128 DAYS AMONG THE PIKE AND PERCH 



leaving the river with that perfect tint so beloved of our 

 spinner. I had not been out for several weeks owing to 

 various circumstances, and considered the chance was most 

 favourable and not to be missed, and as I wanted a long 

 walk, and not much impedimenta and less trouble, I 

 took my artificials ; I fancy my luncheon was the most 

 bulky package I had. The old haversack that had done 

 duty many times was called into requisition, and into its 

 recesses I simply dropped my four-inch Slater and the un- 

 dressed silk line, together with a tin box containing three 

 gimp spinning traces, with the two swivels and the drop 

 lead that I always use for heavy water, and four arti- 

 ficials. There was my old and tried spoon, a three-inch 

 silver Clipper, brilliant and bright, a four- and- a-half -inch 

 Devon, with a brown back and a gold belly, and a much 

 lighter five-inch blue Phantom. A gaff-hook that screwed 

 into a short handle, and which could be comfortably slung 

 over the shoulder, completed all I required for that day's 

 outing. When I wanted what I call a lazy day's fishing, 

 I simply rigged myself out as described. I had no live 

 bait to lug about and look after, no basket that wanted 

 shifting from swim to swim, no ground bait to trouble over, 

 but simply to wander on with the lightest possible load, 

 and perhaps grumble if an enterprising pike attacked 

 the bait so savagely that perforce I had to put it in the bag, 

 and so materially increase the weight of it. We pause at 

 the Corporation swim at Winthorp, and think of the good 

 old days we have had there remember how one Sunday 

 one of the most fearful hailstorms on record swept across 

 that valley. The hailstones were lumps of ice, and they 

 soon covered the ground. The noise they made on the 

 roof of an old shed in which we took shelter was well-nigh 

 deafening, while I can now see as if it were only yesterday, 

 although long years have passed, the maddened horses, 

 beasts, and sheep in the meadow opposite careering round 

 and round in frightful terror. Hundreds of panes of glass 

 in the greenhouses and conservatories of the gentry round 



