10 In Pursuit of the Trout 



to fishing but also to shooting, are those in 

 which the bag has happened to be sHght. 

 When the angler's pannier is very heavy at 

 the end of the day, it may mean that the 

 fishing has been, if anything, over easy. 

 The angler, as v^^ell as the gunner, has 

 surely room to exult when, by the exercise 

 of all his sporting wits, by clever stalking 

 and other means, he has overcome after much 

 difficulty a wary wild creature. 



In Sir Edward Grey's delightful apprecia- 

 tion of angling I have found a title for this 

 chapter. ' I suppose for most of us,' he 

 writes, ' the earliest attraction of fishing has 

 been the simple pleasure of excitement : in 

 youth, at any rate, this has probably been 

 so. There are certainly occasions of supreme 

 excitement in fishing, such for instance as 

 the moment when a salmon rises and is 

 hooked, or the playing of an unexpectedly 

 large trout, or sea-trout or grilse on a small 

 rod and with light tackle. At such times 

 excitement reaches a very high pitch, and 

 is followed, if the fish is landed, especially 



