CHAPTER XX 

 RANDOM CASTS 



What I have gained in my contact with Nature The pike and 

 perch of the Dukeries Clumber Lake and a big bag Thoresby 

 Lake and its pike and perch Tring lakes and their fish How 

 the New River pike was landed " Au revoir " 



I FIND it is impossible within the limits mapped out 

 for this volume to give a full account of notable days 

 I have had with pike and perch, in waters far and wide, 

 so I must perforce be content with just a small selection 

 on three or four of my favourite rivers ; winding up with 

 this chapter, as a mixture of odds and ends. I expect 

 my readers will have discovered the fact, from reading one 

 or other of my books, that I am a rough-and-ready fisher- 

 man, just as much at home with the fly rod as I am with the 

 spinning rod, while the chub rod and the barbel rod are as 

 easy and familiar in my hands as the knife and fork at the 

 dining-table. 



There are men like Johnny Osborn, Bill Osment, Jimmie 

 Moffatt, and others whose names are familiar, who make 

 one fishing their sole aim, ambition, and lifelong study. 

 Now in this particular branch, roach-fishing, I do not pre- 

 tend to be as expert as they are. I would not attempt 

 to compete with any of them in a day's reaching, but I 

 have enjoyed my fishing life, and found solid pleasure in 

 all the varied styles I have tried ; and I thank the Giver of 

 all good that I have been blessed with the health and 

 strength necessary, and for the life I have lived. Now, I 



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