122 In Pursuit of the Trout 



whole being is stirred. His mind hastens to 

 conceive of a fish so big and fierce that, if the 

 same be hooked, the top joint simply must 

 snap, the gut cast give, or the fifty yards 

 of line run out and off the reel before the 

 staggered fisherman has time to pull himself 

 together and remember that there is no knot 

 at the end. But fancy what the feelings of 

 the angler must be if such a mysterious 

 monster is actually hooked in a place like 

 this, and played for a few seconds before the 

 inevitable smash amongst the snags comes ! 

 That trout may weigh anything in the mind 

 of the angler up to, say, seven pounds or eight 

 pounds, though no fish has ever been taken 

 out of the stream heavier than five pounds. 

 Perhaps he takes a friend or two to see the 

 spot next day. They no longer doubt, if 

 they did so overnight ; the fish must have 

 been a regular demon. Years afterwards 

 that short, sharp struggle is recalled as vividly 

 as though it had just happened. The time 

 and the place are engraved indelibly on the 

 memory. It may be that they will even be 



