THOUGHTS ON BIG FISH 175 



downstream for quite 300 yards and felt like a 

 salmon the whole way. Had I lost him at the end 

 of it I should unhesitatingly have put him down as 

 seven pounds at least. As a matter of fact he 

 weighed three pounds five ounces and proved to 

 have been hooked in one of the ventral fins. For 

 that reason I have never liked to be too positive 

 about trout which have got off after being hooked 

 in the late evening. But I have twice had to do 

 with fish that felt as the Kennet fish, and for a 

 considerable time had me absolutely helpless to 

 stop or turn them on their downward course. One 

 was in the Itchen and the other in the Test, and 

 both made nothing of a powerful rod and strong gut. 

 Both got off before I had a chance of seeing them. 

 I have had one similar contest besides in the Itchen, 

 but that was in daylight, and I was, and am, pretty 

 sure that the fish was a huge grayling; there were 

 known to be several very big ones at the spot where 

 it was hooked. 



Except in southern waters I have had very little 

 experience of big trout, and I have never had the 

 luck to catch anything out of the common on 

 mountain streams or lakes when I have been 

 definitely fishing for trout. I have had a few 

 relatively big ones when salmon fishing. Once I 

 got hold of one of those old stagers for which the 

 Coquet is famous. I thought it was a grilse when it 



