TROUT DESCRIBED. 39 



needed to be crimped ; for the sooner he is 

 dressed after this operation, the better; 

 and I assure you, a well-fed trout of the 

 Colne, crimped and cooled ten minutes be- 

 fore he is wanted for the kettle or the grid- 

 iron, is a fish little inferior to the best salmon 

 of the best rivers. It is now nearly two 

 o'clock, and there is a cloud over the sun ; 

 the fly is becoming less abundant; you are 

 now likely, Poietes, to have better sport. Try 

 in that deep pool, below the Tumbling Bay ; 

 I see two or three good fish rising there, and 

 there is a lively breeze. The largest fish 

 refuses your fly again and again ; try the 

 others. There, you have hooked him ; now 

 carry him down stream, and keep his head 

 high, out of the weeds. He plunges and 

 fights with great force ; he is the best-fed 

 fish I have yet seen at the end of the line, 

 and will weigh more, in proportion to his 

 length. I will land him for you. There he 

 is, and measures 19 inches ; and I dare 

 say his weight is not much short of 31bs. 

 We will preserve him in the well. 



