AND HOW I HAVE CAUGHT MY FISH 313 



The water was cold but very kind; it hustled 

 me down the straight run without giving the eddies 

 a chance, and I was touching ground before I had 

 given a thought to the long boots I had on. 



As we leave the lock notice how quietly the 

 water flows as compared with the rapid stream 

 below. Now, ye roach fishers, if you should ever 

 be in quest of a pitch or two which will afford a 

 good day's winter fishing, you may choose them 

 here from amongst a score, which can readily be 

 discovered near the boughs that cover the opposite 

 bank for a full mile up stream. The boughs hang 

 well out over some easily baited and fished eddies, 

 varying in depth from six to ten feet, and every 

 now and then there is a break in these woody 

 harbours which is just sufficient to give the bank 

 angler space to wield his long rod. A few years 

 since you might have taken many dozen perch in a 

 day's fishing from these swims. In the spring I 

 have seen the boughs covered with perch spawn ; 

 but, I am sorry to say, the mania for steam 

 launches, driven at a furious rate, sprang up, and 

 their chopping waves have year by year forced the 

 ribbons of spawn from their anchorage to be lost in 

 the depths of the weir below, where the necessary 

 sun can never reach them. 



Don't forget to try a small, well-scoured lob 

 once or twice in each swim, for if you fail to catch 

 the last of the perch you may lay hold of some of 

 the monster tench for which they are noted. 



