ri VT during the past four or five years. Formerly 

 I very seldom killed a fish as small as eleven 

 pounds, though of late the river seems to hold any 

 n in nber of these small fish. As I do not find many 

 of them in my pools late in the season, or even in 

 the club water, unless at the upper part of the 

 river, they must be bound for the head waters. 

 I believe they belong to the lake and salmon 

 branches, and are the result of protection. They 

 are game little fellows, and when hooked will run, 

 jump, and skip about, trying to outdo the antics 

 of their grandfathers. It is a great mistake to 

 think that the forty-pounders are less game than 

 their younger companions. I dare say some of 

 these large fish, like the smaller ones, will act 

 very sluggishly at times: there is no accounting 

 for their whims. Of the many large fish I have 

 taken of forty pounds or more, I remember only 

 three which seemed disinclined to give a bit of 

 sport. The rest were wild, raving terrors. One of 

 forty-four pounds sprang clear out of the water, 

 and, seizing the fly, in three successive leaps got 

 half-way across the pool, with forty or fifty yards 

 of line cutting the water like a knife. Suddenly 

 he turned, and, with a tremendous bound, sped 

 away for freedom ; but the delicate little fly held 

 fast, and, with the rod bending like a bow and the 

 reel singing its merry tune, we found ourselves fly- 

 ing along the current, chasing something which 



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