CLEAR WATERS 



In the crack waters of the chalk streams the weeds 

 are of course kept regularly cut, and as some think, 

 to the detriment of the breeding haunts of the natural 

 fly. It seems tolerably certain that on some much- 

 pampered waters the insect supply has declined, and 

 indeed new stock has been actually introduced. The 

 pedigree of the trout themselves in some of those 

 rivers must by this time be pretty intricate. It 

 would puzzle a Wylie fish, I imagine, to locate his 

 grandparents, and we may fairly assume that exotic 

 trout may be seen on many club waters rising at im- 

 ported flies. When the weeds have got ahead and 

 form big patches about the water, they offer great 

 possibilities to the fighting fish if he can get into them. 

 With only one fly, as in dry-fly fishing, the angler has 

 reasonable possibilities of getting him out. In wet- 

 fly fishing with two or three hooks, as happens occasion- 

 ally in lakes, one's only chance is to haul the kicking 

 captive willy-nilly, and chance a rupture, over the 

 top of the bed and net him instantly and anyhow, 

 without regard to the proprieties. A chalk-stream 

 fish who thoroughly understands weeds, however, 

 has a useful trick of holding on to the stalks below 

 water with the grip of his teeth, and then you may 

 haul away till you break, or he gets tired of it, or rubs 

 the fly out. 



A day or two after the adventure at Preshute bridge 

 I was mayfly-fishing on the Avon at Chisenbury, 

 just where that pretty little river enters the Plain. 

 There were some thick patches of weeds about, and 

 a trout hooked at the edge of one of them was a little 

 too quick for me, and fixed himself down in the very 

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