WADING. 113 



under whose roots the deep water is removed 

 from us by a full twenty yards of gravelly 

 shallow. In each case the poaching instinct 

 asserts itself; the thought occurs of breaking 

 rules or promises, and of stepping into the 

 stream, to reach the coveted spot where the 

 trout continue to rise, on days which threaten 

 ominously to prove blanks. Where such places 

 occupy less than ten per cent, of the available 

 water the true angler will own at once that he 

 is not unfairly handicapped, and he must regard 

 them either as nurseries or sanctuaries. But 

 for their existence and maintenance, all chance 

 of hooking a trout well over the average would 

 be so remote that his sport and pleasure would 

 lose half their excitement. 



Thirty years ago when anglers were few, and 

 generally local, even a stretch of free water was 

 able to maintain its reputation of furnishing 

 specimen trout every month, and of retaining 

 a decent head of fish year after year; but now, 

 when we have nothing less than a territorial 

 army all trained by experts, all well equipped 

 with the most modern split cane weapons, the 

 most deadly ammunition of duns and alders, as 

 well as with petrol driven lines of communication 

 and commissariat, nothing but an angling Hague 

 tribunal can prevent the last six ounce trout 

 from being literally hunted down, surrounded, 

 and given no quarter. 



Even the boy scouts of this army now exist 

 in the form of youths well versed in the habits 

 of fish and birds, assisted as they are by 



J 



