88 By Stream and Sea. 



By six o'clock something like a dozen rodsters are 

 whipping the rippling Darent, working across and down 

 stream as they must perforce do with the wind behind them, 

 and very hopeful of success. Thus the Anglers' Carnival 

 commences on a morning bitterly cold, with water clear as 

 glass, and at a period of the season, there is no denying, 

 much too early for trout-fishing, for Good Friday does not 

 often tread so close upon the heels of Lady-day, and the 

 Darent trout are; unlike their kindred in Wales, Devonshire, 

 and elsewhere, not in ripe condition until all the April showers 

 have fallen. Indeed, it soon becomes apparent that the trout 

 are not rising heartily. In a stream so well stocked as this, 

 to be sure, in the first hours of the first day, there will be 

 more or less fish whose fate is sealed, but these picked off, 

 the rank and file that remain prove very wary and hard to 

 touch. By breakfast .time, therefore, it is not surprising to 

 find that the best sport of the day has been enjoyed, while 

 the laggards who stroll across the lawn so late as eight 

 o'clock find their chances reduced to a minimum. 



The hotel water is good but not extensive ; hence the 

 trout have become excited, absurdly frightened at the 

 dropping of the fly upon the water,, and unreasonably averse 

 to respond to the fisherman's desires. All the anglers are 

 more or less skilled in the science; that is a consolation 

 they all lay to heart, and a pretty sight it is to the spectator 

 who can appreciate mastership in the fascinating pursuit, to 

 see the delicate foot-lines, and carefully selected flies, cast 

 straight and airily upon the water. Yet the most successful 

 angler of the day, according to his own showing, defies the 

 rules which most fly-fishers recognise. Though the water is 

 so clear and shallow that you can count the pebbles at the 

 bottom, he uses coarse white gut. Though small march- 

 browns, and blue and whirling duns are insisted upon by 



