Arthur sat in that 

 end of the punt and hauled in at least a dozen 

 fish from i Ib. to over 3 Ib. in less than half an 

 hour; whilst Piscator Major, sitting at the other 

 end of the boat, could catch nothing. Then 

 came the event of the day. Arthur's arms aching 



