THAMES TROUT 203 



eleven feet in length. I must ask my readers to 

 form an opinion of the action of these rods from 

 personal experience, as the makers have honoured 

 me by calling it the " Wheeley." I may say that I 

 took the greatest pains over every detail of several 

 pattern rods, which I carefully tested in actual use, 

 before the exact pattern was decided upon, and was 

 in correspondence for a long while with the makers 

 on the subject, giving every suggestion that I 

 thought would be of advantage. 



The winch should be a 4-inch, or 4|-inch, first-class 

 centre-pin, with adjustable check, to slip on 

 or off. The " Silex " winch is also an ex- 

 cellent one. The winch should carry at least 150 

 yards of line, for trout in weirs are hooked sixty or 

 more yards from the rod-top. When you hook a trout 

 far away at the very end of a run and he obstinately 

 bolts down stream, a tremendous length of line is 

 required, and it is the greatest folly to attempt to 

 fish for Thames trout with only fifty yards of line, 

 for the fish cannot perhaps be reached, much less 

 played, when hooked. In most of the Thames 

 weirs, the angler stands at a considerable elevation, 

 and distances that may seem impossible to very 

 many anglers are most easily fished. In weirs, both 

 stream and elevation assist the angler, the tremen- 

 dous run of water keeping the line straight and 

 taut ; and one of the secrets of successful weir- 

 fishing is to fish very far away, so far that the little 

 cork used as a guide to the position of the bait is 

 with difficulty discerned. The winch should be of 

 the best make, with a large barrel to aid in winding 

 in quickly ; when great speed is required, take the 

 fingers and thumb off the handle and hit the outer 

 revolving rim of the winch downwards with the 



