354 NOTES ON FISH A.ND FISHING. 



kinds, at least of almost all kinds. Drayton, hymning the 

 grand Midland river, and alluding to the old legend which 

 connects the word "Trent" with the French Trente — 

 " thirty," says that among the other " thirties," — 



" There should he found in her of fishes thirty kind." 



But, as a matter of fact, there are not thirty kinds of fish 

 in the Trent. This may, nearer the truth, be boasted of 

 the Thames, which, as I think I have before observed, 

 contains a greater variety of fish than any other river in 

 the world. And such fish ! — edible and sportive beyond 

 all other fish; and, withal, more difficult of capture than 

 all other. The Thames, too, is a far more beautiful river 

 than the Trent, take its whole length. Thus, unless he 

 looks merely to the "pot," the Thames angler has a 

 general fishing-ground surpassed by none, and the best 

 field for the highest enjoyment of his pastime. 



But your day's sport and comfort depends not a little 

 on your puntsman, i. e. your professional Thames fisher- 

 man. He belongs to a race which has its virtues and 

 failings and marked idiosyncrasies. He is a " study," 

 but let me at once say by no means an unpleasant one. 



I must premise, however, that by a Thames fisherman, 

 I mean one who entirely devotes himself to his vocation — 

 not that hybrid gentleman who is half fisherman and half 

 poacher, or who is only the occasional owner of a leaky 

 punt, or the mere servant of a letter-out of pleasure-boats 

 and punts, and who, when foisted on the unwary angler, 

 shows as little knowledge of fishing as he really has of 

 Conic Sections or the Novum Organum of Aristotle, or 

 who is a summer fisherman only, or a mere loafer on 

 the banks, and " everything by turns and nothing long " 



