160 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



were about twenty trout to capture during his first year 

 there, and they averaged four pounds each in weight ! 

 One of the largest leapt clean out of the water when 

 it was hooked; the old angler's companion coming 

 up, found him plunging about in the rushes and 

 swampy grass by the edge of the brook, grabbing 

 at a great trout which seemed likely to leap back 

 into the water. It was the wildest sport the master 

 had ever known, though he fished for salmon July 

 after July in a remote part of Lapland. Sometimes 

 he had to start for Lapland at the height of the May 

 fly season ; and once, at the end of May, he had to 

 take to pieces his rod in haste having fished to the 

 last possible moment and haste away to catch his 

 train ; a few more casts, and he would have lost 

 the train and the boat to the far north. The trout 

 at the moment were rising well at May fly, and his 

 creel was weighty. 



Some anglers are not quite happy with the May 

 fly. They find that it often fails them. In a fair 

 season I never knew it fail the master angler. In 

 one water, where the trout ran very heavy, he would 

 return any fish under two pounds if there were a 

 heavy rise at May fly : he was the least greedy or 

 anxious angler. 



We hear or read of a few people who step quite 

 naturally into a career of statesmanship, clearly are 

 born to the purple of it. I imagine my friend began 

 naturally a great angler. His exploits, about which 



