110 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



nearly everywhere, and the jack lie lurking with one eye 

 round the corner, waiting for something to swim along that 

 does not appear to have any suspicious appendages at- 

 tached to it. Anyhow, there it is, the Trent takes a lot of 

 fishing for pike ; and I have thought more than once that 

 spinning, taking things all round, was likely to be the most 

 successful. 



The beautiful stretch of the Trent flowing from Aver- 

 ham Weir used to be in my younger days a capital pike 

 water ; then a lot more stream flowed down there, and 

 some grand deep eddies could be found in several places. 

 The meadow or two above the weir in Staythorpe parish 

 also was extra good, water being deeper and more sluggish 

 than it was below the weir. 



I used occasionally to attend a reverend sportsman in 

 those days, and he had the great good fortune to be able 

 to go when everything was in a most favourable condition. 



It was a keen but fine November day, when a can of good 

 dace that Frank Sims had got during the darkness of the 

 preceding evening by many throws of his cast-net were 

 dumped down upon the grass close to Averham Weir. All 

 this water in those days was more than usually good for 

 that locality, and many good perch, barbel, and chub, as 

 well as pike, lurked in the holes under the camp-shedding, 

 and by the side of the trees all along that famous park. 

 Of course this particular bit was private, but the gentleman 

 just named had a roving commission, going when, where, 

 and as he liked. 



The sun had risen about half an hour, and was casting 

 a curious and brilliant reflection on the windows of the 

 rectory ; and the quaint old river-side church gleamed 

 under the shadows of those mighty trees, the sun-rays 

 just hitting the eastern window, and illuminating one 

 spot in the dark shadow with a flame of brilliant light. 

 Half a dozen moorhens were scuttering across the grass 

 in various directions, making for the shelter of the river. 

 They liked not the manner of our approach, I fancy ; and 



