FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 3°7 
‘feeder’ or possible breeding ground, and must have been 
casually stocked by some violent overflow of a neighbouring 
purn. I had heard of large trout in this, and tried it from 
mere curiosity, having never seen anything more dreary and 
unpromising, less like a Christian tarn than a reach of the Styx. I 
basketed five or six only ; not that the fish were shy, but simply, 
as I fully believe, because they were few. They were all nearly of 
a size, above a pound and under a pound anda half; their out- 
side colour pretty much that of a red Indian, and not unhand-« 
some. But when sent up to table they proved simply uneatable, 
having the ‘ peat reek’ so strong that I tasted one merely from 
a sense of duty, and dealt with the mouthful as Dr. Johnson 
did with the hot pudding—‘A fool might have swallowed it.’ 
Nothing better in flavour could have been expected from a 
mere turf hole, but the weight of these fish may illustrate what 
I have said of ‘range of water’ as conducive to size. 
‘There are many large pieces of water, either altogether un- 
used or given up to baser fish, which would carry a good head 
of trout. It is always assumed that these require running 
water, or at least a pool fed by astream or spring. Butif turned 
out young they will grow surprisingly in water absolutely stag- 
nant but for a passing breeze or shower. I know a small 
pond in the East Riding with no feeder or outlet, much 
resembling the chalk ponds on the Hampshire Downs. It is 
irregular in shape, but in area about equal to a circle of thirty 
yards’ radius ; shallow at the margin, but deepening to a small 
island in the centre ; the ground shelving towards it for some 
distance, so that a heavy rain soon tells on its level. Its ordi- 
nary inhabitants are numerous tench and gold-fish, with a few 
minnows of extraordinary size. Into this pond the owner, who is 
not only a skilful fly fisher but much interested in pisciculture, 
turned a few small trout from the Driffield Beck as an experi- 
ment. Two or three years after I often saw a good fish rising 
near the little island, and about four years after the stock were 
turned in one of them was taken weighing 4 lbs. 7 oz. I did 
not see the fish, but was assured that he was in good condition, 
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