CHOICE OF PATTERN 85 



Test is certainly an earlier river than the Itchen, and 

 no one, as far as I know, has advanced a good and 

 valid reason for this. Test trout spawn earlier than 

 those of the Itchen, they come into condition earlier, 

 and perhaps to compensate for this the Itchen fish 

 take well, and are in comparatively better condition 

 than those of the Test towards the end of the season. 



The policy of returning sizable trout taken at the 

 commencement of the season if wanting in condition 

 has been preached from time to time immemorial. 

 In rivers in which the trout generally are the offspring 

 of wild fish, and are bred and reared in a state of 

 nature, it is, no doubt, a wise policy. Unfortunately 

 few such rivers exist. As a rule the fish are raised 

 from ova, taken from artificially bred parents ; they 

 are reared and fed in stews, and in many instances 

 grossly overfed. The yearlings and two-year-olds 

 which are turned into the rivers, as is the custom 

 early in the spring, are frequently overgrown and 

 degenerate specimens. This branch of the subject is 

 dealt with in detail in Part III, "The Making and 

 Management of a Fishery," and the policy advocated 

 there of knocking on the head every dark, lanky, ill- 

 conditioned brute whenever, wherever and however 

 taken is the wisest one to pursue. 



The hatch of fly in April, especially at the com- 

 mencement of the month, is 

 Early spring patterns, usually a short one, and it is 



as well for the angler not to 

 waste too much time in the preliminary work of 



