88 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



is a stretch of water reaching several miles, that the best 

 places could not be got at without. 



All round the islands at Hartford, and lower down to- 

 wards Houghton Wale, and even beyond Wyton rectory, 

 the water is very good indeed ; I have spun it all over many 

 times. I have drifted my boat down to Batcock's Island, 

 and seen those giant chub under the boughs that every 

 visitor has a go at, but never succeeds in getting. I have 

 cast out my lure in my own Nottingham style ; seen the 

 glittering bait come shooting, wobbling, and diving, and 

 then a mighty flash and a swirling splash sends our spirits 

 up, and they rise still higher when a good eight-pounder 

 after a fight that we never forget, on our salmon gut trace 

 quivers and gleams in the waning sunlight as we measure 

 with our eye his grand proportions, before putting him 

 in the bag to join his fellows ; and we row or walk slowly 

 homeward at peace with all the world, and ready to say 

 that nothing beats a good day's spinning for pike on the 

 Great Ouse. 



