BOYHOOD WITH THE ROD 23 



and tried every " hold." There was not much of 

 what is known in modern language as '" trout- 

 tickling " in our method of work. If we touched 

 a fish in its little house we always took good care 

 to block up the doorway with our hands, and, seiz- 

 ing it by the gills, soon had it bouncing out far 

 back on the bank. There was great competition 

 and racing for the well-known good " holds," 

 which were always the abiding places of sizeable 

 trout. They were like particular runs of the main 

 river, which the experienced fisherman knows carry 

 good fish. Take one out to-day and there is 

 another of pretty much the same size in its place 

 to-morrow. 



There grew up quite unconsciously in our minds 

 an instinct for good reaches of water, and a dis- 

 regard for barren stretches, which are common to 

 both becks and rivers everywhere. 



In this way we formed, early in youth, an intuitive 

 sense of where to fish. We knew also when the 

 trout were running up the becks in autumn, and 

 when they were coming down in spring. Some 

 deep pools in the becks, which could not be 

 grappled, and carried good fish, we used to spend 

 laborious hours in diverting into other channels, so 

 as to dry up the pools and gather up the trout. 

 There were always signs at certain bends of the 



