310 FISHING GOSSIP. 



times, however, the fish are " all on the feed." I knew 

 of a party of four who, relying on such news as the 

 above, came to a quiet retreat near Windsor. They 

 got out of their beds at half-past two in the morning, 

 and fished away in their punt till half-past nine, and 

 when they came back to breakfast they had captured, 

 the four of them, one gudgeon and one roach. "What 

 a contrast this is with a professed angler of my ac- 

 quaintance, who has caught two hundred-weight of 

 fish barbel, roach, perch, etc. in one day, and who 

 has come home " with the punt-well so full that all 

 the fish had turned up " i.e. died of exhaustion. I 

 believe his story, as he is a great professor of the 

 science. It is a treat to see him get ready : he punts 

 quietly up the river, as silent as a red Indian, peering 

 deep down into the water. All at once in goes the 

 rypeck (the pole used to fix the boat) and over slides, 

 without a splash, the junk stone (a heavy stone weight, 

 having a cord attached) and the punt swings across 

 stream into " the swim." 



" This will do, sir." Then out comes the tackle : 

 a few hanks of gut, a few loose hooks, and a very 

 rustic-looking float, or more often a quill from the 

 wing of a swan ; and then the line, not a great thick 

 cart-rope, but a delicate silken cord, fit almost to 

 make ladies' purses or hair-nets. "Fish is artful 

 things," says he ; " you can't fish too fine for 'em." 

 Most anglers imagine that fish can neither see nor 



