■ NOW AND WHERE TO SPIN. 107 



made a very Calcraft-like noose just below the gill-covers. 

 The fish weighed about 2 lbs. and 3 lbs. respectively.' I have 

 seen a good many curious captures of pike, but never in ,my 

 knowledge, nor that of the keeper Jeffries, has a similar ' double 

 event ' been known to have occurred on the Avon. 



There is a ' drawn ' between Braemore and Downton which, 

 whilst little more than a watercourse and nearly dry at many 

 parts of the year, in one corner by the sluice-gate always con- 

 tains enough water to harbour a pike ; and a pike the water 

 almost always contains, generally a large one. On one occasion 

 I remember running two fish from it in two consecutive casts, 

 one 9 lbs. which I basketed, and the other, as my old hench- 

 man Sandy would have said, ' fully bigger,' which, for want of 

 a gaff, I lost, after actually getting it out on to the bank, from 

 whence it rolled back. 



This circumstance is alluded to by the late Mr. Frank 

 Buckland, with whom I first made the acquaintance of this 

 part of the valley of the Avon. His account of some of the 

 episodes of the joint expedition is so humorous and graphic, 

 that with the reader's ( and Mr. Bentley's) permission I must 

 quote a few extracts from it. 



JACK-FISHIKG ON THE AVON. 



We came down the incline into Salisbury by the express train 

 at a fearful pace ; round the curves and over the embankment we 

 flew with a speed that took one's breath away, and dashed into 

 the station like a comet. 



A rush for a fly (for it was fair-day), and off we went to the 

 Star hotel, Fordingbridge, where we were cordially welcomed by 

 the ^ivil and obliging landlord and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bill, 

 and our friend Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell, who preceded us in 

 order to try experiments on the Hampshire jack, which were said 

 to abound in the deep waters of the Avon. - ' What sport ? ' said I, 

 'I have had four days' fishing and have caught thirty jack out of 

 thirty-six runs (the largest fish running between six and nine 

 pounds) with a spinning-bait. The water, however, is very bright 

 and the weeds very high. I have got an order for a splendid place 

 to-morrow, and hope we shall have luck.' 



