304 THE DRY-FLY MAN'S HANDBOOK 



rivers, like the Test or Itchen, it is well to settle and 

 take it at once, even if it does not seem to have 

 yielded very good sport in the immediate past, pro- 

 vided the tenure is for a fairly long term of years, 

 and there are no very inconvenient restrictions in the 

 conditions of tenancy. 



One of the most objectionable conditions which 



the lessor loves to introduce 



Reservation of rod by is the reservation of a rod, 



lessor. either for himself personally 



or for any friend staying with 

 him or delegated to use it for a day or longer time. 

 The agent will, in all probability, strive to minimize 

 the importance of this reservation by volunteering the 

 information that his principal does not often fish, and 

 is not keen on giving his friends leave. The fishery 

 has probably been neglected for years, weeds cut 

 anyhow or not at all, banks rotten and overgrown 

 with rank rushes and sedges, and in some cases fill- 

 ing up a considerable portion of what ought to be 

 the stream with a tangle of coarse vegetation. Very 

 possibly, too, the river teems with pike, perch, roach, 

 dace, chub, and other coarse fish. Under these con- 

 ditions the proprietor neither cares to fish often, nor 

 do his friends even take the trouble to ask for leave. 



Wait a couple of years and see what happens when 

 the tenant has at great expense improved the water, 

 trimmed the banks, cut the weeds systematically, 

 killed down the pike and other vermin, and last, but 

 not least, introduced a considerable number of trout. 



