MINNOW AND WORM 153 



and over six pounds respectively being caught 

 within half an hour of each other from identically 

 the same spot in the corner of a small weirpool. 

 One man would doubtless have had the two, but 

 after catching the five-pounder he naturally thought 

 that honour was satisfied and that he might go off 

 to lunch. By which the next comer benefited. A 

 curious feature connected with that incident is that 

 never another really big trout was taken from that 

 pool with the worm, though one or two were had 

 afterwards by spinning, and one or two, I believe, 

 with the fly. 



On another fishery I can remember the capture 

 of heavy trout with worm, generally by a method 

 ludicrous in its straightforwardness. The honest 

 angler marked his big trout down where it lay on 

 some gravel patch near the bank. Then he went and 

 drove it away. This done, he placed a fat lobworm 

 on a hook just where the fish's nose had been, let 

 out some line, and afterwards retired into the 

 meadow with his rod. When he had waited a 

 reasonable time the fish came back, found the worm, 

 and the drama was played to its conclusion. I am 

 afraid there is not such a store of great trout in that 

 water now as there was then, but even if there were 

 employment of the old device would scarcely be 

 possible. A female olive, or a male black gnat, or 

 some such device, is the general rule in these days, 



