146 HAMPSHIRE WATER MEADOWS. 



arm or even the glint of the rod, the splash of 

 the line, each and all are too tell tale tactics to 

 practise with any hope of success. They merely 

 cause the rise to discontinue and the weeds to 

 wave like mermaids' hair over the place where 

 it had been noticed. As to thrashing away at 

 the spot, well, you might just as profitably 

 walk about an open field with a gun and expect 

 the wariest woodpigeon to circle round you and 

 be" fired at. 



Many years ago I remember a man telling 

 me that in Scotland trout are counted by 

 pounds, on Dartmoor by dozens, and in 

 Hampshire by brace. North Country anglers 

 would I think be surprised if the truth were told 

 to them of the total bags that many of us 

 secure on the Itchen. A Southampton friend 

 wrote to me one October that ' he had enjoyed 

 a very fair season, just fifty trout averaging 

 i to ij Ibs., and twenty five grayling; his best 

 trout being just under, and his best grayling 

 just over, three pounds.' 



This would probably mean forty half days 

 spent upon the water, allowing for his absence 

 on holiday abroad during the entire month of 

 August. Here then is a fairly practical answer 

 to the question * Is that good enough ?' My own 

 answer I will give at once, very much in the 

 affirmative as Cabinet Ministers are so fond of 

 saying. Thankful indeed shall I be if any 

 future season will yield so satisfactory a total. 

 Under the conditions of mens sana in corpore 

 y and pleasant weather, I will be content 



