CHAPTER XIX 

 A LOOK ROUND 



Looking back over the past An appeal from many waters 

 Sporting recollections from far and wide The Wiltshire Avon 

 and its pike and perch From Chippenham to Bradford Good 

 days and good bags The Hampshire Avon Lakes and reser- 

 voirs Big pike An amendment of the Fishing Laws wanted. 



IF I am asked the question as to which I consider the 

 best rivers and districts for pike- and perch-fishing, I 

 should pause considerably before replying. There would 

 rise before my mental vision well-known scenes on river, 

 lake, and stream ; every bough and every tree, and every 

 well-known landmark would appeal, and say as plain as 

 words could say it, " This is the spot." But I should have 

 to marshal all these forces and review them in open order, 

 and see how we stand in this respect. We go up the Ken- 

 nett, and the memory of that brace of fifteen-pound pike, 

 and the dishes of perch up to fish of two and a quarter 

 pounds, appeal with no small voice. Then we change the 

 scene, and see those grand deeps, and boughs, and islands 

 of the Upper Thames, where pike and perch lurk by the 

 dozen, or peep under that old boat-house between Pang- 

 bourne and Goring, and see the scores and scores of perch, 

 from six ounces to more than two pounds each, that set 

 your fingers on the tingle, and when on the feed come out 

 as fast as you like, two at a time on your paternoster. Or 

 go down the Hampshire Avon, and see those monsters of 

 both kinds ; or penetrate down all the backwaters and 



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