48 ANECDOTES OF FISHES 



We have dragged out fine trout as fast as we 

 could throw our line, when the fly, from their in- 

 cessant biting, was reduced to the bare hook, and 

 the hackle feather fastened merely at the shank. 

 A very favourite and successful practice of ours was 

 to fish in a part of the river where others seldom 

 thought of, in the dead still water ', imitating a 

 drowned fly, and using very fine tackle : here we 

 have filled our baskets with the best trout, whilst 

 others have thrashed the stream in vain. Editors 

 of the Literary Gazette, July, 1834. 



The best and largest trout are taken at night, 

 and dibbed for with a strong line. Throw the bait 

 across the surface, and draw it towards you, 

 keeping out of sight : no lead is to be used. 



Mayer's British Sportsman. 



A trout, weighing fifteen pounds, was received 

 by A. Blandy, Esq. of Wall, near Lichfield, 

 which was caught on his estate in Oxfordshire, 

 in the I sis. The beauty and proportion of the 

 fish were as remarkable as its extreme size ; mea- 

 suring in length thirty inches and a half; over 

 the shoulders, seventeen inches and three quar- 

 ters ; extreme breadth, eighteen inches and three 

 quarters ; at the tail end under the fin, nine inches 

 and a half. Evening Paper. This is certainly 

 a large size for an English trout, but the trouts in 



