248 THE WAY OF A TROUT WITH A FLY 



the bank. I could feel the gut sawing through beds of weeds, 

 then up into the air sprang a fish, which, if not so big as 

 I thought him, was still satisfactorily solid. Coming 

 down, he was off down-stream, and nearly emptied my reel 

 before I caught him up and got below him — trespassing, by 

 the way, in so doing, for the field below the dead hedge 

 was not in my leave. Then, after a couple more excursions 

 into the air, the trout was off upstream again, and this 

 time he absolutely emptied my reel, and would infallibly 

 have smashed me had he not brought up against a heavy bed 

 of driftweed on the far side. Baffled in trying to bury him- 

 self in this, he turned after the third attempt, and swimming 

 deep and fast came towards me under several heavy masses 

 of weed. I ran down-stream to straighten and disentangle 

 the line, and got it out and wound in rapidly. But by this 

 time the trout was plunging through vegetation under 

 my own bank, and got my line under a pile of driftweed 

 which had caught on that vegetation. I began to fear he 

 was lost, but, putting down my rod so that the line would 

 run easily, I reached the drift weed with my long-handled 

 net and shovelled it off in six or seven instalments. Re- 

 suming my rod, I was pleased to find the trout was still 

 on. Upstream he went, ploughing through more water 

 growth, but I was over him with a tight line and beginning 

 at length to lift him. Presently I had a shot at him with 

 the net. That was more than he could stand, and he was 

 off into open water again, and for a long time resisted my 

 persuasions. But at length he rolled over, and I guided 

 him into the net at the very spot at which I had stood to 

 cast to him. He was not a long fish, but quite a shapely 

 one, and he turned the scale at exactly two pounds. 



The fight had been an exciting one, but I rather grudged 

 the time expended when I saw two more fish rising close 

 together some forty or fifty yards up, and a third about 



