56 In Pursuit of the Trout 



struck hard. He went below, and bored 

 about there like a salmon for a quarter of a 

 minute or so. Then, feeling the killing 

 strain of the rod bent double — for out of 

 weeds he had to be kept at all hazards — 

 up stream he tore, taking out the line in 

 splendid style. A second pause, and down 

 he came, like the smaller fish just hooked and 

 lost, only right under my feet. Of all trout 

 manoeuvres, and they are neither few nor far 

 between, this is probably the most effective, 

 as it nearly always results in slack line, or, at 

 any rate, in a considerable lessening of the 

 rod's strain on the fish. Once under my 

 feet, he plunged into a huge bed of weeds, 

 and there was an end of it. I tried all the 

 devices to entice him out, but in vain, and, 

 in the end, when the line was freed, it was 

 minus the fly and a small portion of the cast. 

 The trout, not of a day, nor of a season, but 

 of a lifetime, had thus dreadfully gone ! 



What was the weight of this trout ? I 

 asked myself again and again on my sad way 

 home J and, look at the matter how I would. 



