THE FISHING DAY 69 



eye to tea at the keeper's cottage. I had killed two 

 and a half brace since lunch and they averaged very 

 nearly a pound and a half, which was extra good for 

 Driffield Beck at that time. The biggest was a fat 

 specimen of one pound fifteen ounces, as high a 

 weight as Driffield ever gave me, during visits con- 

 tinued several years running. Though I believe there 

 were monsters (and no doubt still are) in the lower 

 part of the river, in the upper part two-pounders were 

 not often caught. The weight of the fish, however, 

 seemed to be going up by all accounts, so perhaps 

 two-pounders are more plentiful now. 



In the same year, by the way, I had another good 

 day with the ginger quill, also getting most of my 

 sport in the afternoon. That was on the famous 

 shallows at Longparish on the Test. On that 

 occasion too I had troubles, not in losing fish, but 

 in finding a fly to suit them. When found the fly 

 proved irresistible, and at last I began returning 

 fish through sheer satiety. All the trout seemed 

 to run about the same size, about one pound two 

 ounces each, and I could find nothing bigger to fish 

 for except two or three tailers which were un- 

 responsive. My companion that day, the good 

 R. B. M. so well known to angling fame, had an exactly 

 similar experience. With the exception of one fish I 

 think our united catch would not have varied more 

 than an ounce or two, and it would have been hard to 



