A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



sort of fishing, after fishing for trout in a chalk stream ; there 

 is such great variety of size. The average weight of sea trout 

 caught, including the small half-pounders, may be little over 

 one pound, but there is the chance, sometimes the probability, 

 of hooking something of five or ten pounds or more, for grilse 

 and small salmon are always met with in sea trout rivers ; and 

 even the sea trout itself gets to heavy weights, though fish of 

 five pounds and upwards are not common. While the river 

 is high and the stream strong, the best places are in the smooth 

 currents at the tail of deep pools and heavy water, and in gentler 

 rippling streams at the head of long shallow flats, but the only 

 certain guide to the best places on each river is experience, 

 and if the angler has no one to instruct him, he must learn by 

 fishing all places which look as if they might hold fish. If he 

 works hard, he will soon find out good places for himself. It 

 is especially delightful to have knowledge of the water of a 

 river and the ways of the fish which come up it, when this 

 knowledge has been gained by fishing alone. The angler 

 always believes that he has discovered some special places, 

 which are better known to himself than to anyone else. This 

 belief is very likely true, but it is also true of other anglers, 

 for experiences differ, and each season, even on a known river, 

 adds something to one's knowledge of it, partly because the 

 bed of the river and its banks are altered from time to time by 

 floods. 



There is another uncertainty about sea trout besides the 

 glorious one of size, and that is the uncertainty of where the 

 fish are. They seem to run very much in shoals, and one 



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