138 In Pursuit of the Trout 



acti, it is true, who are always ready to 

 deplore the falling-ofF in sport in all its 

 branches, and it would be dangerous to trust 

 too much in what such folk have to tell 

 about the wonderful bags they used to make 

 a quarter or half a century since. But there 

 is plenty of reliable evidence in relation to 

 these and other famous waters which points 

 unmistakably to the fact that trout-fishing 

 with a fly is a much more difficult and 

 scientific business than it was a few decades 

 ago. Colonel Hawker used to enjoy a good 

 many days' fly-fishing in the course of the 

 season, beginning early in spring and fre- 

 quently angling on till late in September, 

 and he nearly always obtained in the course 

 of a iQVf hours what the Test 'artist' of 

 to-day would regard as a handsome dish of 

 trout at even a very favourable season. 

 His water was hard by Longparish, which 

 remains to this day a famous spot for trout, 

 and occasionally he tried a day on the Anton 

 near Andover, or on the Test at Stock- 

 bridge. Here are a i^w of the many aston- 



