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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Lines in Pleasant Places</p> +<p> Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler</p> +<p>Author: William Senior</p> +<p>Release Date: November 5, 2007 [eBook #23343]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""Red Spinner"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="374" HEIGHT="594"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 374px"> +"Red Spinner" +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BEING THE +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +AFTERMATH OF AN OLD ANGLER +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +by +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +William Senior +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +("Red Spinner") +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., +<BR> +4 Stationers' Hall Court +<BR> +London, E.C. 4 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright +<BR> +First published 1920 +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00b"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P> +The half a dozen or so of Angling books which stand to my name were +headed by <I>Waterside Sketches</I>, and this is really and truly a +continuation, if not the end, of the series. They were inspired by my +old friend Richard Gowing, at the Whitefriars Club, of which he was for +many years the well-remembered honorary secretary, and of which I still +have the grateful pride of being entitled to the name of father. +</P> + +<P> +Gowing had become editor of the <I>Gentleman's Magazine</I> in 1874, and in +his sturdy efforts to give it new life he looked round amongst the +youngsters who seemed likely to serve him. The result was that he +invited me to try my hand at something. He had read my <I>Notable +Shipwrecks</I>, which the house of Cassells was at that time bringing out, +and said that its author, known to the public as "Uncle Hardy" only, +ought to be able to offer a suggestion. +</P> + +<P> +The Stoke Newington reservoirs had about that time given me some good +sport with pike, large perch, chub, and tench, and I had long been an +angling enthusiast. Out of the fullness of my heart I spoke. I told +him that fishing was my best subject; that if he would accept a series +of contributions the direct object of which was to make Angling +articles as interesting to non-anglers as to anglers themselves, I +would be his man. +</P> + +<P> +Verily I would not wonder if, in showing how botany, agriculture, +out-of-door life generally might be woven into the warp and woof of the +fabric, I became eloquent; for, as I have said, out of the heart the +mouth spoke. So it was agreed, and for a while "Red Spinner's" +articles graced the pages of the magazine, and they were by and by +republished in <I>Waterside Sketches</I>. They afterwards gave me entrance +to <I>Bell's Life</I> and to the <I>Field</I>, and a name at any rate amongst the +brethren of the Angle, as to which I must not gush, but which is very +dear to the musings of an old man's eventide. How much I owe to "Red +Spinner" I shall never know. The name has followed me, and my brothers +of the Highbury Anglers have adopted it, but last year, in honour of +their always loyal, but I feel sure no longer useful President. I was +much amused to find how it had also followed me to Queensland. During +one of the Parliamentary recesses I went up country, the guest of a +squatter who was afterwards in the Ministry, and he introduced me to a +fellow squatter member in my surname as an officer of Parliament. +Neither the name nor office meant anything to him. But when we were +smoking in the veranda, and my friend mentioned, as an aside, that I +was "Red Spinner," the visitor leaped to his feet, came at me with a +double grip, and shouted a Scotch salmon-fisher's welcome, turning to +my host and furiously demanding, "Why the dickens didn't you tell me so +at first?" +</P> + +<P> +On another Bush visit an officer in the Mounted Police showed me +amongst his curiosities a copy of <I>Waterside Sketches</I> half devoured by +dingoes, and found with the scraps scattered around the skeleton of a +poor wayfarer left at the foot of a gum-tree. To fly-fishers the name +had an intelligible story of course, and it puzzled those non-anglers +for whom I tried always to write. The scores of times I was asked +"What does 'Red Spinner' mean?" by ladies as well as gentlemen, told me +how well I had kept the promise to the good Richard Gowing when those +articles were arranged. +</P> + +<P> +Journalism proper, now and henceforth for the rest of my life claimed +me. It became my profession in fact; but it was always fishing that +kept the longing eye turned towards the waterside. Somehow for a time +the water was all round me, but I had not the means of learning the art +at that time, nor of practising it. Somehow I was always being +reminded that the fishing rod was to obtain the mastery by and by, but +I had to wait a long while for the opportunity. At first I was in what +may be called a good fishing country, but I seemed to have no say in +it. I had no rod; no fisheries were open. Indeed, it was journalism +that gripped me, and in those early days I followed the mastership of +it very closely, for there was so much to learn, as I shall be able, I +hope, to explain when any reminiscences that I am able to write call +for it. That longing must meanwhile be kept open for some years to +come. +</P> + +<P> +Now, however, came the time when, as I have always considered, my real +life began. It was my fate to be appointed representative of the +<I>Lymington Chronicle</I> in 1858, when I was duly installed in its office +in that town, engaged to look after the local news, the advertisements, +the circulation; and especially it was my business to see that not a +single paragraph was ever missing from the budget which I duly sent to +the head office in Poole at the end of every week. But still there was +no fishing, save in the river, where bass came occasionally to my hook +in the tidal portions; and one of six pounds I remember as the best +that came to me on the hand line. There was some talk once of a visit +that I was to pay to a trout river at Brockenhurst; but practically +nothing came of it, nor did a casual chance which Lord Palmerston gave +me at Broadlands, which was too far from my beat and altogether above +me in its salmon runs. As for perch, which I had fished for as a boy, +there were none to be heard of in the district. +</P> + +<P> +In due time I was transferred from Lymington to Southampton, where I +remember catching smelts, and nice little baskets of them, from the +pier at the bottom of High Street. Next I went to Manchester, where +there was less of such fishing as I required than before; and on a +daily paper like the <I>Guardian</I>, journalism soon proved to be real +business to engage my attention, and left me without the slight +opportunities I found even with the <I>Lymington Chronicle</I> or <I>Hants +Independent</I>. In due time fortune, as I thought, beamed upon me when I +got an appointment on the London <I>Daily News</I>, which was then in its +prime. Here I began to find what fishing meant, for very early, thanks +to the kindness of Moy Thomas and his friend Miles, the publisher, who +was one of the directors, I got a ticket for the famous New River +reservoirs. I was here introduced to many members of the fishing +club—men of the place—and became a member of the Stanley Anglers, +where I won some prizes, and of the somewhat famous and somewhat +high-class True Waltonian Society, which met at Stoke Newington. The +general result of this was that wherever there was fishing to be +secured I got it, and was seldom without opportunity of turning that +longing eye of which I aforetime spoke to the waterside. I made pretty +rapid progress too, for I became a well-known pike fisher at Stoke +Newington, got large chub and much perch, and generally took various +degrees in the piscatorial art. +</P> + +<P> +Best of all, by means of my membership of the True Waltonians, I had +the run of the Rickmansworth water. It was here that I learnt +fly-fishing, even to the extent of catching my first trout, and here +that I went through a course of practice at some large dace which then +existed in the Colne; and they very freely, to the extent of half a +pound or so weight, took the dry fly, which in later years they did +not. As a very active travelling member of the special correspondence +staff of the <I>Daily News</I> I went here and there on various errands, and +was soon known never to travel without my rod and creel. Then the +introduction to my old friend Gowing of the <I>Gentleman's Magazine</I>, as +I have already described, made me as eager to write as I was to fish; +and, in a word, this was how "Red Spinner" was manufactured. +</P> + +<P> +Now I have explained how I became a practical angling writer, and the +half-dozen or so of books which I inflicted upon my brethren of the +Angle gradually came into existence. It is necessary to mention this +to account for the fact that the majority of what I write has appeared +before the public from year to year. Indeed, I did not allow the grass +to grow under my feet. My voyage to Queensland gave me a book, and a +series of the <I>Gentleman's Magazine</I> chapters gave me another; and so +it went on from time to time, as I had the opportunity, in magazines +and papers, finding what I may call even a ready market for all I chose +to publish. The reader will understand, therefore, that after these +half-dozen books, if any of them are to be found registered against me, +there was not a great deal left for gathering together; and that is the +excuse for this volume which I have ventured to call the <I>Aftermath of +Red Spinner</I>. Indeed, just before the war broke out I had agreed to +supply a book to my old friend Mr. Shaylor, to be published by Simpkin, +Marshall & Co. It was to contain just what had been left over by +<I>Bell's Life</I>, the <I>Field</I>, and various magazines, and this I have +described as the "Aftermath." I therefore publish it, and I do so, if +I may be permitted, just as an old man's indulgence. Will the reader +be so good as to let it stand at that, and will my old friends accept a +humble plea for that indulgence? I make it very sincerely, and with a +grateful heart for long years of brotherhood and kindly comradeship. +</P> + +<P> +There are obligations which must, however, be clearly and promptly +acknowledged with thanks most cordial: to the proprietors of the +<I>Field</I>, (now the Field Press, Limited), to <I>Baily's Magazine</I>, the +<I>Windsor Magazine</I>, and many others who kindly gave permission to +select what was required for my purpose. I hereby thank them one and +all, with apologies to others not mentioned through inadvertence. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00c"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AN OPEN LETTER TO WILLIAM SENIOR +</H3> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +MY DEAR RED SPINNER, +</P> + +<P> +Only the other day I found in a bookseller's catalogue your <I>Waterside +Sketches</I> with the word "scarce" against it. I already possess three +copies, one the gift of the author, but I very nearly wrote off for a +fourth because one cannot have too much of so good a thing. What +restrained me really was honest altruism. "Hold," I said to myself, +"there must be some worthy man who has no copy at all. Let him have a +chance." For it is a melancholy fact that Red Spinner's books have +been out of print an unconscionable while, only to be obtained in the +second-hand market, and even there with difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +I am not surprised at this (failing new editions at rather frequent +intervals), but as a friend of man, and especially of man the angler, I +am sorry. I believe I have read almost everything that has been +written on the subject of fishing which comes within ordinary scope, +and a certain amount which is outside that scope, and I have amassed +fishing books to the number of several hundred. There is, however, +comparatively little of all this considerable literature that I keep on +a special shelf for reading and re-reading, a couple of dozen volumes +maybe—and a quarter of those Red Spinner's. Realising what a pleasure +and refreshment these books are to me and how often one or other of +them companions the evening tobacco, I can the better appreciate the +loss occasioned to other anglers by their gradual removal from the +lists of the obtainable. +</P> + +<P> +But not very long ago I heard the good news that you had another volume +on the stocks, and I felt that the situation was improving. And now I +have had the privilege of actually reading that volume in the proof +sheets and can report the glad tidings for the benefit of my brethren +of the angle. At last they will be able to procure one of your books +by the simple process of entering a bookseller's and asking for it. I +do not propose here to say much about the new volume except that it +will certainly stand beside <I>Waterside Sketches</I> on that special shelf +and that it will take its turn with the others in the regular sequence +of re-reading. It is the real article, what I may call "genuine Red +Spinner," hallmark and all. I must express my satisfaction that you +have given in it some further record of the angling in other lands +which you have enjoyed in your much-travelled experience. The +Antipodes, Canada, the United States, Norway, Belgium before the +tragedy—you make it all just as vivid to us as those cold spring days +on the rolling Tay, the glowing time of lilac and Mayfly, or the serene +evenings when the roach float dips sweetly at every swim. Whatever +one's mood, salmon or gudgeon, spinning bait or black gnat, Middlesex +or Mississippi, your pages have something to suit it. +</P> + +<P> +Ever since I first met you, on a September evening at Newbury now +nearly twenty years ago, you have consistently given me ever-increasing +cause for gratitude. Whether as accomplished journalist and Editor of +the <I>Field</I>, as writer and author of books, as a man with a genius for +friendship, if I may quote the phrase, or as an expert with rod and +line—in whatever guise you appeared I had cause to thank you for +allowing me "to call you Master." That I am able to do so now thus +publicly means that one at least of my ambitions has been realised. +And I will take leave to subscribe myself with all affection, "Your +scholar," +<BR><BR> +H. T. SHERINGHAM. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><A HREF="#chap00b">INTRODUCTION</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"><A HREF="#chap00c">AN OPEN LETTER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">ANGLING AS A REAL FIELD SPORT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">MANFORD AND SERTON'S COSY NEST</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">MAYFLY DAYS AND DIALOGUES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">MY FIRST TWEED SALMON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">MUSINGS OF A BUSH RIDE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">WITH VERDANT ALDERS CROWN'D</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">A FIRST SPRINGER AND SOME OTHERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">ANGLING COUSINS AT THE VICARAGE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">A CONTRAST IN THAMES ANGLING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">TWO RED LETTER SALMON</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">A SERMON ON VEXATIONS AND CONSOLATIONS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE SALMON AND THE KODAK</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">HALFORD AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CASUAL VISITS TO NORWAY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CASTING FROM ROCKS AND BOATS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">SOME CONTRARIES OF WEATHER AND SPORT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">LAST DAYS WITH NORWAY AND ITS SEA TROUT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XVIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">GLIMPSES OF CANADA, ETC.</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">HASTY VISITS TO AMERICA</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">A DEVASTATED ARCADIA</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANGLING AS A REAL FIELD SPORT +</H3> + +<P> +One of the commonest misconceptions about angling is that it is just +the pastime for an idle man. "The lazy young vagabond cares for +nothing but fishing!" exclaims the despairing mother to her sympathetic +neighbour of the next cottage listening to the family troubles. Even +those who ought to know better lightly esteem the sport, as if, +forsooth, there were something in the nature of effeminacy in its +pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +Not many summers ago a couple of trout-fishers were enjoined by the +open-handed country gentleman who had invited them to try his stream to +be sure and come in to lunch. They sought to be excused on the plea +that they could not afford to leave the water upon any such trifling +pretence, but they compounded by promising to work down the water-meads +in time for afternoon tea under the dark cedar on the bright emerald +lawn. As they sauntered up through the shrubberies, hot and weary, the +ladies mocked their empty baskets, and that was all fair and square; +but a town-bred member of the house-party shot at a venture a shaft +which they considered cruel: +</P> + +<P> +"You ought to have joined us at luncheon, Captain Vandeleur," said she. +"I can't imagine what amusement you can find in sitting all day +watching a float." +</P> + +<P> +To men whose shoulders and arms were aching after five hours' +greenheart drill at long distances, and who prided themselves upon +being above every form of fishing lower than spinning, the truly +knock-down nature of this blow can only be imagined by those who +understand the subject. The captain, who is reckoned one of the worst +men in the regiment to venture with in the way of repartee, was so +amazed at the damsel's ignorance that he answered never a word, leaving +some of her friends in muslin on the garden chairs around to explain +the difference between fishing with and without a float—a duty which +they appeared to perform with true womanly relish as a set-off against +the previous scoring of the pert maid from Mayfair, who had borne +rather heavily upon them from a London season elevation. +</P> + +<P> +Allow me to recommend angling as a manly exercise, as physically hard +in some of its aspects as any other field sport. During the lifetime +of those of us who will no more see middle age this recreation has +become actually popular, and it is generally supposed that the +multiplication a hundredfold of rod-and-line fishermen in a generation +is explained by the cheaper and easier modes of locomotion, the +increase of cheap literature pertaining to the sport, and the +establishment of a periodical press devoted to it amongst other forms +of national recreation. These reasons are undoubtedly admissible. Yet +I venture to add another, namely, the great and beneficial movement +which has opened the eyes of men and women to the importance of +physical exercise. +</P> + +<P> +When the young men who had in their boyhood been taught to regard +almost every form of recreation as a sin to be guarded against and +repented of, were taught another doctrine, a new impulse was given to +cricket, football, and all manner of athletics, and angling was quickly +discovered by many to offer exercise in variety, and to carry with it +charms of its own. To-day it is therefore so popular that anglers have +to protect themselves against one another if they would prevent the +depletion of lakes and rivers, and salmon and trout streams are quoted +as highly remunerative investments. +</P> + +<P> +Let us see, however, where exercise worthy of the name is found—the +inquiry will at the same time indicate the nature of the fascinations +which to not a few good people are wholly incomprehensible, if, indeed, +they are not a mild form of lunacy. We may take for granted the +antiquity of the sport, though probably the first anglers had an eye to +nothing nobler than the pot. Angling has never been worth following as +an industry, for one of the first lessons learned by the rod fisherman +is that there are superior devices for filling a basket if that alone +is the object. "Because I like it," is the least troublesome reply to +one who asks you why you will go a-fishing. Happy he who can go a +little further and aver, "Because I find it the most entrancing of +sports." And with equally sound sense may it be urged by old and young +alike, "Because it is splendid exercise." +</P> + +<P> +Angling in truth is often made much severer than it need be. The +American fishing-men, in their instinctive search for notions, +discovered long ago that the rods which they had copied from us were +too long and heavy, and the necessary tackle altogether too cumbersome. +They seldom use a longer salmon-rod than 15 feet, and frequently kill +the heavy trout of their lakes and rivers with delicate weapons of 8 +and 9 feet. +</P> + +<P> +In Scotland and Ireland, where the best of our salmon fishing is, you +may still meet with anglers who will have no rod under 18 or 20 feet. +Only big strong men accustomed to it can wield an implement of this +calibre through a hard day's casting without extreme fatigue. They +have a sound justification for their choice on such streams as Tweed, +Dee, and Spey, where the pools are of the major size and the getting +out of a long line is a necessity. They are not on such sure ground +when they urge that a heavy salmon can only be landed by a rod of +maximum dimensions. I saw a friend last autumn produce a 15-foot +greenheart rod on Tweedside. The gillies shook their heads +incredulously at the innovation, but honestly unlearned what they had +always believed to be infallible dogma when he killed his twenty-three +pound fish as quickly and safely as if the cause had been the 18-foot +rod which they had implored him to substitute for his most unorthodox +concern. It is true that there are "catches" which can only be covered +by long rods, with their undoubted advantages in sending out the fly, +picking the line off the water, and settling a fish with the promptest +dispatch. +</P> + +<P> +The young salmon-fisher should learn to handle a rod that is sufficient +for his height and strength and no more. For ordinary purposes 17 feet +of greenheart or split-cane are ample, and the modern salmon angler has +come to look upon even this—which our forefathers would have +pooh-poohed as a mere grilse-rod—as excessive. The secret of +comfortable and successful angling, as an exercise no less than as a +sport, is in the choice of a rod. Some men seem to be unable to make +the right selection; they seem to lack the correct sense of touch and +balance. Others suffer from love of change; disloyal to the old friend +which fitted their hand to a nicety, they discard it for the passing +attractions of some newly-advertised pattern. +</P> + +<P> +It is distressing to watch the efforts of the right man with the wrong +rod, or vice versa. With man and rod in harmony the latter does the +real work; unfitted to each other, the power of man and rod is alike at +its worst. Unfortunately this matter is one upon which the angler must +be his own teacher; but the angler's troubles, in the majority of +instances, arise from the fatal predilection for a rod heavier than the +owner can legitimately bear, or from the use of a line too fine or too +coarse for the rod. Exercise is then over-exercise, injurious, and not +good for body or temper. +</P> + +<P> +Salmon fishing from a boat is imagined by some to be objectionable +because it demands no exertion by the angler. This is an erroneous +conclusion, though doubtless the method brings certain muscles into +play to an unequal degree. At the same time, fishing from the bank, as +it is called for convenience, though the angler never stands upon one, +is the most enjoyable of all methods. There is a rapture in the stream +as in the pathless woods. +</P> + +<P> +In the foregoing remarks upon heavy rods I had possibly in my mind the +angler whose life is not entirely devoted to the open air. The +increase to which reference has been made has been chiefly from the +class of professional men, merchants, and others who have duties which +allow of only occasional relaxation devoted to the river. To such the +donning of wading gear for the first time in the season, the entrance +into the clear running water, the cautious advance upon the amber +gravel or solid rock, the swirl of the rushing stream around the knees, +the sensation of cold through the waterproofing, the arrival at length +at the point where the head of the pool is within range—these are a +keen delight. The pulses fly again when the hooked salmon is felt, and +the tightening line curves the rod from point to hand. Exercise, +indeed! Half an hour's battle with a fighting salmon, including a race +in brogues of a hundred yards or more over shingle or boulders will, +when the fish is gaffed and laid on the strand, find the best of men +well breathed and not sorry to sit him down till his excitement has +cooled and his nerves are once more steady. +</P> + +<P> +Next in order, as a form of healthy exercise, comes pike fishing, as +practised by the spinner with small dead fish, the artificial +imitations of them, or the endless variations of the spoon, invented, +it is claimed, by an angler in the United States. Live baiting in a +river with float requires sufficient energy to walk at the same speed +as the current flows; by still water or in a boat the angler comes, of +course, fairly into the comprehension of the lady who was introduced on +another page. He watches and waits, and the more closely he imitates +the heron in his motionless patience the better for his chances. The +troller of olden times was at any rate always moving, and finer +exercise for a winter day than trolling four or five miles of river +could not be prescribed. But the gorge hook has gone out of fashion +and is discountenanced. +</P> + +<P> +Spinning is for pike what the artificial fly is for salmon, the most +scientific method, and followed perseveringly it is downright hard +work, bringing, as the use of the salmon rod does, all the muscles of +the body into play. The degree of exercise depends upon the style +adopted. Casting direct from the Nottingham winch is less trying than +the ordinary and more familiar custom of working the incoming line +dropped upon the grass or floor of the boat, or gathered in the left +hand in coils after the manner of Thames fishermen. Few anglers are +masters of the Nottingham style, which has many distinct +recommendations, such as freedom from the entanglements of undergrowth +and rough ground. +</P> + +<P> +The recovery of the spinning bait by regular revolutions of the winch +is not always a gain, since, with all his shark-like voracity, the pike +has his little caprices, and sometimes suspects the lure which is +moving evenly on a straight course through the water. The bait spun +home by the left hand manipulating the line while the right gives the +proper motion to the rod top is considered best for pike if not for +salmon. One of the good points about spinning for pike is that it is a +recreative exercise to be followed after the fly-rod is laid by after +autumn. November, December, and January are indeed the months to be +preferred before all the rest, and when pike fall out of season the +salmon and trout rivers are open again. +</P> + +<P> +Trout fishing is the sport of the many amongst fly-fishermen, and the +exercise required in the methods which are recognised as quite orthodox +is probably the happy medium, yielding pleasure with the least penalty +of toil. The members of the most recent school of trout fishers are +believers in the floating fly, but it is wrong to assume that there is +any burning question in the matter. The best angler is the man who is +master of all the legitimate devices for beguiling fish into his +landing net, and I am not now concerned with any controversial aspects +of the dry-fly question. The spectacle of an angler upon a chalk +stream, where this style is to all intents and purposes Hobson's +choice, is not at all suggestive of bodily activity should he happen to +be "waiting for a rise." The trout will only heed an artificial fly +that is dropped in front of them with upstanding wings, and in form of +body and appendages, as in the manner of its progress on the surface of +the stream, this counterfeit presentment must strictly imitate the +small ephemeridae which are hatching in the bed and floating down the +surface of the stream. As the trout do not rise until the natural fly +appears, and as the hatches of fly are capricious, there are often +weary hours of waiting when the angler must be perforce inactive. His +exercise comes in full measure when the hour of action does arrive, and +he will find some motion even in the eventless intervals by walking up +the river on the look-out for olive dun or black gnat. +</P> + +<P> +The whipper of the mountain streams, or the wet-fly practitioner who +fishes a river where the trout are not particular in their tastes, is +in the way of exercise the most fortunate of all. He is ever passing +from pool to pool, lightly equipped, changing his scenery every hour, +now whipping in the shadow of overhanging branches, now crouching +behind a mossy crag, and now brushing the sedges of an open section of +the stream. The broad tranquil flow is exchanged for merry ripples and +sparkling shallows, and these are succeeded by strong and concentrated +streams foaming and eddying down a rocky gorge. Trout here and there +are dropped into the pannier from time to time, and it is a wholesomely +tired angler, with a grand appetite and capacities for sound sleep, who +at night will welcome his slippers at the inn. +</P> + +<P> +Sea-trout angling is to me the choicest sport offered by rod and line. +One degree more exacting to arms and legs than the more universal +employment of the pretty 10-foot trout rod with the purely fresh-water +species of the salmonidae, it still falls short of the heavier demands +of the salmon or pike rod. The double-handed rod, the moderately +strong line and collar, and the flies that are a compromise between the +March brown or alder and the Jock Scott or Wilkinson, offer you salmon +fishing in miniature. The sea trout are regular visitors to the rivers +which are honoured by their periodical visits, but they never linger as +long as salmon in the pools, and must be taken on their passage without +shilly-shallying. +</P> + +<P> +A good sea trout on a 14-foot rod, and in a bold run of water fretted +by opposition from hidden rocks and obstinate outstanding boulders, is +game for a king. The exquisitely shaped silver model is a dashing and +gallant foe, worthy of the finest steel tempered at Kendal or Redditch. +No other fish leaps so desperately out of the water in its efforts to +escape, or puts so many artful dodges into execution, forcing the +angler with his arched rod and sensitive winch to meet wile with wile, +and determination with a firmness of which gentleness is the warp and +woof. While it lasts, and when the fish are in a sporting humour, +there is nothing more exciting than sea-trout angling. Perhaps for +briskness of sport one ought to bracket with it the Mayfly carnival of +the non-tidal trout streams in the generally hot days of early June, +when the English meadows are in all their glory, and the fish for a few +days cast shyness to the green and grey drakes and run a fatal riot in +their annual gormandising. +</P> + +<P> +The greatest happiness for the greatest number in angling, I suppose, +must be credited to the patient disciples of Izaak Walton who take +their sport at their ease by the margins, or afloat on the bosom, of +the slow-running rivers which come under the regulations of what is +known as the Mundella Act. They are mostly the home of the coarse fish +of the British waters—pike, perch, roach, dace, chub, barbel, and the +rest. Some of them also hold trout and one or two salmon in their +season. They yield little of the kind of sport that gives the exercise +which I have made my theme as an excuse for, and recommendation of, +angling. But the humbler practices of angling with modest tackle and +homely baits take thousands of working people into the country, and if +sitting on a box or basket, or in the Windsor chair of a punt on Thames +or Lea does not involve physical exertion of a positive kind, it means +fresh air, rural sights and sounds, and the tranquil rest which after +all is the best holiday for the day-by-day toiler. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MANFORD AND SERTON'S COSY NEST +</H3> + +<P> +It would be interesting to know who invented the phrase "Cockney +Sportsman"; we may fairly conclude, at any rate, that <I>The Pickwick +Papers</I>, backed persistently by <I>Punch</I>, gave it a firm riveting. It +applied perhaps more to the man with the gun than the rod, though the +most telling illustration was the immortal Briggs and his barking pike. +The term of contempt has long lost its sting, though it still holds +lightly. The angler of that ilk fifty years ago, as I can well +remember, for all his cockneyism, worked hard for his sport, and +enjoyed a fair amount of it. When, for example, I used to fish at +Rickmansworth in the middle 'sixties, you would see anglers walking +away with their rods and creels from Watford station to various waters +four or five miles distant. There are more railways now, but less +available fishing, and the anglers have multiplied a thousandfold, +making a wonderful change of conditions. +</P> + +<P> +There were plenty of little-known, out-of-the-way places where common +fishing could be had for the asking, and excellent bags made by the +competent. Manford and Serton were two young men who, I suppose, would +have been in the category of Cockney Sportsmen, being workers in City +warehouses, members of neither club nor society, free and independent +lovers of all manner of out-of-door pursuits and country life. They +were both devoted to all-round angling, and Manford, in a modest +degree, fancied himself with the gun. These young men are here +introduced to the reader because a passing sketch of one of their +sporting excursions to the country will indicate a type, and show that +they might be cockney, but were also not undeserving the name of +sportsmen. +</P> + +<P> +The young fellows made their plans in the billiard-room of the Bottle's +Head, just out of Eastcheap, chatting leisurely on the cushions while +waiting for a couple of bank mashers to finish their apparently +never-ending game. Thirty or forty years ago young fellows in the City +did not think so much about holidays as they now do. We have reached a +stage of civilisation when it seems absolutely necessary for our bodily +and spiritual welfare, however comfortably we may be situated in life, +to rush away for a change as regularly as the months of August and +September come round. Manford declared that exhausted nature would +hold out no longer unless he could take a holiday. Serton suggested +that he should try and rub along somehow until nearer October, when he +might go down with him to a quiet little place, where he gushingly +assured him there was splendid fishing, where they might live for next +to nothing, meet with nice people, and be in the midst of one of the +most beautiful parts of the country. The one condition was that +probably they would have to rough it a little. All these were genuine +attractions to S., who agreed to go, M. adding, as they rose to secure +the cues, that besides fishing there would be chances with the rabbits. +</P> + +<P> +A spring-cart and a horsey-looking person were awaiting the travellers +outside the small roadside railway station at the end of their journey, +and they were already joyous and alert. They and their belongings were +bundled into the "trap" (how many misfits are covered by the word!) and +driven through a tree-arched lane. M. could extract something even +from the autumnal seediness of the hedgerows, affirming that they were +for all the world like a theatre when the holland coverings are on. S. +exclaimed with surprise as a squirrel ran across the track, telling M. +that this proved how really they were in the country, squirrels being +seldom seen, as weasels are, crossing a road. The driver, who was in +fact the keeper, found his opportunity in the uprising from a field of +two magpies chattering a welcome. "I think you'll have luck, +genl'men," he said. "'Tis allus a good sign to see two mags at once. +See one 'tis bad luck; see two it be fun or good luck; see three 'tis a +wedding; see four and cuss me if it bain't death." +</P> + +<P> +A rustic cottage, approached between solid hedges of yew, was the +bespoken lodging, and M. and S. were quickly out of the cart, and +roaming the garden among fruit trees, autumn flowers, and beehives. +Thence they were summoned to the little front room, the oaken +window-sill bright with fuchsias and geraniums, the walls adorned with +an old eight-day clock, a copper warming-pan and antique trays, while +over the mantel-piece was a small fowling piece, years ago reduced from +flint to percussion. Upon the rafters there were half a side of bacon, +bunches of dried sweet herbs, and the traditional strings of onions. +The pictures consisted of four highly coloured prints of celebrated +race-horses, long ago buried and forgotten. It was in this cottage +that the young men remained, and very comfortable they were, for the +bedrooms were fitted up with the queerest of four-posters, made in the +last century, while the walls were covered with prints from sundry +illustrated papers, and illuminated texts. Serton had sojourned in +this humble dwelling-place before, and expatiated upon its manifold +merits to his friend, who prided himself upon being practical, and said +'twould do, but a five-pound note, he supposed, would buy the lot. "No +doubt," replied S., "but to me 'tis a cosy nest for anglers." +</P> + +<P> +The fishing, however, was the first consideration, and with a sense of +satisfaction induced by good quarters out went the anglers, across +meadows, by the banks of a river. It was fine fun to help the +lock-keeper with his cast-net and store the bait-can with gudgeons and +minnows, and to crack jokes before the tumbling and rumbling weir, with +its deep, wide pool, high banks around, and overhanging bushes. +Serton, electing for a little Waltonian luxury, sat him down in +comfort, plumbed a hard bottom in six feet of water, caught a dace at +the first swim, and, with his cockney-bred maggots, took five others in +succession—three roach, and a bleak which he reported in town, at the +Bottle's Head, as the largest ever seen. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile M., who was paternostering with worm and minnow, came down to +inform S. that he had already landed four perch, and that the shoal was +still unfrightened. With a recommendation to his friend to do +likewise, he returned to his station, and his basketed perch might soon +have recited, "Master, we are seven." Thereabouts a shout from S. made +the welkin ring; he cried aloud for help, and M. sprinted along in time +to save the fine tackle by netting a big chub. From the merry style of +the beginning, the captor had felt assured of more roach, and now +confessed that they and dace had ceased biting, though he had used +paste and maggot alternately. Then he took to small red worm and +angled forth a dish of fat gudgeon, that would have put a Seine fisher +in raptures. Next he lost a fish by breakage, and while repairing +damages was arrested by a distant summons from his companion, whom he +discovered wrestling with something—no perch, however—that had gained +the further side of the pool, and was now heading remorselessly for the +apron of the weir, under which it fouled and freed. The witnesses of +the defeat were probably right in their conclusion that this was the +aged black trout that had become a legend, and was believed to be the +only trout left in those parts. +</P> + +<P> +During the afternoon M. and S., in peaceful brotherhood, sat over the +pool, plied paternoster and roach pole, and fished till the float could +be no more identified in the dusk. They carried to the cottage each +ten or twelve pounds' weight extra in fish caught, but in his memories +of the homeward walk S. must have been mistaken in his eloquent +reference to the crake of the landrail, though he might have been +correct as to the weak, piping cry of the circling bats, and the +ghostly passage of flitting owl mousing low over the meadow. These +alone, he said, broke the silence; in this M. took him to task, having +himself heard the tinkling of sheep bells and the barking of the +shepherd's dog. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning the anglers were somewhat put out at first at the +necessity of fulfilling an engagement with the keeper, being reminded +of the promise by the appearance of a shock-headed youth in the cottage +garden, staggering under two sacks. M. was better versed in these +things than the other, and able to inform him that this meant +rabbiting; here were the nets and the ferrets, and he had undertaken to +stand by with the single-barrel and see fair play. Ferreting is a +business generally transacted without hustle, and the keeper was a +noted slowcoach. With this knowledge, and the presence under his eye +of a basket containing ground-bait kneaded in the woodhouse while the +breakfast rashers were frying, S. opined that he might snatch an hour +or so of honest reaching in the backwater while the rabbit people were +getting ready. +</P> + +<P> +The roach master eventually came to the rendezvous, indeed, with a +dozen and five of those beautifully graded roach which are between +three-quarters and half pound, and which, when they are "on the feed," +run marvellously even in size and quality. M. did not now concern +himself about the roach. He was no longer a Waltonian; his mind had +taken the tone of the keeper's. Yesterday his soul was of the fish, +fishy; to-day it was full of muzzle-loaders, nets, and ferrets. But +he, too, had his reward, and S. noticed that as they plodded athwart a +fallow he looked out keenly and knowingly for feathered or four-footed +game as if he were Colonel Hawker in person, and not the patient +paternosterer with downcast eye. After S. had witnessed his bright eye +and upstanding boldness when he brought the single-barrel to shoulder +and dropped a gloriously burnished woodpigeon at long shot, he +conceived an enhanced respect for him evermore, and was endued with a +spirit of toleration to watch the coming operations, in which he took +no part. +</P> + +<P> +Nets were pegged down; there was much talk of bolt holes between the +keeper and the rustic shockhead working on different sides of the bank, +and M. and the dog Spider had vision and thought for nothing but the +open holes they guarded. It transpired that the keeper wanted rabbits +for commerce. The couples that speedily met fate in the nets were +insufficient. He required fifteen couple. M. rolled over a white scut +with obvious neatness and dispatch, and in shifting over to another +hedgerow he shot a jay and gloried in its splendour. The keeper, +however, moderated any secret intentions there might have been as to +the plumage by one sentence: "That's another for the vermin book. I +gets a bob for that." +</P> + +<P> +The keeper's cottage gave lunch and rest to the party, and the talk was +either of ferrets, hares, and rabbits, or of the two rudely carpentered +cases which contained well-set-up specimens of teal, cuckoo, wryneck, +abnormally marked swallow, pied rat, landrail, and polecat, each being +a chapter in the life history of the keeper. +</P> + +<P> +The tale of rabbits being incomplete, M. returned to his former +occupation, but S. fished again, continually finding sport of the +miscellaneous kind, such as a chub with cheese paste, perch with dew +worm out of the milk-prepared moss, roach rod with running tackle, and +leger tackle on a spinning rod. With this and a great worm on strong +hook he had the surprise of a fight that gave him not a little concern. +The fish at first appeared to be going to ground, even boring bodily +into it. Then it gave way to panic, and shot about the pool as if +pursued by a water fiend. Winched in slowly, it plunged into the bank, +thought better of it, and ran up stream. At this crisis M. arrived, +commandeered the net, and stood around offering advice. It was a +monster eel, he said. Give him more butt; be careful; be more +energetic; certainly, all right. The last remark was simply a receipt +in form of a little speech from S., who had briefly bidden him to mind +his own business. The unseen fish abruptly had given in. Was it +collapse? Slowly, slowly it followed the revolution of the reel, both +men peering intent for first sight and grounds for identification of +species. The first sight, however, must have been on the part of the +fish, which went off in a fright deep down with renewed strength, and +then it did surrender, a barbel of 6 lb., a somewhat rare fish for the +river, and only taken when, as in this case, it had wandered up into +the weir pool. +</P> + +<P> +Having told M. to mind his own business with a minimum of ceremony, it +was not surprising that S. was left alone, not exactly to his sport, +since, as it happened, the barbel closed his account, unless one or two +losses may be included in that definition, and, to give him his due, he +was so thorough a fisherman that he did regard losses, shortcomings, +and mishaps as legitimate assets in the general game. He had forgotten +in his barbeline absorption to inquire, according to usage, how his +comrade had been faring, and did not meet him again till they were in +the throat of the lane cottage-wards bound. "Well, old 'un; what luck +with the paternoster?" he asked, cheerily. M., with a sly twinkle in +the eye, said, yes, he had done somewhat; three pike. It may be +premised that the young men had both been trying at intervals for a +certain marauding pike reported to them as a ferocious duck destroyer +by a gentleman farmer who came down to gossip. He indicated the field +and a gravel pit as a guide to the place where his cowman had seen a +duckling seized by a pike, and the man embellished his account by +swearing that the fish had ploughed his way down the river half out of +water, with the ball of feathers bewhiskering his jaws. Manford, it +seems, had revenged the raided ducks. A large pike lay at the bottom +of his rush basket underneath three jack and a covering of rushes, and +it was produced as a crowning show, a golden fish of 17 lb. lured to +execution by a live bait. There was talk of nothing else that night +but this prize at keeper's cottage, village tap-room, at the lockheads, +and by five-barred gates; and the exultant keeper, who took credit for +all, was heard to say that it was the best bloomin' jack he had seen +"for seven year come last plum blight," whenever and whatever that +might be. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MAYFLY DAYS AND DIALOGUES +</H3> + +<P> +[SCENE: straw-roofed fishing-hut, door and windows wide open. Table +covered with remnants of luncheon, floor ditto with mineral water and +other bottles, very empty. In the shade outside, fishermen lying on +the grass gazing at the river, upon which the sun strikes fiercely. +Keeper and keeper's boys standing sentinel up and down the meadow, +under orders to report the first appearance of mayfly. Heat intense. +Swallows hawking over the water. Fields a sheet of yellow buttercups, +with faint lilac lines formed by cuckoo-flowers on the margins of +carriers and ditches. Much yawning and silence amongst the lazy +sportsmen sprawling in a variety of attitudes; caps thrown off their +sun-scorched faces, waders peeled down to the ankles.] +</P> + +<P> +R. O. (the Riparian Owner, and host of the party): Well, it's about +time, I fancy, something stirred. The fly was up an hour before this +yesterday, and it would be naturally a little later to-day. +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD (a barrister of repute, tall and thin, sarcastic, and a +first-rate angler): I don't believe we shall see a fly till three +o'clock, and then we shall have the old game over again—short rises +and bad language all along the line. Terlan's rod is enough to drive +flies and fish out of the county. +</P> + +<P> +TERLAN (a merry little squire, who takes business and pleasure alike +with imperturbable placidity of temper, and who always uses a +double-handed rod for mayfly fishing): The same to you, old blue-bag. +I'll back my 14-footer against your miserable little split cane. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL (a retired Indian officer, given to ancient recollections +and gloomy views of life): Yes, and very little to brag about either. +A brace and half of trout on this river in the mayfly week is a very +pitiable sight. When I was a boy nobody had a basket of less than +eight brace. Even the trout seem under the curse of this so-called new +age. +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD: Ay, you not only could, but did, get them easily in the good +old times. Why, I have seen the old fogies up at Lord Tummer's water +fish from chairs and camp-stools. (Laughter.) Fact, 'pon my word. +Each man took his place with his footman behind him, and every man jack +of 'em fished in kid gloves. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL: But they got their trout, and plenty of 'em, and if they +did take it easy, they filled their baskets. +</P> + +<P> +The PARSON (the least parson-like member of the party, and beloved, as +the right sort of parson always is, by everybody): This is stale +matter. We went over all that ground yesterday, and agreed to take the +modern trout as he is, and make the best of him. Call it education or +what you like, trout-fishing is not what it was. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL (grunting): And never will be. I say it all comes from +your overstocking and returning hooked fish to the water. You are all +too particular by half, and are eaten up with new-fangled notions. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: If we fail, it is not, at any rate, for want of preparations, +precautions, and theories. Here, Georgy, get up, and arm yourself in +regular order. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY (a stout, elderly stockbroker, supposed to be like the lamented +George IV, rising with a laugh, and leisurely filling his pipe): Begad! +what am I the worse for my paraphernalia? The General there and all of +you, i' faith, are very glad to make use of my little odds and ends. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL (contemptuously): When I was a young man we never bothered +ourselves very often with so much as a landing-net. Now you are laden +with stuff like a pack mule. Look at Georgy's priest dangling from one +button, his oil-bottle from another, his weighing machine from another. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: Ay, and there's the damping box for the gut points, and the pin +to clear the eyeholes of the hooks, and the linen cloth to wrap the +trout in, and the clearing-ring, and the knee-pads, and whole magazines +of flies. +</P> + +<P> +The PARSON: Good! I know Georgy has at least twenty patterns, and by +the time he has found out which is the killer the rise is over. +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD: Hello! See that? +</P> + +<P> +ALL: What? Where? +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD: I beg your pardon: it was only a swallow, or a rat. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: No; Harvey is signalling up at the bridge. Let us be moving. +The fly is coming. Tight lines to you all. [Piscatorum Personae +collect their rods, pull up their waders, and stroll away in various +directions.] +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY (an hour later, seated amongst the sedges by a broad part of the +river, mopping his forehead, rod laid aside on the grass behind: to him +approaches the Parson from the shallow above): That was a warm bout +while it lasted, parson. How did you get on? +</P> + +<P> +PARSON: Get on? Not at all. For a time the fish rose in all +directions, but they did not seem to take the natural even. Flopped at +'em and let 'em pass on. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY: I didn't like to say it before the R. O., but I'm sure we begin +this mayfly fishing too soon. There ought not to be a rod out till the +fly has been on at least a couple of days, and not a line should be +cast till the fish are taking them freely. +</P> + +<P> +PARSON: What have you done? +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY (motioning to his creel, and creeping softly up the bank, with +rod lowered): Only a couple, and handsome fellows, too. Why one of +them is full to the muzzle with drakes; there's one crawling from +between its jaws at this moment. +</P> + +<P> +PARSON: Heigho! he's into another. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY (having stalked his fish and hooked him, retires from the bank +and brings a two-pounder down to the net, which the parson handles): +Well, I've got my brace and half, anyhow. +</P> + +<P> +PARSON (laughing): To tell you the truth, I came down to beg a touch of +the paraffin this time. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY: I thought so. Here you are. (Parson returns to his wooden +bridge.) They laugh at my fads, but somehow take toll of 'em. +(General approaches from below.) Any luck, General? +</P> + +<P> +GENERAL (disgusted): Yes, infernal bad luck! Two fish broke away one +after another. They won't fasten a bit. Never saw anything like it. +But I want you to give me one of those gut points out of your damping +box. I must get one of those boxes for myself. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY (supplying the requisitioned goods): You'll find it a very +useful thing. Your gut will always be ready to use. Ha! my friend (to +trout rising madly twenty yards out), I rather think you'll make number +four. (Done accordingly. Spring balance produced; trout weighed at 2 +lb. 1 oz. in sight of General.) +</P> + +<P> +GENERAL (moving off to the next meadow, and commanding a deep bend, the +haunt of heavy trout); I suppose I have lost the trick; but catch them +I can't. I have risen six fish, and lost the only ones that took me. +Here's the keeper. What are they doing at the ford, Harvey? +</P> + +<P> +HARVEY: The master's got four, General, and he wants you to come down. +The shallow's all alive, and they are taking well. There's a trout, +sir, at the tail of that weed. +</P> + +<P> +GENERAL (casting a loose line): Missed it again, by Jove! Why was +that, Harvey? +</P> + +<P> +HARVEY (coughing slightly): Well, General, if you ask me, I fancy you +had too much slack on the water. You'll have a better chance on the +sharp stream below. Let me carry your rod, sir. (Hitches fly in small +ring.) No wonder, General, the fish got off: the barb's gone from the +hook. +</P> + +<P> +GENERAL (pacing downwards): That's it, is it? Nobody knows better than +I that after a fish balks at the hook, one should examine the point. +Yet I preach without practice. Ah, me! I'm not in it. +</P> + +<P> +R. O. (genially greeting, and wading out of the shallow): Come along, +General; they are rising well, fly and fish both; and this is a bit of +water where they generally mean business. Good luck to you! There's a +grand trout a little higher up, look. He takes every fly that sails +over to him. Pitch your Champion just four inches before his nose, and +he's a gone coon. +</P> + +<P> +GENERAL (encouraged and inspired, casting with confidence; and, +believing that he is going to be successful, succeeding): <I>You</I> are all +right, my spotted enemy (playing the fish down stream firmly). Come +along, Harvey, no quarter; get below those flags, and I'll run him in +before he knows where he is. That's it: two pounds and a half for a +ducat! +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: Capital! We can't send for Georgy's scales, but I bet you he is +two and three-quarters (as the General bangs the head of fish on the +edge of his brogue sole). Georgy's priest would come in convenient +here, too. +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD (at upper end of water, kneeling patiently at the edge of an +older coppice, smoking the pipe of perfect peace, and soliloquising): +They don't rise yet. But a time will come. Hang it! but this is +sweet. Yea, it is good to be here. Now, if that little <I>Waterside +Sketches</I> chap was here, let me see, how would he tick it off? +Forget-me-nots—and deuced pretty they are; sedge warblers, three; +kingfishers, one; rooks melodious; picturesque cottages on the downs +nestling—they always put it that way—nestling under the beech wood; +balmy air—<I>'tis</I> a trifle nice; cuckoo mentioning his name to all the +hills—Tennyson, I know, said so; drowsy bees and gaudy dragon +flies—yes, they are actually in the bond; and all the rest of it, here +it is. And I've chaffed my friend at the club time out of mind for his +gush, and swore by the gods that all the angler cares about is gross +weight of fish killed. Yet, somehow, I must have taken all this in +many a time, without, I suppose, knowing it. Softly now. (Casts +deftly with a short line, lightly and straightly delivered, to a corner +up-stream where the current swerves round a chestnut tree leaning into +the river. Leaps to feet with a split-cane rod arched like a bow. +Retires down stream, smiling.) No you don't! I know you. If you get +back to that first floor front of yours, I'm done. Out of your +familiar ground <I>you're</I> done. Steady, steady! Keep your head up, and +on you come. What? More line? Well, well; one more run for the last. +Thanks; here you are. (Turns a short, thick two-pounder out of the net +into a bed of wild hyacinths in the copse.) +</P> + +<P> +TERLAN (in possession of a side stream which he had won at the friendly +toss after breakfast): Fortune has smiled upon me to-day. They laugh +at my big rod, but I make it work for me. A fish has no chance with +it. I saw the Parson weeded four times yesterday with his little +ten-foot greenheart. My fish don't weed me; they can't. Ha, ha! Now +look at that trout close under the farther bank, sucking in the fat +Mayflies with a gusto worthy of an alderman. Here I am yards away in +the meadow; I am out of sight. The rod seems to know that I rely upon +it. I don't cast, so to speak; simply give the rod its head, as it +were, and there you are. (Fly alights on opposite bank, drops gently, +with upstanding wings; is seized with a flourish; trout is brought +firmly and rapidly over a bed of weeds, never permitted to twist or +turn, and attendant boy nets him out with a grin on his chubby face.) +Dip the net a little more, Tommy; you don't want to assault a fish, +only to lift him out. How many is that? Eight do you say? Then I +want no more. +</P> + +<P> +[SCENE: Straw-roofed fishing hut, as before. Fishing men returning in +straggling order. Bottles opened without loss of time. Black drakes +dancing in the air. Surface of river marked by never a sign of fish. +Flotsam and jetsam of shucks drifting down, and forming in mass at the +eddies. Swifts and swallows exceedingly busy everywhere. Sun +hastening to western hill-tops. Beautiful evening effects on field and +wood, especially on hawthorn grove, in the light of the hour, +snow-white, touched with golden gleam.] +</P> + +<P> +R. O. (handing rod to keeper, and taking creel from boy): It's all over +now. Short rise to-day. We shall be having a morning and evening rise +to-morrow very likely. Now for the spoil. Where's Georgy? We want +his steelyard. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY: Here I am. Here's my basket, and here's my game-book on my +shirt cuff—1 1/2, 1 3/4, 2, 2 1/4, 1 1/4, 1 1/4, a d——d big dace, +and a black grayling. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: Oh, a grayling on the 3rd June! +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY: Couldn't help it; fly right down his gullet. Besides, you said +you wanted them all out of the water. +</P> + +<P> +The PARSON (weighing his fish): Mine is a back seat. I had twenty +misses to one hit. Still, I'm content—3 lb., 2 1/4 lb., and a pound +roach. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL (smoking a cheroot on a chair brought out of the hut): My +muster roll is soon read—three fish, total 4 lb. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: Harvey has reckoned me up. There are five fish, weighing 10 lb. +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD (sauntering up and humming "Now the labourer's task is o'er," +and surveying the groups of trout, disposed on the grass in their +tribes and households apart): What a sight for the tired angler. Ah! +after you with the shandy-gaff. How many? I really haven't counted; +but I've had a lovely time at the wood. (Harvey turns out basket, and +weighs fish.) Only seven—well, I must do better next time. 13 lb., +too; that's not high average; but I report myself satisfied. Here +comes Terlan with the mainmast of his brother's yacht. +</P> + +<P> +TERLAN (smiling): Yes, the spar is all right. Sport? Pretty fair, but +I haven't been working like galley slaves as some of you have. Lay the +lot out decently, Tommy, and don't smother them in grass next time. +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: This is the bag of bags, gentlemen. Four brace of trout, and at +the head of the row a fish of 3 3/4 lb. Have him set up, Terlan; it's +the most shapely fellow I ever saw taken out of the river. But I see +the wagonette coming down to the mill. Where's the doctor? +</P> + +<P> +SUFFIELD: Oh! we shall find him presently. He has been away at the +mill-heads and carriers; what the General would call outpost duty. +</P> + +<P> +[SCENE: Road in front of mill. Music of droning and dripping wheel. +Bats wheeling overhead. Mother in cottage singing child to sleep. +Dogs barking in distance. Sack-laden wagon rumbling over bridge. +Doctor seated on a cask smoking, and pulling the ears of a setter. +Gleam of fading light on quiet, mirror-like water. Corncrake heard +near. Nightingales in concert in adjacent park. Scent of May-bloom +heavy in the air.] +</P> + +<P> +R. O. (on box of wagonette with tired fishermen behind): Well, Doctor, +what have you done? +</P> + +<P> +DOCTOR (youthful and of goodly countenance): Six brace. +</P> + +<P> +PARSON: You mean fish—not brace. +</P> + +<P> +DOCTOR (shrugging his shoulders): What time did the Mayfly come up? +Three or thereabouts, did it? That is just about the time I came in to +have a nap, and I have not fished since. I told you not to idle about +waiting for Mayfly. Here are my trout, and I got every one of them +with the small fly—Welshman's button—before one o'clock. +</P> + +<P> +The GENERAL: They run small. +</P> + +<P> +DOCTOR: H'm, perhaps they do. Two of them seem to have rather bad +teeth, too. Still, I don't grumble. Ah, well; good-night. (Wagonette +rumbles off down the dusty road.) +</P> + +<P> +R. O.: Good chap, that. He always sleeps at the mill; says the wheel +grinds him to sleep. (Later, at the porch of the Black Bull.) We +shall have the great rise very likely to-morrow; but I really do think +there's something in that small-fly business. +</P> + +<P> +TERLAN: Not forgetting my mainmast. +</P> + +<P> +GEORGY: And, while you are about it, my fads and fanglements. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MY FIRST TWEED SALMON +</H3> + +<P> +It may, I trust, be forgiven me if, when thinking of all the salmon I +have taken in half a century of attempts and hopes for that 70-pounder +which is ever lying expectant in the angler's imagination, I catch my +first Tweed salmon over again. A good deal of water must have run +through Kelso Bridge since, for I had better confess it was in the +month of October, 1889. In that year the autumn fishing in all +Scotland on the rivers that remained open during the month was +decidedly capricious. This was one of those expeditions when it is +wise to make the most of the tiniest opportunities of amusement, and I +began very fairly with a fellow-passenger in the train, one of the +class which, seeing your fishing things amongst the baggage, arrogates +to itself the right to open a volley of questions and remarks upon you +about fishing. This example at once showed the extent of his knowledge +upon the subject by the declaration: "I never have the patience to +fish; it's so long waiting for a bite." He also hinted agreement with +the saying attributed to Johnson. There is not so much ignorance in +these days on the subject, and the majority of people I fancy now know +the difference between sitting down before a painted float and the +downright hard work and incessant activity of a day with salmon or +trout rod. +</P> + +<P> +Next morning, in clean, quiet Kelso, I mused over the intruded opinions +of the gentleman in the train (whom I had ticked off as a good-natured +bagman), and having been warned beforehand by a laconic postscript, +"Prospects not rosy," remembered that in angling there is something +needed besides endurance and energy, and that when you are waiting day +by day for the water to fall into condition there is a substantial +demand upon patience. However, the thought must not spoil breakfast, +nor did it. Then I read my letters, glanced down the columns of the +<I>Scotsman</I>, lighted the first tobacco (the best of the day verily!), +and issued forth from the yard of the Cross Keys, hallowed by the +periodical residence of eminent salmon fishers, such as Alfred Denison, +who, with so many of the familiar sportsmen of his day, has gone hence, +leaving pleasant memories behind. +</P> + +<P> +The stony square of the town is in front of you; Forrest's shop is next +door as you stand in the gateway of the old inn, and after a glance at +the sky and at the weathercock on the top of the market house you look +in there. A local fisherman was coming out, and in reply to the +inevitable question as to the state of the river, he said, "Weel, she's +awa' again." Pithy and characteristic, and full of information was +this. It was a verdict—You may fish, but shall fish in vain this day. +The Tweed is away again. +</P> + +<P> +Gloomily now you walk ahead, leaving your call at the tackle shop for a +more convenient season; at present, at any rate, time is of no account. +Past the interesting ruins of Kelso Abbey you proceed, and soon, +leaning over the parapet of Rennie's Bridge, on the right-hand side, +your eye straightaway seeks the Tweedometer fixed against the wall of +Mr. Drummond's Ednam House garden. The bold black figures on the +whitened post mark 2 1/2 ft. above orthodox level. Two days ago the 3 +ft. point had been reached; then Tweed sank to 2 ft.; now "she" is up +again 6 in. +</P> + +<P> +One does not care how high a river may rise, provided it gets over the +business once for all, and recedes steadily, to have done with change +for a reasonable time. The worst phase of all is that which is +represented by intermittent ups and downs on a small scale; for the +fish follow the example of the river most religiously in one +respect—when it is unsettled they are unsettled too. Such experience +as this, morning after morning, for many days, may be handsome exercise +in the finishing-off touches of your lessons in patience, and are +probably entertaining enough to your friends who are not anglers. +There is no amusement for you; only resignation. Make up your mind to +that, my brother. +</P> + +<P> +There must have been a quantity of downpour away to the west up amongst +the hills; the skies are leaden with rain clouds even now; the air is +saturated with moisture. Up beyond the picturesque little island at +the junction of the two rivers the water thunders over the rocky ledge +which forms the dub at the bottom of Floors Castle lower water, and if +you observe closely you will soon conclude that Teviot is bringing down +an undue amount of Scottish soil. Cross the bridge and look over to +the heavy pool under the wooded slope, and note, where the light +strikes the eddy, the yellow hue; 18 in. above ordinary level is the +outside limit which the initiated on Tweed give you as a bare chance +for a fish, and it is evident that, even if those dark clouds do not +fulfil their threats, this chance will scarcely come to-morrow, or +perchance next day. Wherefore, once more, let patience have her +perfect work. +</P> + +<P> +The bait fishers are busy, to be sure. Your extremity is their +opportunity. With the worm they make fair baskets of trout in this +dirty water. The public on Tweedside are indeed a privileged race. +Nearly the whole of the river is free to trout anglers, and there is an +abundance of trout in it. The inhabitants of Kelso ought to be full of +gratitude to the Duke of Roxburghe, for he gave them, as a generous +supplement to their free trouting, miles of the Teviot for salmon +fishing. They had only to enrol themselves members of a local +association and pay a nominal fee to obtain salmon fishing on the +Teviot for a certain number of days in every week. Mr. James Tait, the +clerk to the Tweed Commissioners (whom hundreds of anglers had to thank +for much kindness to strangers), informed me that when the water was +right plenty of salmon were taken in Teviot, especially at the back +end. I think, though some people of course are never satisfied, that +this great boon was duly appreciated by the inhabitants. You talk to +people by the riverside about the Duke, whose fine mansion crowns the +high ground ending the pretty landscape above bridge, and they +curiously harp upon one string. They say nothing about his Grace's +rank, or wealth, or good looks, or the historical associations of his +ancient house. They simply remark, "Eh! but the Duke's a kind mon." +</P> + +<P> +The Duke walked down to the opposite side once and hailed me in my +boat, said he was glad to give "Red Spinner" a day on his beat, and +chatted for a quarter of an hour, the embodiment of man and sportsman. +The late Duke of Abercorn was just such another nature's nobleman, and +while upon the subject of dukes I may include the Duke of Teck as one +with whom I had many a friendly chat about fishing. +</P> + +<P> +That, with the terrible worming the Tweed gets in these autumnal +floods, the trout fishing should be so good is marvellous. The +plentiful supply of suitable food is one reason why the Tweed has not +long been ruined for this summer sport. The hatch of March Browns in +the early portion of the season is a sight not to be imagined unless +seen. All the summer through insect life abounds, and I have seen in +the middle of October hatches of olive duns that would satisfy even a +Hampshire chalk streamer, while the trout were rising at them +beautifully on every hand. On one of the flood days I strolled up and +down Tweedside, and of the dozen or so of anglers I encountered +pottering about with the worm, the majority had something like a dozen +trout in their baskets. On a day when Teviot was cleared down to +porter colour I met a young gentleman who had been fishing down with +flies (the blue dun and Greenwell were on the cast), and had filled his +basket. There were some fish of three-quarters and half a pound, but +the bulk were smaller. These trout were not in good condition, for +they spawn early in these parts, but they were not so bad as one might +have supposed. +</P> + +<P> +But let us return to our salmon. While you are trying to play your +game of patience like a philosopher, you will naturally make a +superficial acquaintance with such portions of the river as are +accessible to a wayfarer, and if you have not seen it before you will +speedily understand why "she" (on Tweedside you always hear the river +referred to in the feminine gender) has so many admirers, who pledge +her in a life-long devotion. It is indeed a winsome river, and the +scenery, never tame, is in many parts lovely. Where can there be a +more beautiful place than Sir Richard Waldie-Griffith's park at +Hendersyde, as it shows from the other bank of the river? The autumnal +tints are in advance of those farther south, and the beeches glow ruddy +from afar. This borderland is admirably wooded, and the Tweed valley +is pre-eminent in that respect. The historical associations are so +numerous and so interesting that the mind, if you allow it to run riot, +will become overburdened with them. For myself, to assist in the +development of the ripe fruit of patience, I kept mostly to musings +that had Abbotsford for its centre, and re-read Lockhart on the spot +with which that ponderous volume is so closely concerned. Thanks to +Mr. David Tait, I secured one of the early editions, where are to be +found all the references to fishing and other sports which are not +included in other editions. +</P> + +<P> +The Wizard of the North lived awhile at Rosebank, a short distance +below Kelso, and the old tree, I believe, was still flourishing in +which he used to sit and take pot shots at herons as they flew over the +Tweed, which rolled beneath his leafy perch. Driving down to Carham, +"Tweedside," who was my companion, showed me Rosebank across the broad +stream, and, while I was reminding him of Walter Scott's gunnery, we +saw in an adjacent ploughed field three herons standing close together, +apparently in doleful contemplation. On this drive also we crossed a +burn which divides English from Scottish soil, and it was tumbling down +in angry mood. Scores of other rivulets on either side were pouring +their off-scourings into the vexed river, each precisely as gracefully +described in the lines: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Now murmuring hoarse, and frequent seen,<BR> +Through bush and briar no longer green,<BR> +An angry brook, it sweeps the glade,<BR> +Brawls over rock and wild cascade.<BR> +And, foaming brown with double speed,<BR> +Hurries its waters to the Tweed.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The morning, however, comes at last when John, who has been to the +station with the early train, meets you as you descend to the +coffee-room with "She'll fush the day." But you will not forget that +Tweed has been out of order for twelve days, rising and falling, never +settled. Still, though the chance is very much an off one, it has to +be taken. A day on any water, from Galashiels down to the last pool +below Coldstream, is exceeding precious at this time of the year. +Every boat is apportioned for the riparian owners and their friends to +the very end of the season. If, therefore, you have had kindly leave +to fish any of these celebrated waters, and have been unable through +bad weather to live up to the opportunities, I could almost weep with +or for you; or, if you think strong language more manly, I would make +an effort for once to meet you on that ground. I speak, alas, from the +book. The wounds inflicted by jade Fortune in these regards are yet +unhealed. Take, then, your very off-chance and be thankful. +</P> + +<P> +The truth is that you never quite know what will happen in salmon +fishing. On that drenching Saturday, when you were working like a +galley slave without raising or seeing a fish on the Lower Floors water +(where Lord Randolph Churchill subsequently slew his four fish), did +not Mr. Gilbey take five at Carham and Mr. Arkwright four at Birgham? +On the Monday, when the water was a little better, did you not find +that the salmon had moved right away from the beat for which you were +that day booked? It was surely so; and the only sport obtained was by +a young gentleman who had handled a rod for the first time on the +previous Friday, and who now happened upon a 25-lb. fish, the only one +killed that day, with the exception of a pound yellow trout, which took +your own fly—a Silver Doctor 1 1/2 in. long. This, and a couple of +false rises from salmon, constituted your only luck. Yet there were +salmon and grilse in all the streams, splashing in the slow oily sweep +that crept under the wood yonder. +</P> + +<P> +It was consolation that night to discover that not much had been done +anywhere. A gossip in Mr. Forrest's shop had heard that the Duke of +Roxburghe had killed a couple, and the Duchess, who fishes fair with a +good salmon rod and casts the fly in a masterly style, also a brace. +Mr. Drummond, up at the meeting point of Teviot and Tweed, had done +something also. That night, too, the gallant General arrived from +Tayside, to make your mouth water as he, being cross-examined as to +sport, elaborated the record which had appeared in Saturday's <I>Field</I>. +If there is any wrinkle in salmon fishing that the General does not +know, you would like to hear of it, would you not? Mark his artful +little plan of using the common safety-pin of commerce for stringing +his flies upon, threading them upon the pin by the loop before the +affair is closed up. +</P> + +<P> +If you are wise, upon a river like the Tweed, where all the fishermen +are men of experience and skill, you will not only ask their advice, +but take it in the main—say, when it suits you. You were pretty +hopeful at the beginning of this final day, though Jamie and his +colleague were cautious in expressing an opinion. No doubt Scotchmen +are nothing if not cautious, and the trifle of doubt they adventured +when they surveyed the sky and studied the water might be merely +national caution asserting itself in the very nature of things. Time +passed, and when at noon or thereabouts you sat down upon that very +comfortable platform near the stern of the boat, and wondered whether +your back were as broken as it felt to be, a cold shiver went through +you as the horrible thought flashed into your mind. "Good heavens! +surely this is not going to be another blank?" The sun, at any rate, +after shining brightly for a couple of hours, retired behind the clouds +now rolling up from south-west; wind, in meagre catspaws, skirmished +across the dub below, reserved for the afternoon, and you prayed that +it would strengthen to half a gale. +</P> + +<P> +That grand water above—all streams of a model character—was fished +fairly, perseveringly; Wilkinson, Jock Scott, Silver Grey, Greenwell, +and Stephenson were tried in succession, large and medium. The +afternoon wore on apace without a sign. Down under the high rocks, +wooded to the water's edge, you repeated the work of the forenoon, +trying, in addition to the flies already named, a harlequin-looking +pattern which you had seen amongst Forrest's tempting collection, a +novelty named Tommy Adkins. It did no effective service, however. +With a levity pardonable at that time you hummed, "Tommy, make room for +your uncle," and put up a large Wilkinson, one of the Kelso-tied double +hooks, than which you cannot get better. Down to the weir and back +again to the same old tune—nothing. An angler from below came up for +a chat and told you that he had taken a grilse, and you envied him the +possession of that measly little kipper. +</P> + +<P> +By and by there was a pluck beneath the water, and you struck. +Whatever else it was, it was no fish; but you carefully winched up and +brought in a black kitten not long drowned. Fortune was not content +with smiting you, it derided. As you blushingly remarked to the +laughing but unappreciative Jamie, this was nothing short of +<I>cat</I>astrophe. Jamie beguiled the next drift by reminiscences of Sir +George Griffith (the angling father of an angling son), Alfred Denison, +Liddell, John Bright, George Rooper, and other anglers whom he had +piloted to victory—a charming method of rubbing the salt into your +smarts. +</P> + +<P> +The dogcart was to be at the head of the dub at five, and the rumble of +its wheels had been heard while we were yet about fifty yards from the +landing place on the upward course, fishing deep, and letting the long +line work slowly round to its farthest limit in the wake. There were +no more puns now; I freely admit that I was silent—ay, depressed. +Jamie, too, was disappointed; a couple of spectators on the bank were +also practising the silence of sympathy. The game was up, and nothing +need be said. +</P> + +<P> +Ah! what a magnificent swirl. Deep down went the fish, as up went the +rod, and, backache and despondency vanishing, I held him hard. The +first dash of the fish told me an unexpected and alarming bit of news. +The confounded winch would not run out with the salmon, and I had to +ease out line with the left hand and keep the big rod raised with the +right. Luckily the winch worked after a fashion when reeled in, and if +the single gut at the end of the twisted cast would hold all might be +well. And behold it did hold. The fish was heavy, as everyone saw +from the first, and it behaved fairly well. One ugly rush, which was +the critical point of the battle, passed without accident, and the +salmon was revealed—a silvery beauty that was more than ever your +heart's desire. Easy and firm was the motto now. The fish was at last +safe in Jamie's net, and if it was beaten so was I, thanks to the +treacherous reel. The prize was a baggit of 22 lb., as bright as a +spring fish, and perfectly shaped. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +MUSINGS OF A BUSH RIDE +</H3> + +<P> +Here I am riding along the sandy track all alone in the Australian +bush, flicking off a wattle blossom singled out from the yellow mass +with my hunting crop, fancying it is a fly rod, and rehearsing the old +trick of sending a fly into a particular leaf. Ah! little mare +Brownie, what are you doing? Did you never before see a charred stump +that you should shy so? Do you fancy that you are a thoroughbred that +you should bolt at such a gentle touch of the spur? So you espy the +half-way house, do you, and fancy that fifteen miles, up and down, in a +trifle under two hours, has earned you a spell, a bit of a feed, and +something of a washing? And you are right. Take charge, Mr. +Blackfellow-ostler, and while you do your duty let me amuse myself with +my notebook. After all, memory is even-handed. It keeps us in +remembrance of many things we would fain never think of more; but it +performs similar service for others that are pleasant to ponder over. +Out of the saddle bag I have taken a copy of the <I>Gentleman's +Magazine</I>, newly arrived by this morning's mail, and while the mare +took her own time up the hills I have been glancing through a "Red +Spinner" article on "Angling in Queensland," with an author's +pardonable desire to see how it comes out in print. That was why I +took to making casts at the leaves with the riding whip. That is why, +halting here for an hour on the crest of a hill, overlooking scrub of +glossy green, bright patches of young maize, and a river shimmering in +the valley, I am noting a few of the best-day memories which the easy +paces of Brownie have allowed me in the saddle. +</P> + +<P> +What a day was that amongst the trout on the Chess! I wrote for +permission to spend one afternoon only upon certain private waters, and +the noble owner by return of post sent me an order for two days. It +was June. The meadows, hedgerows—ay! and even the prosaic railway +embankments—were decked with floral colouring, and at Rickmansworth I +had to linger on the platform to take another look at the foliage +heavily shading the old churchyard, and at the distant woods to the +left. When I came back to quarters, after dark, having fished the +river for a few hours, I began to think I might as well have stopped in +London. The fish would not rise that afternoon, and there was but a +beggarly brace in the basket. Some wretch above had been mowing his +lawn and casting the contents of the machine into the stream at regular +intervals. He got rid of his grass, certainly; but this was no gain to +me, whose hooks perseveringly caught the fragments floating by. At +last the grass pest ceased. The mowing man had left his task at six +o'clock, no doubt, and the soft twilight would soon come on—time dear +to anglers. But the cattle had an innings then. During the most +precious hour they waded into the river—higher up, of course—and a +pretty state of discolour they made of it. In this way the first essay +left me abundance of room to hope for the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +Fresh, sweet, and dewy it was at four o'clock on the next morning. The +keeper had told me of a certain upper reach of quiet water where, +during the Mayfly carnival a fortnight before, Mr. Francis Francis had +astonished the natives. As a rule the fishing is not good until the +trout have got well over their Mayfly debauch, but I determined to work +hard, nevertheless, if haply I might experience that traditional +exception by which the rule is proven. The fish in this part, which +was in truth practically a millhead, seemed to be feeding close to the +bank. The first cast secured something—but what was very uncertain. +A trout would not wobble and tug in that sullen, carthorse manner. Lo! +it was a pickerel. A second time, lo! it was a pickerel. The next +fish, however, was a trout—a big and somewhat lazy fellow, who allowed +me to bring him to the top of the water, and to wait (with him well in +hand, however) to see what his next movement would be. As he appeared +to be reticent about troubling me with an orthodox tussle, I gave him +no further grace, but winched him in and netted him out. His colours +faded at once, and the dirty grey mottlings which broke out upon his +sides proclaimed him a degenerate. One other big fellow—they were +each 2 1/2 lb.—went to keep him company, and then, the sun being now +high in heaven, I returned to breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +About three o'clock in the afternoon it was cloudy, and a gentle, +melancholy, sighing west wind wafted to my assistance in the lower +meadows, where the stream is small and typical of perpetual motion. +The keeper and his boy strolled along towards five o'clock, and the +game was by this time so merry that they never left me so long as I +could see to throw a fly. Smooth water or broken, deep or shallow, +alike gave up its increase. The fish were not particular as to the +fly, with the one exception of the black gnat, which they would not as +much as look at. Replace it with a governor or coachman, and they came +with a heartfelt eagerness most charming to behold. As day declined +they rose short, and when the vapours began to distil from the meadows +they retired from business. +</P> + +<P> +The keeper volunteered a statement. He said he would not care to carry +the basket half a dozen miles; whereupon I offered a suggestion. +Acting upon this, he turned the spoil out upon the buttercups. There +were thirty trout, averaging 3/4 lb. each, and not reckoning the +invalid, which came out on the top of the heap, so mottled and dull +that it bore no resemblance to its beautiful associates. The keeper +that night received double largess. I had to exercise much +self-control to keep myself from smiting him familiarly on the back and +executing a Red Indian war dance around the victims. He said he hoped +I would come again to those regions, turned over the coin I gave him, +and intimated that if the trout (which he was now packing neatly into +the creel) were not satisfied with the gentlemanly manner in which they +were treated they would be pleased at nothing. And it was not for me +to dissent or rebuke. +</P> + +<P> +My best-day memory of grayling fishing up to my colonial interlude is +of a wet, muggy November day in Herefordshire. It was late in the +month, and as the previous week had been marked by early frost, the +sere leaves, having lost their grip, were rattling down on the water +with every gust, and, indeed, from the mere weight of the rain. It was +pretty practice, dropping the flies so as to avoid these little +impediments; but it wasted time and strained the temper, for, according +to custom in grayling land at that period, one had attached three or +four flies to the cast, and thereby increased the chances of fouling. +Yet I finished the day with eighteen grayling, to be placed to the +contra account against a most complete soaking. The better fish were +invariably found in the eye or tail of a moderate stream, the rest on +gravelly or sandy shelves where the water was about 2 ft. deep. The +former hooked themselves, taking the fly fairly under water; the latter +came direct to the surface, and demanded careful striking and playing. +</P> + +<P> +Picking my way through a copse where the banks were high, I sat down on +an overhanging rock to rest. When the eye became accustomed to the +water and its buff bed it detected a couple of grayling that had before +escaped notice, so closely were they assimilated in colour to the +ground in which they foraged. Of course, I had always accepted the +teaching of my betters that this fish rises perpendicularly from the +bottom in deep water after the fly, but I had never verified the +statement for myself. I did so now. By proceeding quietly I could +"dib" the fly over the fish. It darted straight upwards, missed, and +descended again. As it seemed uneasy after the exercise I repeated the +experiment, with precisely similar results. The fish, agitating its +fins at the bottom, was evidently excited, perhaps angry, and it +behoved me to restore tranquillity, if possible, to its perturbed +spirit. Instead, therefore, of dibbing, I now allowed the fly to +float, a little submerged, from a couple of yards above the fish, +which, I fear, had never in its youthful days been taught the mystical +proverb, "First, second, but beware of the third." It came up with a +gallant charge, and went down soundly hooked. +</P> + +<P> +There was no possibility of getting the landing net to the water, and +no opportunity of travelling the grayling up or down stream to a +convenient place. I had to make the best of the position, and the best +was the employment of brute force. Hauling up a 1/2-lb. fish bodily a +distance of several feet, when the said fish is held only by a tiny +golden palmer on the finest gut, is not a likely manoeuvre. The +grayling behaved well for a couple of yards or so, and then bethought +himself of plunging, the consequence being that I lost my hook, and he +dropped into a tuft of bracken in a niche below, to die uselessly. +</P> + +<P> +Down in Wessex lies the scene of a memorable day with pike. There were +occasions when I caught more fish at live baiting, but that is a +process of which one ought not to be as proud as of the more +workmanlike method of spinning. This was a spinning day pure and +simple. The sport was good; the adjuncts were enjoyable. It was a +fine lake in an ancient park, and on Guy Fawkes Day I found the autumn +tints such as I have never seen them for magnificence at any other +time. Then I had a comfortable boat, an intelligent keeper to pull it, +and plenty of fresh, medium-sized dace for bait. +</P> + +<P> +The lake, if left to itself, would have been choked with anacharis; but +the proprietor, by means of a machine driven by steam—a sort of +submarine plough—kept certain portions clear. The pike I knew would +not at this time of the year be absolutely amongst the weeds if they +could avoid it, for they prefer cover without a taint of decay; but I +reckoned rightly that I should meet with them in the water lanes +through which the machine had been driven. One large triangle in the +vent of the bait was sufficient tackle. I am not certain that more +elaborate flights are better anywhere; for weedy water I should have no +reservation. From ten o'clock till five, with half an hour for +luncheon, I toiled on, acquired a grand shoulder-ache that lasted me +three days, and covered the bottom of the boat with close upon +three-quarters of a hundred-weight of pike in prime condition. +</P> + +<P> +The largest fish ought to have weighed 20 lb., but it only turned the +scale at 16 lb. According to the recognised rules of the game this +fellow should have been taken in the deepest water; but it was a fish +that could probably afford to set rules at defiance. I struck it, +anyhow, in less than 16 in., and when I least expected it. We had +worked our way to a shallow end of the lake, where the submarine plough +had not ventured, and, observing one clear space in a waste of +anacharis, I threw into and spun across it, moving a fish that went +into the weeds beyond. It went so leisurely, and made so distinct a +track, that I, more out of curiosity than anything else, gave it a +second chance. The bait was for a moment entangled in the weeds, but +was released easily. There was then a sudden splash that could be +heard afar, and a furious running out of line. A salmon would not have +fought more gamely than did this pike during a splendid quarter of an +hour. Another five minutes and it would have been scot-free, for it +was held by one hook only of the triangle. Even this had been much +strained in the tussle, and it came away the moment the gaff was driven +in. +</P> + +<P> +If Nawabs have memories, and the Nawab Nazim of Bengal should to-day be +thinking in his Indian palace, as I am in the Queensland bush, of the +same subject, he will remember that summer day in hay-time when we sat +side by side roach fishing in the Colne, and how we both agreed, after +it was over, that it was the best day's bottom fishing we had ever +enjoyed. He made this admission to me with the gravity natural to an +Oriental potentate; I, not having so many jewels and claims against the +Government on my mind, with, I hope, not unbecoming jubilancy. But we +were both in earnest. The worthy Hindoo and his son were adepts in +this modest branch of the gentle art, and the Nawab, spite of his big +spectacles, could detect a bite as if he had been a roach fisher all +his days. +</P> + +<P> +Any other description of angling would, I presume, have been alien to +the tastes of an Oriental, but this offered a minimum of exertion. I +seated myself a respectable distance above their highnesses, and if now +and then my pricked fish disturbed their "swim," they must admit they +received the full benefit of my ground bait, which, as the balls +gradually dissolved, crept down to sharpen the appetites of the fish +within their sphere. The Nawab used one of those immense bamboo rods, +the sections of which have to be unshipped at the taking of every fish +and whenever rebaiting is necessary. This I am aware is the regulation +mode amongst Thames and Lea roach anglers; but its clumsiness always +forbade my cultivating it. A light rod and fine running line were more +to my fancy, even though I had occasionally to pay for its indulgence +by losses. +</P> + +<P> +On this particular day the roach were, in angler's parlance, "on the +feed"; and the water was of the precise degree of cloudiness suitable +for the operation. The Nawab and his son had selected a reach of water +where the current was sluggish, and they undoubtedly took the finest +roach. I had chosen a favourite swim at the tail of a rapid, and +commanding an eddy, where you could generally make sure of picking up +an odd chub or wandering dace; and it was my fate to have a good deal +of amusement with the latter. A logger-headed chub of 3 lb. or +thereabouts ran down to pay homage to the Nawab, but I contrived to +check its career before it intruded itself into the presence, and the +capture of this fish was watched and criticised with much eagerness by +my neighbours. About three-and-twenty pounds' weight of fish fell to +my share that day, and the distinguished strangers had ten pounds or so +more. Roach fishing is not an exciting phase of sport, but it is by no +means the tame or simple pursuit many persons affect to think it, and +it is not unworthy of the name of high art. Moreover, it is a most +pleasure-yielding occupation, and, amongst London anglers at least, +furnishes, it cannot be denied, the greatest happiness for the greatest +number. +</P> + +<P> +Best-day memories of this fish should assuredly take us back to the +far-off schoolboy times when we used to "snatch a fearful joy" by +surreptitious visits to the mill stream, and when, with a little hazel +rod, length of whipcord, and rude hooks whipped to twisted horsehair, +we would hurry home to breakfast with a dozen roach strung through the +gills upon a twig of osier. They were all best days then. +</P> + +<P> +I should be the most ungrateful of anglers if I did not acknowledge my +indebtedness to the dace. It so happened that, whatever else fortune +denied me, it gave me opportunities, of which I could without hardship +avail myself, for dace fishing; and, whatever sins of omission I may in +my old age have to bring forward in self-accusation, I shall never be +able to plead guilty to neglecting any opportunities soever in the +matter of angling. For the dace, therefore, as a fish whose merits I +have appreciated from youth upwards, I entertain great respect. There +is no dulness about it. Go down to the fords where the dace are +gathered, and you shall see the water boiling with their gambols, and +shooting silver as they wheel and frisk about. Take them under any +circumstances, so long as they are in season, and they always impress +you with their liveliness of character. The roach in biting sometimes +scarcely moves the quill float; the dace startles you by its sudden, +sharp onslaught. A roach firmly hooked ought never to be lost; it +requires a dexterous hand to pilot a dace safely out of a rapid +current—that is to say, a dace of two or three to the pound. +</P> + +<P> +And the dace is deserving of respect because it will honestly take the +fly. True, the roach does so too, occasionally; but the dace, any time +between June and September, rises regularly. We used to get them in +the Colne considerably over 1/2 lb. in weight, and an afternoon's +perseverance and a little wading would, in favourable weather, put from +twenty to thirty fish into your basket. But it is questionable whether +this can be done now. Many a pleasant evening have I spent by +Thames-side, beginning at Ham Lane and working upwards, or crossing the +river below Richmond bridge; fishing always with fine tackle and a +black gnat somewhere on the footline. +</P> + +<P> +The finest bit of sport I had with dace was in a mill stream a couple +of miles out of Norwich. It was specially welcome because quite +unexpected. We were on a pike-fishing excursion, and the fly rod was +put into the dog-cart to provide bait for the party. The great mill +wheel was revolving, and the pool swirling and foaming, when we +arrived, and a few small fish could be detected in the shallow water. +The general outlook was not inviting, but the apparatus was put +together on the chance of things proving better than they looked. +Chance favoured us. The first cast produced a dace on each hook, and +in a quarter of an hour I had whipped out a good supply of bait for the +trollers and spinners. So long as the dace were rising all the pike in +the river could not tempt me to accompany them. I stuck to the +whipping, and only left off when I was too tired to wield the rod any +more. +</P> + +<P> +But enough. It would not be difficult to call up best-day memories of +gudgeon, of bleak, and even minnows; of tench, and carp, and bream. +The moment for my departure, however, has come. The little mare is +ready, the notebook must be closed. There are fifteen miles to be +disposed of before dark, and darkness will be upon us in a couple of +hours. I can continue my soliloquising as I canter through the bush; +there will be no one to disturb me or ridicule me, unless, indeed, the +bird named the laughing jackass should make the woods echo with his +idiotic chuckle, or the parrots should scream their harsh derision. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +WITH VERDANT ALDERS CROWN'D +</H3> + +<P> +If you will step across to your bookshelf and take down that volume of +Pope's miscellaneous works, you will find the fable of Lodona, and the +words which I borrow for a heading. The little man so wrote of the +River Loddon, which he quite correctly described also as slow. The +Loddon is scarcely a river of itself to inspire a poem, being without +cataracts going down to Lodore, not being mountain born, nor overlooked +by crag and summit; but it is in an especial degree the kind of stream +which pastoral poets have from time immemorial loved to bring in as an +indispensable adjunct. Almost any portion of the country watered by +this river might have yielded the scenes of the immortal Elegy in a +country churchyard, though you may remember that Gray does not in the +poem make mention of a river, and only introduces the rill, and "the +brook that babbles by" as the habitual resort of the youth whom +melancholy marked for her own. But I have heard the curfew toll the +knell of parting day while watching the float, have marked the beetle +wheel his droning flight (half inclined to chase him to tempt the +wayward chub), and have looked upon the lowing herds winding slowly +o'er the lea as the signal for bringing the day's delights to a close +by winding up my fishing line. +</P> + +<P> +"Sweet native stream," Warton calls the Loddon, and that is just the +association one familiar with its meads and wooded banks would bear +with him in a cherished corner of memory. For the ordinary angler +perhaps the river is a trifle too much with "alders crown'd." On the +contrary, to the person who can command the use of a boat, and drop +down upon the lazy current with a long line ahead of him, those dense +defences of the bank become conservators of sport. They are better +than a keeper, for they are always there, and cannot by any bribe be +seduced from their duty. And more than any other tree the alder is the +familiar companion of the angler. Upon some rivers the willow would +contest the position, perhaps, but Fate demands that it should run to +pollard, and so get too high up in the world to be a close companion to +man. +</P> + +<P> +We always make friends with the somewhat prosaic and even sombre alder, +and, in return, it always has something to show us. All through the +autumn and winter it makes as goodly a display as it can with its long +barren catkins; in the spring it is thick with the queer black little +husks; and in the summer and autumn its defects of shape in the matter +of branches are hidden by close, dark, glossy leaves, which sturdily +hold on when others have been snatched and scattered. And does not an +old poet ascribe to our alder the quality of protector to other growths? +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The alder, whose fat shadow nourisheth—<BR> +Each plant set neere to him long flourisheth.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But it is interesting to remember that a still older poet had his eye +on the alder, and it is a pretty conceit in which Virgil fixes upon its +wood as the origin of shipbuilding. The timber is so easily worked and +so handy that it might well have been actually used by primitive man +when the gods prodded him on to activity and invention by piling up +obstacles and difficulties in his path. Virgil, therefore, had fair +warrant for +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Then first on seas the hollowed alder swam.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Spinning tackle and fly casts have I left upon alder bushes of a score +of streams, but instead of bearing it any ill-will I hereby offer it +humble and sincere homage, especially as in my early days of fly +fishing I, in honest faith and unbroken conviction, used one of its +juicy leaves for straightening the gut collar. +</P> + +<P> +The Loddon, if not important as a navigable stream, or as busy as other +rivers in the service of the miller, does a fair share of steady work. +Rising in the North Hampshire downs near Basingstoke, the river runs +through historical country. Cromwell's troopers, for instance, during +the siege of Basing would no doubt water their horses in the fords of +the Loddon, and Clarendon, who wrote the history of that rebellion, +lived at Swallowfield. Near this village, almost within our own times, +lived Mary Russell Mitford, whose delightful book, <I>Our Village</I>, +neglected for years and almost forgotten, has set sail again before the +favouring breeze of the cheap edition. She wrote her sketches at Three +Mile Cross, some two miles from Swallowfield, and I refer to them +because in the little volume you have faithful scenic pictures of the +Loddon country. I have also a personal story to tell, to wit: On +returning from one of my visits to Loddon-side I secured through an old +friend of Miss Mitford a note in her handwriting, and was not a little +impressed and amused on discovering that the envelope in which it was +inclosed had been previously used and turned no doubt by the lady +herself. It was only by accident—so neatly had the operation been +performed—that I saw inside the original address, "Miss Mitford, Three +Mile Cross, Reading, Berks." Soon after leaving Swallowfield, the +Loddon, passing Arborfield Hurst and Twyford, yields up its life to the +Thames by way of a modest delta. +</P> + +<P> +Are there anywhere in England larger chub than those of the Loddon? It +is not to be supposed that the alders extend their fattening influence +to the fish as well as to the plants; but its existence in bush form, +and in the serried ranks to which I have above referred, undoubtedly +favours the long life of this shy fish. He lies under its overhanging +boughs out of the way of even the most daring long corker, and from the +leaves during the hot summer days drop unceasing relays of luscious +insect food. The Loddon chub are nevertheless extremely voracious at +odd times. Pike fishermen often get them with both live and dead bait, +and I myself in the unregenerate days of trolling took a big one with +gorge bait. An honest-minded chub may anywhere be expected to be led +astray by a prettily-vestured minnow, and there is no disgrace +attaching to its character if it allows itself to be seduced by a +well-spun gudgeon; but to tackle a 4-oz. dead roach, and be +ignominiously finished off by a coarse gorge hook, is not exactly what +one looks for. Yet this frequently occurred on the Loddon. +</P> + +<P> +I rather suspect I had an experience in this direction. A kind friend +had invited me to spend a day on the Loddon, not very far from that +same Swallowfield of which I have been sentimentalising. We drove in +the fresh autumn morning along the charming country road, inhaling the +balm of the pines and watching the graceful squirrels at their +after-breakfast antics in the oaks. And we congratulated ourselves +upon the prospect. There was a little rime on the grass, for I had +left town by gaslight, but all other conditions were as favourable as +if they had been made to order. There were plenty of bait and a boat +at our disposal. +</P> + +<P> +My kind friend pointed with a warm smile to a snug hamper in the +carriage. The world under these circumstances looked fair. We noticed +the yellow mottlings of autumnal decay on the chestnut trees and elms, +the ruddier shade of the beeches; we discussed the failure of the +blackberry crop, and pretended to knowledge about turnips. Thus, +interchanging thoughts, we arrived at the Loddon, to find a deep, dirty +brown colour. The world then was not so fair. It was a miserable +disappointment, in short, and we had to make the best of it. We found +a few jack by trolling in the eddies close to the bank, but the day was +to all intents and purposes a blank. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon my friend pulled me upstream that I might find quiet +corners and the very off-chance of a jack. At one part there was a +break in my friends, the alders, and a scoop in the bank where the +water was deep. Discreetly and naturally I dropped the dead bait, and +on the instant it was grabbed and worried. My first impression was +that it was a perch. I have known a big perch seize a large bait and +shake it in that dog-like fashion, and that impression was confirmed +when, instead of the strong run of a straightforward jack, the seizure +was followed by jerky movements and very little running out of line. +It was no more than I expected that the bait should be by and by +impudently deserted. Its head I found to have been savagely bitten +half through. From the size of the semi-circular gash the chub or +perch, whatever it might happen to be, was no youngster. +</P> + +<P> +Upon reflection, and upon re-examination of the wound, my friend, who +was an experienced Loddon angler, agreed with me that the fish was a +chub. The leather mouth proper of the cheven, chavender, skelly, or +chub, scientifically known as <I>Leuciscus cephalus</I>, is, as the angler +knows, or should know, without teeth, but if you will have the goodness +to push your finger down the throat of a freshly-caught three- or +four-pounder, you will be more than likely to discover that nature has +furnished this innocent-looking member of the carp family with two rows +of very decent lacerators. The best result nevertheless of that day's +fishing was the receipt in a letter two days later of a specimen of the +showy yellow leopard's bane from my friend. We had pointed out to each +other solitary wildflowers left alone to tell of a summer that was +past, and he had found this somewhat sparingly-located bloom two months +overdue for its grave. +</P> + +<P> +So many years have passed since I fished Loddon and St. Patrick's +stream that I will not be tempted to lead anyone astray by pretending +to prescribe, advise, or dogmatise. It was not first-rate in the days +of my personal knowledge, but it yielded then as now tolerable coarse +fishing, pike and perch being the standing dish; and there are deep, +slow-going lengths, natural haunts of heavy roach. A brother angler +who knows the river thoroughly had a curious theory about the Loddon +perch. With minnow or worm, he truly said, for I can corroborate him, +"any quantity" of perch of 1/2 lb. or 3/4 lb. might be caught; but +there was also another set of fish of 1 1/2 lb. and upwards—not, of +course, of a distinct breed, but still distinct from the smaller grade +just mentioned. These rarely took a minnow, but a gudgeon on the +paternoster, and on the upper hook thereof, frequently proved fatal to +a two-pounder. One July, within my own remembrance, a splendid fellow +of 3 lb. 2 oz. was taken with a lob-worm from one of the Loddon +milltails. +</P> + +<P> +Much of the Loddon is private fishing, as it has always been, but there +are still portions accessible to the public. The Loddon is closely +associated with the good work done in the whole of that district for +preservation in the interests of the angler, and at one time the +Reading and Henley Associations jointly rented the length from the +Great Western Railway to the Thames (including the St. Patrick stream) +with the object of preservation as a breeding ground for Thames fish. +A change in riparian ownership put an end to this arrangement, but +anglers generally should never forget the time, labour, and enthusiasm +devoted to Thames, Loddon, and Kennet preservation by a band of +workers, amongst whom I must include as one of the invaluables the +friend once or twice referred to in the foregoing notes—Mr. A. C. +Butler, of the <I>Reading Mercury</I>. In his own district his is a +household name, and in many a metropolitan club "Old Butler of Reading" +has been familiar for many years as one of those quiet helpers of the +cause who work for the sheer love of it. +</P> + +<P> +Once upon a time when there was no talk of changes, and no great demand +for them, the fishing of the Thames district was the bulk of "Angling" +in the columns of the <I>Field</I> and <I>Bell's Life</I>, which then almost +alone made a serious subject of fishing, and amongst the men who wrote +were Greville F., Brougham, and Butler, who was for years and years the +<I>Field</I> correspondent long after the others had passed away. As a man +barely in his sixties one ought not to dub him a veteran, but for all +that he is one of the old guard of angling correspondents and +provincial journalists. In a letter from him a week or two since he +regrets that rheumatism and journalistic duties have interfered with +his outings, but still cheerily mentions "a measly half gross of +gudgeon" at Mapledurham, and the year before last he adds "with water +dead stale, we had about the same number of gudgeon, and quite sixty +roach from 1/2 lb. to 1 1/4 lb." And yet they tell us that the Thames +is played out! +</P> + +<P> +Three days since I saw a colleague who was going to the City to see a +1/4-lb. roach which had been taken out of the Thames in a bucket at +London Bridge the day before. It should be stated that Mr. Butler was +with "John Bickerdyke," now in South Africa, and A. E. Hobbs, the hon. +secretary, founders of the Henley Association, and co-workers in other +directions with his friends, James Henry Clark, Bowdler Sharpe, Thurlow +of Wycombe, and many another. He founded the Reading and District +Angling Association in 1877, and practically ran it during its +successful career; it ended three years ago, but its work remains in +the head of fish in the district and a thorough loyalty amongst the +working men's clubs which he helped to start and establish. Mr. +Butler, too, was the prime mover in stocking the Thames in the Reading +district with two- and three-year old trout, buying and bringing the +fish from High Wycombe. I know and appreciate his voluntary work for +anglers and am glad of an opportunity of recording it. +</P> + +<P> +Might one trespass so far on the reader's patience as to return to the +inspiration of the beginning of this sketch for a conclusion? The +remark of which I would deliver myself is that the artificiality of +which the poet Pope is accused in his natural scenery generally applies +to his references to sport. He is more sympathetic with his anglers +than with his fowlers, but neither appears to kindle the fire as in the +lines in which he traces the name of the Loddon to Lodona, the fabled +nymph of Diana. Pan's chase of the hapless nymph through Windsor +Forest calling in vain for aid upon Father Thames is full of spirit, +and he aptly justifies the name of Loddon— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +She said, and melting as in tears she lay,<BR> +In a soft silver stream dissolv'd away,<BR> +The silver stream her virgin coldness keeps,<BR> +For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps;<BR> +Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore<BR> +And bathes the forest where she rang'd before.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It is in "Windsor Forest" that many lines are found by which Pope is +perhaps alone remembered by many sportsmen. The references to the +well-breathed beagles and the circling hare are happy, and very +characteristic of the poet's telling style in the couplet in brackets. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Beasts, urged by us, their fellow beasts pursue,<BR> +And learn of man each other to undo.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Equally characteristic of his defects are the shooting touches in which +the "unwearyd fowler" is introduced, with the "leaden death" of the +"clam'rous lapwings," and the "mounting larks." The glimpse of lonely +woodcocks haunting the watery glade is sufficiently apt, but let the +shooting man stand at attention when grandiloquently informed. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye;<BR> +Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Ten lines further in the poem stands the picture which endears Pope to +anglers for all time, and which need only be indicated, as in the hymn +books, with the first line: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The patient fisher takes his silent stand.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A FIRST SPRINGER AND SOME OTHERS +</H3> + +<P> +There is no specific virtue that I ever heard of in a first anything, +yet you very often hear of it as a remembrance that may be pleasant, +and is often otherwise. The sportsman is as prone as anyone to such +references, and I defy the fishing or shooting editors of the <I>Field</I> +to count off-hand the number of MSS. that they receive headed first +salmon, first tiger, first pheasant, or first something. At this +moment I seem to have a better understanding of the reason. The +heading is used to get rid of the difficulty as to what exactly would +be better, and in much the same way as A. is made a member of the +Cabinet lest there should be awkwardness over the claims of B. and C. +My choice of a title of this sketch is not precisely so to be +explained. I simply plead sequence. +</P> + +<P> +In a previous chapter I wrote of my first Tweed salmon, and in this +chapter there is no reason why I should not fall back upon the dear old +formula for a reminiscence of the Tay. The emphasis should be on +"springer," for I went northwards with a desire to catch one that had +taken the form of a longing, a yearning for many successive seasons. +Besides, it was February, when the springer is prized more positively +than at a more advanced period of the spring. You will probably get a +dozen kelts to one springer, and the fish, therefore, is in the +category of the important. By the river report of last Saturday I see +that Lord Northcliffe (who will always be Alfred Harmsworth to the +republic of the pen, and who always has been a keen and travelled +angler) has been rewarded with four salmon, and congratulate while I +envy him. In truth, it was this statement in the report that forced me +to forget this miserable weather by catching my first springer over +again as fondly remembered. +</P> + +<P> +The seeker for the springer has not a little call upon endurance, not +the least being in the uncertainty of the conditions. How well I know +what it means on those beats above Perth when in sleet and gale the +river is 15 ft. above the normal, flooding the Inch levels at the +beginning of the season, as happened in the early days of this season. +In my case the uncertainty was so felt and protracted before starting +on my journey. You can understand probably that the feeling of the man +who is ready for the summons, yet who is put off by telegrams and +letters day after day, gets at last beyond longing; it works up into a +sort of innocent fury. An old angler, hampered for many a season, and +finding freedom at last, consoles himself with the reflection that +passion, too much intenseness about such a matter, will trouble his +philosophy never more. Yet one morning he is swept off his feet. A +kindly friend has days of salmon fishing for him; fish have run up and +are plentiful; he need but wait the signal, and go. What, in all +reasonable conscience, could be nicer? But how true it is that there +is nothing in life so certain as its uncertainty! Day succeeds day in +the customary fashion, and the expected summons cometh not. Those days +on fine beats that were set apart for you pass in flood; you tick them +off as materials for the book you mean to write on "Chances that I have +Missed." +</P> + +<P> +"She rose 2 ft. yesterday, but better wait," had wired my friend, and +in due time I find that on that very day the man who took my place +killed three fish. When I hastened down to the bridge on my arrival to +see how she was, the river, which had risen strongly as soon as that +three-hour, three-salmon man had got off the beat, had fallen to a +point between impossibilities and chances. And the wind had slewed +round from south-west to west, with a flirting to north. Here was +another day, if not lost, certainly without fishing. +</P> + +<P> +Having looked at the river and read my fate in the heavy stream—a +mighty race of water, 400 yards from bank to bank—I sought the sight +of some salmon, and went to the fish house. The quick returns had not +come in that morning, but there were about a hundred salmon laid out on +the floor ready for prompt dispatch to market. They averaged 20 lb., +but, silvery as they all were, I could pick out the few that had come +in that morning. There was one lovely she-fish of about 23 lb., with a +ventral fin literally as purple as the dorsal of a grayling, and for +suggestions of pearls and opals, maiden blushes, and the like, nothing +could have been more perfect than the sheen of this Tay salmon. In +another hour the glory would have faded away. And all those fish had +been taken by the net. The angler who was lusting for one of them +under his rod spake not, and went away sorrowful. +</P> + +<P> +But, after all, what would the morrow bring forth? The great river was +running down, the night was fair, and there was hope—for the glass was +rising, and the wind really had been good enough to get out of the +south. As a matter of history, the morrow promised fair things, though +I went forth in fear and trembling. The miry ways of the past month +had given way to a frost, and we walked across to the station on frozen +puddles. Exhilaration was in the air. The glass showed half an inch +to the good since last night. Our gillie, who met us at Stanley +station, admitted this; yes, but 2 ft. less of water would warrant +better confidence. And that was sensible Scottish caution. We got +down to the river, and, though the colour was not bad, she was too big +and strong. +</P> + +<P> +The prospect of even a happening fish was of the poorest. To be brief, +the odd fish did not come my way, and there's an end on't. Only two +pools were fishable. No boat could be worked in any other part. If I +say I fished every inch of the water, first with fly, and then with a +small dace spun from the Malloch reel, I simply state facts. Over the +pool did I patiently fish with Nicholson and Dusty Miller of large +size, and a second time with the spinning bait. Two fish showed during +the day, a shockingly black beggar of not less than 30 lb. which jumped +out of the water, and another kelt which plunged out of range. It was +an absolute blank, and a fall of snow before I caught my train was +ominous. There had been a flood of 15 ft. (a favourite figure +apparently on that Tay gauge) and it takes any river a long time to +settle down, and the fish to resume their ordinary habits, after such +riotous excess. Still, I had enjoyed a downright hard day's work, and +had deserved the success which was denied. The position, therefore, +was—Friday, Saturday, and Monday lost through the unfishable condition +of the river, and just a chance on Wednesday if there was no further +rise of water. +</P> + +<P> +Wednesday was sunny, and the water had fallen about a foot during the +night, so that Tay ought soon to be in ply, for another frost occurred +in the night, and the snow did not appear to be serious. The order of +the head boatman was for harling. You have two boatmen on this river, +and they had to exert themselves to the utmost to handle her with so +heavy a current. It was my first experience of systematic harling. +The rods are out at the stern of the boat, and the angler sits on a +cross seat facing them, and so placed that he can lay hands upon either +in an instant. Three greenheart rods of about 16 ft. are displayed +fanwise; that is to say, there is a rod in the middle extended straight +forwards, the rods right and left slant outwards, and they are kept in +position by a contrivance in the bottom of the boat into which the +button of each rod handle fits, and by grooves on the gunwale on either +side in which the rod rests and is kept at the proper angle. The butts +of these rods are close together in these appointed niches under the +seat in the bottom of the boat, and the points are naturally right, +left and centre, widely separated. The fourth rod in this boat was a +single piece of greenheart, 6 ft. in length, but admirably made, and in +thickness was something like the second joint of an ordinary salmon +rod. The workmanship was so good that it was a perfect miniature. +This is the rod that is used for a spinning bait, and is placed at the +angler's left hand. It was equipped with a sand eel and the gay little +metal cap with flanges, which was invented by Mr. Malloch to facilitate +the spinning. The 3 in. flies we used were Jock Scott, Nicholson (a +favourite Tay fly), and Black Dog. +</P> + +<P> +The two men settled to their oars, and I sat before my rods ready to +play upon them as occasion arose. We had not been under way five +minutes, and I had not finished wondering how the Tom Thumb rod would +behave at a crisis, when a sudden test was applied. The winch sang +out, and I had the rod up and under mastery in the twinkling of an eye, +with the fish running smartly and pulling hard. Meanwhile, the head +boatman winched up the other lines and gave me a fair field of action. +The fish was evidently not enamoured of that delicate sand eel, for +there was a good deal of head shaking for a few minutes. Presently the +boat touched shore, and I had by then discovered that the little rod +was as good as an 18-footer, and more powerful in holding a salmon than +many of full length which I have used. The fight was a good one, +though I stuck to my policy of a pound per minute, and it was good to +know that it was a clean fish. This was my first springer, and the +poor chap had been badly mutilated by a seal in the sea not many days +ago, yet they told me that it is no uncommon thing to have salmon so +wounded taking freely. +</P> + +<P> +Once more on board our lugger, we zigzagged on our course, the men +pulling with regular stroke, and though they row sturdily the boat is +merely held, and drops down rather than advances. If salmon are not in +the humour harling presents the elements of monotony, and the wise plan +seems to me not to think of the rods, nor look at them, nor wonder +which will be first in action. Such were my thoughts, and I laid out a +line of thought as a corrective. Thud, thud, go the oars, steadily +nodding by the movement of the waves go the rod tops. Aye, hours of +this would suggest a certain sameness, probably. And then came the +startling moment that is so delicious, the jump of the flat pebble off +the line pulled out upon the bottom boards, the rattle of the check, +the strong curve of the rod. It all takes place in a swift moment. +You are on your feet and playing your fish as if by instinct. The Jock +Scott had attracted this fish, and the familiar process was +followed—the stepping ashore, the retreat up the bank backwards, the +rod well curved all the while, and the fish held hard, since there was +doubly rapid water below, and it must be kept sternly in hand. The +gillie did not take up the gaff now, and my hopes were dashed, for it +meant that he had recognised a kelt, which must be tailed. And it was +tailed, and being freed from the hook was not slow in shooting into the +depths. The fish was well mended, and would be taken by most people +for a clean salmon. The expert can, on the contrary, deliver judgment +at a glance. +</P> + +<P> +There remained another hour before luncheon, and the time was not +wholly uneventful; at any rate, there were little thrills. A decided +pull happened to the Black Dog rod, but the fish was away before I +could take it up. A similar bit of frivolity was practised by another +fish ten minutes later at my middle rod, which, I forgot to say, had +brought the well-mended kelt to bank. Going to land for the midday +rest, as it was not quite one o'clock, I put up a rod which I wished to +try, and proposed to warm myself with a little casting. The second +cast rose a fish close to the bank, and, after allowing the usual time +for restoration to confidence, out went the Nicholson, and very bravely +did that noble fly work round, swimming, I could swear, on an even +keel, and shaking its finery all around in the water. The fly did not +reach the fish which had risen, because another was before him, and I +knew that the hook had gone home. We thought this was a good fish, and +fresh run, albeit he lay low and confined his movements to a small +area. Alas! it was kelt number two, and not more than 10 lb. at that. +All the same, I had landed three fish of sorts by one o'clock, and +enjoyed minor sensations. +</P> + +<P> +There was no more fun. We had heard that 3 in. of snow had fallen in +the hills a few miles up, and the sun of the forenoon had no doubt +melted it. We harled for two hours, and with neither pull nor sign of +fish. To-morrow ought to bring the river into fair order; though, even +so, a foot less would be more to my mind. +</P> + +<P> +The next day opened with a heavy storm of wet snow, and this continued, +with intervals of sleet, till the afternoon. It was not expected that +this would put the river up, and she was in fact falling very slowly. +At this point, however, every inch of drop is to the good. I landed +six fish that day, only one a springer. The boats had done better in +the reaches where the clean fish lie in such high water, and two +gentlemen at night brought into Malloch's five grand springers, caught +on the beat which was to have been mine on Friday. The Tay still +remained a foot too heavy: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Strong without rage,<BR> +Without o'erflowing full.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +The novel experience (to me) of salmon fishing in a heavy snowstorm is +worth a few words of amplification, for all new experiences add to the +interest of the game. It was snowing at breakfast time, and Mr. +Malloch was so kind as to snatch a day from the demands of his own +affairs to share my boat, and from the way he and the boatmen took the +storm as a simple matter of course—indeed, as not calling of a casual +comment—I take it that up here, at the foot of the Grampians, they are +used to this sort of pleasure. But sea and fresh water anglers all +over the world need not be reminded that a wet boat is an abomination; +what, then, must it be when it is caused by hours of snowfall, large +flakes softly wet? Everything gets drenched and sopping, and it really +appeared as if these white hazelnut flakes were possessed by an elfish +desire to baffle your most careful efforts to keep them out. My +waterproof bag was to the human eye impervious; but there was one +unnoticed opening not an inch long by half an inch wide, and the flakes +discovered it at once. There was a japanned metal fly box upon which +they might have had their will, but that was not sufficient; they fixed +upon the soft leather wallet with the precious gut casts, and made a +much too successful attack upon the paper packet of sandwiches. At the +waterside I had looked at my companions, expecting them to cry off; as +I said before, however, this almost blinding snow was merely ordinary +business, and I huddled down in my place, thankful that there was no +cold wind, no wind at all, to drive the trial home. +</P> + +<P> +We were soon turning to shore with our first fish, and I was grateful +for the stout arm and shoulders of the friendly skipper, who helped me +out of the slippery boat, up and up to a standing point on the more +slippery bank. On this beat the banks were awkward, high, and backed +by copse, so that you stood amongst undergrowth, and this was a very +different thing from the gentle slopes of clear sward. It came all +right, nevertheless; in life generally the wind undoubtedly very often, +if we had but the common gratitude to think so, is tempered to the +shorn lamb. Wherefore the old bell wether got through these trifles +without a tumble. The incidents that had to be deplored were what the +salmon fisherman calls the kelt nuisance. We had it in liberal +allowance this day. It would be wearisome to enter into details of the +successive happenings so great is their family resemblance. +</P> + +<P> +The first landing was to get rid of a kelt; and in all, if I may +anticipate, we had five of them—a small fish of, say, 6 lb., and the +rest between 12 lb. and 15 lb. Now and again with the kelts you have a +positive fight, but as a rule they hang on and move tardily, yet +without risk of smashing something you cannot hasten the finale. At +the worst they are a little better than pike. The one bonny spring +fish was an absolute contrast, though of course even clean salmon in +February are not so defiant and reckless in their defiance as they are +months later. Let us still be thankful; a kelt is better than nothing, +a spring fish is welcome, and we must be content with such chances as +we can obtain. +</P> + +<P> +Consider the time consumed on a short winter day by six landings. +There is the getting in the other lines by winching them up, making +bait and fly fast to the winch bar, rowing to shore, sometimes from the +middle of a 200 yards' river, and securing adequate foothold ashore. +The fish is to be firmly controlled with a bent rod all the while, and +when he comes in there is no decisive finish with the cleek, since your +kelt must have his freedom unharmed if possible. The dexterity with +which the boatmen carry out these operations is marvellous, the result +of being masters of their calling combined with long practice; also +because they have the soul of the sportsman almost to a man. The cost +of six landings, in fact, works out at nearly half an hour a time, and +the reward on this particular day was one good fish of 18 lb., which +had taken a Black Dog. The flies were most attractive, and there were +some pulls at tails of bait or feathers, two or three rises, and a +respectable fish which remained for five minutes on one of the baits. +By a pull, let me explain, I mean the rattle of the reel for a fraction +of a minute, a sharp dip of the rod top, and the bait or fly resuming +its progress "as you were." +</P> + +<P> +To end this narrative I must not forget the novel effect of the snow +clinging to the tree tops. The firs high up the steeps on either side +for a couple of hours looked as if they had burst into rich white +blossom in full bearing. The small sleet, which followed in the +afternoon as a natural fizzling out of the storm, and a warm wind +quickly did their duty, and we had the pleasure of seeing the pines +shed their blossoms before our eyes; they fell with melancholy drip +down to the carpets of rotting leaves, leaving the trees to their +funereal winter black. +</P> + +<P> +One other musing of the day. There is a legend in Nithsdale that Burns +used to go a-fishing when he lived at Dumfries. If so, it is quite +possible that his famous poetic idea came to him one day while fishing, +perhaps with a brother exciseman: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And like a snowflake on the river,<BR> +One moment here, then gone for ever.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Friday brought a contrast indeed. A sharp frost hardened up the +country during the night—and the sun rose boldly into a cloudless sky +without any shilly-shally before nine o'clock. It was along iron-bound +roads, with the meltings of yesterday converted to ice, that I drove to +my allotted beat. There was a wonderful change from yesterday; the +golden plover on the flats were not briskly moving on the moistening +turf as before, though flocks of woodpigeons were astir. The pure +snow, which remained on the low land, was crisp and sparkling, +diamonding a fair white world. The river had fallen, of course, since +the snow of yesterday had made no difference. The evidence was plain +enough. You read it in the green margin glistening against the snow +line sinuously left along the banks. Tay looked beautifully black, +moreover, and the boatmen said "They ought to come." But I never knew +salmon take properly till a frosty day has well advanced. On this +bright day I resolved to try to write up my notes, in the fervent hope +that every good sentence would be spoiled by a summons from one of the +four rods of which I was in command. For one hour my pencil wrought +without a pause, and delightful it was under the sunshine to indite to +the steady strokes of two pair of oars, the rhythmic swish of the +water, now tranquilly flowing, and easy for all of us. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately our most unlikely water came first, and all the while the +frost would be getting out of the water. It was a very heavy reach, +and Tay was still too big for such; fish would be lying lower down, and +those that we were rowing over would not take well. Those five lovely +springers that I mentioned before must have come out of a particularly +favourable stretch. That is part of the glorious uncertainty of it +all. The boat of to-day, for example, accounted yesterday for one +solitary kelt, though it had shared our experience of futile pulls and +visible rises in the afternoon. Now if—— Ah! The shrill tongue of +Tom Thumb's reel gave a welcome view holloa (half-past eleven) and the +sentence I was pencilling remains unfinished. I have forgotten what it +would have been. By this time the motions of a kelt had become +familiar, and I liked not the docility with which this fellow allowed +himself to be towed to land, nor his inertness when I had him in grip +afterwards. My verdict I gave in a look at the headman, and his +confirmation of my unspoken thought was, "Yes; he's too quiet." Yet it +was a long while before I could get him up sufficiently for recognition +beyond doubt; that accomplished, it was short shrift. He was lifted +into the boat by the tail, the triangles came out easily under the +knife, and off went a well-mended fish of about 13 lb. That is to say, +I call him a fish; the boatmen decline to render even this nominal +honour, and I appear in the returns of yesterday as having killed one +fish, whereas I had landed half a dozen. +</P> + +<P> +And now followed an unproductive hour, at the end of which there were +two ineffectual pulls, one at the Nicholson fly, the other a second or +two later at the bait. The former was not enough to rattle off the +stone from the loop of line; the latter ran out a yard and merely +ticked the winch. The sunshine was not treating us as handsomely as +the snowstorm, for by this time yesterday we had brought off three +engagements. However, the day was not over, and we landed for lunch, +believing that better fortune would be vouchsafed—lunch, too, in open, +warm sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +Harling and the notebook were resumed, and lest we should settle down +too readily to monotony, a flutter down stream betrayed the whereabouts +of the Black Dog, betrayed also a wretched little kelt (about 5 lb.), +called in these parts a "kelt grilse." So far had I noted when the +left rod, upon which the fly had been replaced by a sand eel, strained +for a gallant run. Down on the thwart went book, pencil, and +spectacles, and I had an exciting five minutes in midstream with an +undoubted "fish." He fought like a Trojan—and then the line fell +slack. The fish was off. How do they escape from these triangles? +Caught lightly by one hook, I suppose, and, as a result, an easily +broken hold. +</P> + +<P> +The sun was for a couple of hours too bright, and four o'clock came +with nothing to record. Only one hour left. Then a succession of +short runs from non-fastening fish, and one lightly hooked on the fly, +which came away at the initiatory tightening. By now half an hour +remained, and an exciting finish consumed it. I do not admit that it +was wasted; I only mean that "fish" was not the cause. Kelts were. +The centre rod with the Black Dog briskly rang me up, and I leaped to +the call with "Got him!" "So have I," cried the head man. Tom Thumb +had found a fish, and we were each busy for a while. The men had all +they could do to get the boat to land and winch in the two loose lines. +But it was done, as usual, promptly and cleverly. I was too intent +upon my own fish, the heaviest I had battled with that day, to see how +it was done; suffice that there was no hitch. We both stepped ashore. +The head man worked his fish above me, and, it being a small +10-pounder, soon threw it in again, and his mate was free to come down +to me. We all knew it was a kelt, and get him to spurt or be lively I +could not. He lay low and solid till patience had done its perfect +work, and in he came. There was an end of my back-ache when the rod +and I could straighten ourselves and leave the men to tail out the +fish. They hurled him in regardless of his feelings, and, indeed, like +gentlemen whose honour had been sorely wounded. +</P> + +<P> +"Eighteen pounds, wasn't he?" I ventured to remark very humbly as they +turned their contemptuous back on the fish floundering awhile in the +shallow. "Weel, saxteen punds, maybe," was the reply. These kelts, +anyhow, left us no time for further operations. The sun had been so +effective that it had changed the outlook all around in a few hours by +restoring the land to its original green and brown. Business done, as +"Toby, M.P.," puts it—four landings, six pulls, two fish hooked and +lost, one of them, of course, the fish of this or any other season. I +shall always maintain it was a "fish." That night I had a chat with a +brother angler, who had made a grand bag, and he introduced me to his +friend who had enjoyed the success of the novice in killing a beautiful +fish of 22 lb. +</P> + +<P> +There was not long to wait on Saturday morning. The first line to be +put out was at the left hand, baited with sand eel, and I had barely +touched the next to lift it from its groove when the winch at the left +screamed as if hurt. The fish was on, but it was proclaimed at once an +insignificant one. Still, the rites and ceremonies must be duly +observed; the boat must go to shore, the angler must step over the +thwarts and stand on <I>terra firma</I>. All this trouble for a kelt of +about 6 lb. After the lapse of an hour Tom Thumb gave signal. The +gudgeon, which had a wobbling spin, had been touched twice already by +short comers; now it was fairly taken just as the boat was turned on +its zigzag course. For anything I could feel it might be a trout. It +ran out a few yards, and meekly came in to slow winching. The same +lack of spirit was maintained even when I landed, but a surprise came +as I retired further up the brae, for the fish sharply resented the +liberty I was taking with him, as if he objected to my contempt. In +truth, he inspired my respect during the next ten minutes—ran across +and down, and generally bucked up, as a modern school miss would say. +He gave up dawdling, and fought it out briskly. By and by we got a +glimpse of a flash of silver, and it was an undoubted fish. The gaff, +which I had not seen yesterday, now appeared, and the second boatman +stood by with the priest to administer the quietus to a lovely spring +salmon of 17 lb. +</P> + +<P> +Within a quarter of an hour I was rudely roused from a reading of <I>The +Fair Maid of Perth</I> by the sand eel rod to the left, and here was a +fish powerful and alert from the start. He was held hard, but took out +line persistently; if I winched up a few yards they were torn angrily +off again. And so the contest was maintained, and intensified when I +stood on the turfy slope. It was encouraging to see the men step forth +with gaff and priest again. For twenty minutes the salmon kept down +and never quiet, and then very slowly I winched up the fifty yards +which had been taken out in instalments. The silver swirl satisfied us +all, and presently the career of a stately 19-pounder was ended. +</P> + +<P> +After luncheon we put out again, and I was tolerably certain that if no +other fish came to boat I should not break my heart nor die of grief. +The taking of that handsome pair of spring salmon was an admirable +tonic, and I resumed my Scott in a contented mood. After three +chapters the mood was not quite the same; after a fourth I felt +somewhat ill-used. Two hours, in short, passed, and the wind had +veered round to the north. In other words, it was cold. Tom Thumb +warmed me up eventually; its gudgeon had been taken, and I had +something in secure custody. A big one, at any rate, of what quality +we should determine later. I had grave doubts, however, of the issue, +for he terminated each run by coming to the top and swirling there most +uncannily. Patience and the butt in time revealed him the best fish of +the day, and I heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on a rock for +breath when the gaff lifted him out, the priest shrived him, and the +balance stood at 20 1/2 lb. A truly handsome leash of salmon! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ANGLING COUSINS AT THE VICARAGE +</H3> + +<P> +The girls seemed to have moderated their zeal for the bicycle, and in +truth it was too hot to last. Then they were all for angling, and for +this we had to thank certain books recently reviewed and the vicar of +Netherbate. It fell to a useful cousin's lot to purchase the books. +The girls were intensely interested in Mr. Dewar's <I>South Country Trout +Streams</I>, because they knew most of the Hampshire country so pleasantly +described, and they liked the photographs, one of the two readers being +herself a kodakeer of no mean skill. It was the illustrations, too, of +Mr. Halford's Marryat edition of <I>Dry Fly Fishing</I> that pinned their +attention to that work for at least two hours. They wondered not a +little at the attitude of the dry-fly gentleman as he is photographed +doing the overhand cast, downward cut, steeple cast, and dry-switch, +and under the vicar's tuition fell in love with the Mayfly plate, not +excluding the uncanny larvae likenesses. The reverend monitor, indeed, +proposed that they should drive forthwith over to the Trilling, a chalk +stream tributary at the further limit of the estate, and dredge in the +mud, or whatever their home may be, for the beasts themselves. +</P> + +<P> +To keep to the story, it must be stated that after this interlude the +girls came to Lord Grey's <I>Fly Fishing</I>, the attractive <I>avant coureur</I> +of the Haddon Hall Library. The vicar, who had dissuaded them from +end-to-end reading of Halford's standard book because it was strong +meat and they were babes (apologising in his cheery way for talking +shop in such a connection), dealt out quite the contrary advice about +Lord Grey's book, not because the author is an eminent statesman and +titled, or because it was the best looking, but by reason of its +glamorous word pictures of the country. He artfully picked out +passages that, having no reference at all to fishing, very poetically +touched off the six great blossoms of May, and the singing summer birds +easily espied amongst the young leaves and sprouting brushwood; the +long days and warm nights of June, when the wild rose is a beauty to be +admired, and the distant masses of elder have a fine foamy appearance. +These extracts settled Belinda offhand, and she and Lamia laid their +heads together and read the book faithfully. They are good girls, +spite of the names selected for them by a fanciful parent, and if they +are not proud of those names, and prefer being called by their +intimates Blind (with a short "i") and Lammy, there is, I hope, no +great harm done. That is better no doubt than the Miss Blinders and +Miss Lame-ears of the cottage folk. +</P> + +<P> +The practical issue of this study of fishing literature (for which also +cousin had to pay) and this not-minding of his own parochial business +by the vicar (dredging hideous larvae, forsooth, when he ought to be +a-fishing of men) may be reckoned at very little change out of a bank +note—for cousin. It is true that this is a minor matter, and in a +measure a somewhat sordid consideration. Also, I am anticipating a +little. Perhaps I ought to have at once made it clear that the really +practical issue of the aforesaid was an insistence on the part of the +girls that they should be taught fly fishing, and equipped with the +correct "things" (their expression not mine), for a new diversion; it +must be done immediately, expense not to be considered. The vicar was +strong as to the hang-the-cost doctrine, and this he said knowing that +cousin would see his ten-pound note no more for ever. Perhaps the +reader will comprehend why cousin was passing sore; he paid the piper, +and the vicar evidently meant to dance to the tune. In plain phrase, +he undertook, if cousin would drill them sufficiently into the +mysteries of fly fishing, to lead them into action in earnest during +the approaching Mayfly time. Wherefore cousin fitted them out with +rods, winches, lines, casts, and flies. But he drew the line at +waders, as not being in the department of a mere he-cousin. +</P> + +<P> +With curious indiscretion he brought home a tackle-maker's catalogue, +with the "things" which he considered generously requisite. Then the +girls consulted the pamphlet, and, backed of course by the vicar, +insisted that a silver spring balance in morocco case (to weigh up to +or down from 4 lb.), an oil bottle for odourless paraffin, and other +small trifles were needful. Cousin gave them all credit for gratitude +evinced after his second trip to town, and any reader must give him +credit for the honest pleasure that was his recompense. They were +satisfied for the time being, as the reader will readily understand. +"A very neat little rig-out indeed, my dear," said B. to L., the vicar +corroborating like the sound of a small amen. For a while the donor +resolutely declined to buy split-cane rods, deeming high-class +greenhearts sufficient for beginners, though the vicar argued that it +was always wise in tuition to begin as you intend to proceed. This +casuistry cousin heeded not. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, my dear fellow," he said airily, "you know best. We shall +have the Mayfly up in about a month; the girls will know how to use a +rod by then, and you'll simply have to buy split canes after all. +<I>You</I> use a split cane, <I>I</I> use a split cane, and you must be +deplorably ignorant of girl nature if you suppose they will be content +with greenhearts two minutes after they have seen our rods put +together." +</P> + +<P> +Such an argument the young man respected, and, relenting, he bought +split-cane rods. Light gun-metal winches, 30 yards of tapered line, +and the regulation etceteras were completed by a couple of waterproof +bags of the finest material, as taking more kindly to the female form +than a hard, bumping, stick-out creel. As was explained to Blind, +there would be always someone to look after the fish caught, if any; +the bag was for fly-book, scent bottle, spring balance, and trifles of +that kind, never forgetting fine cutting pliers in case of accidents +with fingers, lips, noses, or ears hooked foul. +</P> + +<P> +The preliminary lessons being rudimentary and in the nature of drudgery +were of course entrusted to cousin. They were to be imparted, to begin +with, on the smooth sward of the bowling green. The girls required to +be persuaded a little to this humble curriculum, which, in truth, is a +comfortable, serviceable, and labour-saving way of mastering the +rudiments. Granted it is make-believe, yet not more than practising at +a target. The pupils at last were convinced that it was a sensible +means to an end, and began with a flower-pot saucer varying yards up +the lawn. Blind took almost naturally to the trick of allowing the rod +to have its natural way. It was wonderful how after a quarter of an +hour she intuitively understood what to do. But that was her nature; +as a child she was never flustered, and at the first trial her +leisurely sweep, with the needful pause of the line in air behind her, +was admirable. She did, in fact, at the outset what many an +experienced angler has never thoroughly acquired. Lammy, on the +contrary, was hard to coach; that is her nature, too; she always was so +impetuous. From the bare line they advanced to a gut cast and hackled +fly with filed-off barb, and Blind could deftly drop the palmer into +the saucer at twelve yards days before her sister could get out the +line with anything like an approach to straightness. +</P> + +<P> +The time arrived for applied science, and cousin director bade the +girls don those waders which they had clamoured to use even on the +lawn, and come away to the stream. It was fortunate that they had a +shallow which, for practical essays in casting, was a nice compromise, +as a position for throwing a fly, between the unnatural level of the +lawn and the elevated banks of an ordinary trout river. There was a +bridge spanning a smart run of knee-deep water, and above a beautiful +broad shallow, aglow with white ranunculus blossoms, growing out of +yellow sand held together with small gravel perpetually washed by +crystal clear water. The damsels had to do their best with shortened +walking dresses until certain smart clothes, about which there had been +many whisperings, came down from the tailor; and in they went, skirts +notwithstanding, like merry children as the stream rippled and gurgled +four inches or so above the feet, which were encased in dainty rubber +combination waders. +</P> + +<P> +Bless the maiden, how delighted Blind was in delivering her first real +cast with a real artificial fly on real water! They had not yet +attempted the mysteries of dry fly; a fat alder on a No. 1 hook was +honour enough for a beginning. A red spinner, in compliment to one who +was a spectator, first chosen, alighted and floated well, but swiftly +came down to the fair practitioner. Some trouble followed in gaining +the delicate touch of line and winch, and knack of recovery essential +to workmanlike up-stream casting, but the amiable pupil, being a +listener rather than a talker, was quick to learn, and the lesson was +over when the vicar arrived. To him Lammy soon contrived to explain +that she was left on the bank, or, rather, paddling below in the +shallow, ignored and lamenting. They were therefore left to operate in +company while the others crossed the bridge and sought fresh water a +little higher up the shallow. +</P> + +<P> +Though there was no idea of catching fish that evening, fortune smiled +upon the placid Blind. Obeying cousin's order to drop the fly between +two well-defined patches of weed up-stream, she achieved a neat cast +straight and clean to the desired spot. The fly, with the evening +light showing it startlingly distinct, had not travelled three inches +before something took it fiercely, and the winch was heard as sweet +harmony. Neither of the operators had reckoned upon this. Cousin +dared not speak at such a momentous crisis. Blind was startled into a +little "oh," and, as he might have been sure without protestations, she +kept cool, and remembered precisely the order of procedure which he had +expounded in theory at odd times on the lawn—point of rod raised, +winch left free but still at ready command, fish to be humoured, and no +excitement. The battle was really over if she maintained her presence +of mind, and in this she failed not. +</P> + +<P> +The rod top was nid-nodding sweetly, the hand gently turning the reel +handle, the fish held and guided. All was well. "What shall I do, +cousin, now?" she asked. "Take it easy," he answered from the bank; +"walk gently out towards me, don't slacken the line, and don't hurry +the fish." And successfully done as formulated. Blind was throughout +mistress of the situation, and in the absence of a landing net, which +had not entered for a moment into calculations, she backed in perfect +order up the gentle slope, and the fish docilely followed her up and up +till it was high and dry, gasping on blossoms of silver weed. It was +only a grayling, to be sure, black, and out of condition; but there it +was, admired and petted. Blind would have kissed the creature I do +believe if spectators had not been present; anyhow she would not hear +of return to the water. What was close time to her? It was the first +captive of her bow and spear, and nothing would content her but +embalming, and a glass case. +</P> + +<P> +Lammy was not so happy as her sister that night; the vicar had tried +almost in vain to induct her into the art of fishing up-stream, and her +casts across, on wet fly principles, while not so very bad for a +beginner, were so obvious a contrast to those of Blind that she was not +eager to dwell too much upon the wonderful luck that had befallen. +Much conversation ensued for days as to the approaching Mayfly +carnival. The girls demanded the water to themselves during its +period, and as Lamia had landed a small trout that had hooked itself +down stream on a submerged olive dun, she was soon as much bitten with +the fishing mania as Blind herself. It was comforting to the vicar and +cousin to be informed by the girls that they would henceforth accept no +services from "hangers-on"—meaning that they would do their own +landing and basketing. "We shall see," said cousin to the parson; +"meanwhile (after I have bought the correct article in landing nets) we +shall be having a lively time, I can perceive, when the old man +slouches up some evening to say 'Mayfly be up now, missie.'" +</P> + +<P> +"Aye, they are still faithful to the gentle art." Seasons had flown +with that year's Mayflies, and Netherbate and its kindly people had to +me become just a pleasant remembrance. But spite of the archidiaconal +hat and gaiters I knew the vicar when accidentally met on the platform +of York Station, and his reply to one of my questions about the happy +people at Netherbate was precisely as I have written it. Of course the +calls of romance had been fully answered by the marriage of Lamia to +the vicar, and Belinda to cousin, and sunshine had blessed them all in +basket and in store. I was now to learn that while the parties were +still free they had continued their angling studies and practice, duly +progressing from wet to dry fly, from trout to salmon. +</P> + +<P> +"In fact," said the archdeacon, "I have had a letter from your old pal +'Blinders' this very day, telling me that she landed a Tweed fish +yesterday above Kelso, and her boy was allowed to hold the rod while +the boat rowed ashore. Lamia started by the train just now to join in +her fishing, and I am left to the dubious excitements of the Congress. +So glad to see you looking so well! Adieu." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CONTRAST IN THAMES ANGLING +</H3> + +<P> +My personal knowledge of the Thames trout is not profound; but if it +has left me somewhat short of the affection which many anglers +proclaim, it has inspired a high respect; and if my interest in him is +not precisely direct, I always have been able to sympathise keenly with +his multitude of lovers and admirers. On this entrance upon another +Thames trout season I have him in my thoughts, and am pleased to know +that his status, character, and honour are on the whole nothing +diminished as the years revolve. In the past I have, indeed, seen +something of Thames trouting, and though I have, by lack of +opportunity, not engaged largely in it, yet have formed ideas upon the +subject that may be formulated as a seasonable topic. Also I have +reason to remember this fish as figuring in one of the curious +printer's errors of my early journalism. In a special big-type article +in a daily paper I had glorified the breed and the business by the +magniloquent demand "Who that has battled with a fine Thames trout in a +thundering weir will ever forget, etc., etc.?" The step from the +sublime to the ridiculous appeared next morning in the rendering "Who +that has <I>bathed</I> with, etc., etc." +</P> + +<P> +The ichthyologists who have made a study of the interesting salmon +family have, perforce, unanimously agreed that the Thames trout is of +the house of Brown: is in a word a true <I>Salmo fario</I>. But these +learned gentlemen seem to have overlooked the equally undeniable fact +that there are three distinct species of this excellent fish. First +comes the Thames trout of the professional fisherman. Of this class +there is an untold number. Their movements are keenly watched, and +often chronicled with surprising minuteness. They are liberally +scattered over every likely district from Teddington upwards, and there +is a degree of familiarity with their habits, on the part of local +observers, that at once whets our appetite and craves our admiration. +You hear about them often by the riverside. At six o'clock yesterday +morning a fish of 7 1/2 lb. appeared at the tail of the third stream +from the right bank and disported for the space of an hour amongst the +trembling bleak. He was rather short for his weight, and had +remarkably white teeth. Later on, another of 5 lb., full weight, with +a cast in his left eye, took a leisurely breakfast at the edge of +yonder scour. Three trout, that can only be spoken of as "whoppers," +are beyond question in possession of this pool; others are to be found +between four and six of the afternoon at home in hovers, the +whereabouts of which are known to a nicety. The gambols and predatory +raids of this class of Thames trout afford great excitement and +pleasure to the observant passers-by, and there is no doubt in the +world that our friends are not always romancing with regard to them. +Yet it may not be gainsaid that the Thames trout of the professional +fisherman is but too often a Mysterious Unknown to the angler, and a +creature never to be dissected by mortal fingers. +</P> + +<P> +A second species of Thames trout is that of the unsuccessful angler. +Hieing him blithely in the sweet spring morning to the waterside, the +angler beholds this fine specimen to great advantage—by the eye of +faith. His step quickens as, in all its magnificent proportions, it +flashes before his inner vision. Saw you ever such brilliant vesture, +such resplendent fins? By the time the sanguine sportsman has +clambered over the rails in the third meadow, the line of hope has run +out from the winch of imagination, and he has mentally struck that +trout, played it, brought it to the rim of the net, played it yet +again, and finally, after a battle heroic in its every detail, beheld +it gracefully curved in the friendly meshes, and transferred to a +grassy couch, to be the envy of his club and the boast of his family, +even to the third and fourth generation. This also is a numerous +species, for there is not a member of the great army of Thames anglers +who has not, in this manner, seen specimens during the first three or +four hours of that day which witnesses the spiritless return of the +bearer of an empty basket. +</P> + +<P> +The third species of Thames trout is of a more substantial kind, and +although as to its quality we may allow ourselves to be as enthusiastic +as the most hearty of Thames trout worshippers, we dare not blink at +the cruel fact that, as to quantity, it ranks far below the two other +species to which I have so charitably and gently referred. +</P> + +<P> +What it may be to-day I know not, but in my time there was not a more +likely spot than Boveney Weir for one of these goodly Thames trout in +the flesh. From the sill over which the river churns into a splendid +mass of milky foam, past the island, and for a couple of hundred yards +down the water looks as much like the correct thing as any reach can +do. But even in fishing matters, perhaps in them more especially, +things are not always what they seem, and, reduced to the practical +test of results, Boveney Weir, in the estimation of many practical +anglers, is not now what it was, and decidedly not what it ought to be. +On the Saturday after a Good Friday, which fell in April, one of the +experts, as he worked a delicious little bleak in a most artistic +fashion down the middle of the weir, bemoaned himself in my hearing on +this account. Yet he could not complain. He had caught a trout on the +previous Monday. And it has come to this! A man who evidently +understands how to do it takes one fish in the course of a week, and, +being conscientious, admits that he will not sin by complaining. +</P> + +<P> +In the course of an hour, four gentlemen, nicely equipped with spinning +rods, arrived at the scene of action, and paid out in the orthodox way +at the head of the weir. I could see that they had been having brave +sport with the above-mentioned species Number Two; but, so long as I +remained, that was the sum total of their spoil. One could almost +observe, by the gradual melancholy which settled upon their +countenances as the time went on with no thrilling rap to make the top +of the limber rod dance again, the hopeless fading out of these +unsubstantial specimens from even the imagination. The east wind of +course had been against everything ever since the trout season opened, +and it was not surprising to learn that; though the weir had been well +fished from All Fools' day onwards, only six fish had been taken, and +they of the smallest size. +</P> + +<P> +A Thames trout of 2 1/2 lb. is regarded as a mere minnow by the man who +has drunk the deep delight of landing a fish of the normal weight of 6 +or 7 lb.; yet this seemed to have been the average. Put it down to the +east wind by all means. An honest Thames trout, properly educated up +to the modern standard, would be unworthy of the confidence of the +great metropolitan angling clubs if he so violated piscatorial law as +to allow himself to be caught under such conditions, and it is but +charity to suppose that these legally sizable but morally undersized +fish were giddy youths, upon whom the example of the veterans, poising +themselves steelproof in the current, yet virtueproof against +temptation, was sadly thrown away. +</P> + +<P> +Fish or no fish, it is, nevertheless, worth something to stand awhile +at the head of the weir and indulge in those soothing reveries which a +running stream provokes. You cross the lock, and by the permission of +the lockkeeper (whose good temper is sorely tried these holiday times +by the incessant passage of pleasure boats, bound for Surley, and maybe +Monkey Island) pass over the pretty island, and enter upon the plankway +which communicates with the further bank. The weir is broad, and its +construction such that the heavy body of water from above stampedes +through at your feet in magnificent force. Shout at your topmost pitch +of voice if you would carry on a conversation with the roar of the +swirl in the listener's ears. No fewer than seventeen distinct floods +are pouring between the beams with never two escaping alike. As +different are they as the current of our individual lives; now quietly +gliding in, but not off, the racket on either side; now confidently +asserting themselves by a semi-turbulent merriness; now all babble and +bubble and surface; now dark, deep, and masterful through hidden force +under a calm countenance; now tearing, and dashing, and running away +with quickly scattered impulse. +</P> + +<P> +Yonder, the sleeping island o'ershadowed by trees on the left, and the +high indented bank on the right, seem to gather these diverse streams +within their arms and reduce them to something like uniformity of +purpose. And then, looking up and around from the seething pool, you +see the stately grey towers of Windsor rising above the land, and the +level meadows stretching green towards the eminences made picturesque +by the woods. +</P> + +<P> +The tradition amongst the fishermen is that Boveney Weir is full of +"rum uns." This I take to be a confession of faith in the existence of +large trout, and at the same time a delicate compliment to their +wariness. All Thames trout are wary, and it is probably their +outrageous artfulness which adds to the rapture of circumventing them. +Old Nottingham George would tell many a tale of cunning trout which had +been angled for so often and pricked so many times that they were +supposed to have become as learned in the matter of fishermen and +fishing tackle as humanity itself. The reader may not have read, or, +reading, may have forgotten, that the principles of the Thames Angling +Preservation Society were very early applied to Boveney Weir, for it is +written that William, the son of Richard de Windsor, in the first year +of the thirteenth century, gave a couple of marks to the king, in order +that the pool and fishery might be maintained in no worse a condition +than it used to be under the reign of Henry II. +</P> + +<P> +Spinning for Thames trout, which is undoubtedly the most legitimate way +of treating them, seeing that they so little appreciate the beauties of +an artificial fly, is an art that requires perhaps more patience than +skill. Your bleak, dace, gudgeon, minnow, or phantom, in point of +fact, humoured fairly into the stream, does its own work; but anyone +who watches the old-timers at such weirs as Eton or Boveney must +perceive that there are many degrees of such science as the catching of +a Thames trout demands. No doubt it is delightful to sit on a +weir-head, reading your favourite author, while the rod is conveniently +placed to give early notice of a run. It is delightful, but it is not +angling. The most dunder-headed trout of the pool, at sight of a +silvery bait racing apparently for dear life half out of water, yet +never advancing, must metaphorically place its forefinger along its +snout, and with a leery wink sheer off into the deep. +</P> + +<P> +The majority of anglers seem too readily satisfied when their bait +spins, whereas their chief aim should be to produce a movement as true +to nature as possible, They spin too fast by half, not sufficiently +calculating the varying force of the streams, and I am convinced that +one of the most common faults of Thames spinners for trout and pike is +working too near the surface. "Spin as deep as the character of the +water will allow you" will be found in the long run a wholesome rule to +follow, and, rather than keep on spinning in the same water, it will +pay the angler to cease fishing for half an hour and begin anew with a +bait as unlike its predecessor as he can make it. I can never fully +understand the frequent admission, "He was a fine fish, but he got +off." The breaking away of a lusty trout upon whom the fine line has +been too heavily strained, or who has been hooked with rotten tackle, +is explainable enough. It is a natural consequence. The "getting off" +of such a fish is quite another matter, and argues something, in nine +cases out of ten, radically wrong in the disposition of the hooks. You +often see three or four triangles so fixed to the bait that only by +accident can one of them get into the mouth of the fish, and not a half +of one <I>deserves</I> to get in. There is no sense in having the hooks too +small, and, if I may venture to offer one more opinion, no spinning +flight for trout is perfect which has not a hook or hooks clear of all +impediment at the tail. +</P> + +<P> +About the tackle and methods of fishing for Thames trout there is +nothing new to say. Of late years the use of the live bait with fine +snap tackle, and on Nottingham principles, has prevailed to an +increasing extent, but the familiar style of spinning from the weir +beams still holds its own. It presents a minimum of toil, and the +rushing water helps you so much that it appeals irresistibly to the +happy-go-lucky instincts of the fair-weather sportsmen, who are +probably, after all, a majority of Thames trout fishers. Our friends +are persevering, but they persevere in the wrong way, contenting +themselves by fishing the same water from morning to night, instead of +working the bait far and near with constant change of tactics. The +Thames trout is particularly cute, and is not such a fool as to be +taken in by a little fish that is always twiddling at one place, in a +strongly running current, yet never gets an inch forward. A good +Thames man spins his bleak everywhere, steadily and naturally, into +eddies, close to piles, under trees, near the banks. The glittering +object is never at rest, but flutters hither and thither, covering new +ground with every yard of advance. +</P> + +<BR> +<HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center"> +<BR> + +<P> +More through lack of opportunity than dislike, intention, or design, I +have not, at least to the present time, enjoyed my full share of +fishing from a punt, or in the river Thames. On the few occasions when +I have sought it the experience has therefore been a little peculiar, +like that of going to school to learn something. Together with the +very proper keenness of the fisherman who wants to justify himself with +the rod, there have been a spice of inquisitiveness, the wide open eye +of inquiry, the sense of something not quite familiar, in such days as +I have spent in a Thames punt. My acquaintance with barbel is also so +limited that it counts for little. In a well-known barbel hole of the +Kennet I fished in vain; once in April I caught a gravid specimen +spinning for trout in a Thames weir; while spinning for pike I have +hooked small barbel foul by the tail as they stood on their heads at +the bottom of a mill pool when the wheel was stopped. This +acquaintance, in fact, was intermittent and casual. But I bear in mind +one day of close intimacy with the strong, sporting barbel; and on this +March morning, when the windows are being bombarded with snow, hail, +and sleet, making it, I trust, bad for the Zeppelins, I intend to lose +myself in the impressions of that one instance of intimate terms with +the fish. It must have been in late autumn, for I seem to hear a sad +sobbing of wind from the elms, and a whispered dispersal of decayed +leaves, loosened by recent white frosts. +</P> + +<P> +I remember, too, that the professional fisherman, Hawkins, was very +hopeful. He said his comrade, Jorkins, on the previous day, with two +patrons from town, had had fine sport amongst the barbel, although the +fish did not run particularly large, and he added that he had often +known before, in previous years, a sudden eruption of cold weather +sharpen the appetites of the fish and bring them on, as he termed it, +headlong, for a fortnight or three weeks. +</P> + +<P> +After all, there is something pleasant and soothing to the middle-aged +and somewhat lazy man in sitting upon a Windsor chair in a punt, with +pleasant objects to look at on either bank, with a tranquilly flowing +stream between, and an occasional boat or barge moving up or down. The +Castle, the familiar church, and the customary house-tops, were +prominent features in the picture; and now and then the distant scream +of a railway whistle and rumble of a train came in to save us from +imagining that we were altogether in the country. Then, it is not +disagreeable to the lazy man to have a fisherman (especially when it is +a good handy man like Hawkins) fussing about, and handling the nasty +baits, and making himself generally useful, as the deft-handed and +willing professional so well knows how to do when afloat. All this, of +course, was very well for a while. We looked round upon the prospect, +and discussed it. We made inquiries of the fisherman as to whether the +swallows had all departed for their winter quarters. We inquired who +lived in yonder mansion, and heard a long tale about the owner having +made money by inventing a wonderful kind of automatic blacking-brush. +</P> + +<P> +As the story fizzled out, the leger lines having been down for some +little time, I thought, and not without reason, that I saw the point of +my rod trembling. Surely enough it was a bite, but, as Hawkins +suggested (doubtless borrowing the pun from some bygone customer), it +might have been an audacious dace. At any rate, the only result we +achieved at that particular time was the necessity of affixing another +lob-worm to the hook, and the casting out of the bulleted line again. +This story, together with the hearty way in which Hawkins expressed his +contempt for the patentee of the blacking-brush and his family, was so +interesting and amusing that I looked at him instead of at my fishing +rod; and as he at the same time looked at me, the position was left +unguarded, and we were both of us recalled from the realms of scandal +by a vigorous plunge of the rod-top. It was a sharp "knock," in fact, +followed by a series of tugs, so violent that the rod rattled on the +edge of the punt. There was no merit on my part in getting that +barbel, for the fish had hooked himself, and had gone down stream at +racing speed, before I could get command of him. +</P> + +<P> +This, let me tell the young angler, is a dangerous position to be in. +The handling of a rod under such circumstances, with a fine line like +that with which you always ought to fish for barbel, requires great +care. The tendency is to be over excited, and in the agitation of the +moment one frequently commits the grave error of striking hard at a +running fish. The result is obvious. With a fish going strongly away, +and a man striking more strongly perhaps than he imagines in the +contrary direction, it is almost a certainty that something or other +will give way. However, an old stager at that kind of work gets out of +the predicament without any loss, and after the usual resistance +secures the fish. The battle was really fought about fifteen yards +below the punt. +</P> + +<P> +Why the barbel should choose that particular ground to try conclusions +I am not aware. The water I know was deepest there, and, as I +afterwards satisfied myself by plumbing, formed a saucer-like hollow, +and there were also some obstructions about, of what nature I could not +exactly make out. But I shrewdly suspect that there were either stakes +or an ugly piece of wood, or some other object that would be dangerous +to the line, and that the enemy went straight away for this, having +probably tried the dodge successfully before, with the object of boring +and boring until he parted from the hook that held him. A barbel is +artful and apt to play games of this description, and it is prudent +when you find a barbel making for a particular place and again +returning to it after he has been brought away, to use every exertion +compatible with safety to keep him away. This was not a large +fish—something about 6 lb. or 7 lb.—and as he lay in the bottom of +the punt for five or ten minutes after he had been turned out of the +net, he certainly did present a striking picture of pale bronze +colouring and comely shape. +</P> + +<P> +A couple of hours passed by without either myself or my friend being +fortified by a knock, and by that time we had run through the history +of the occupants of every one of the country houses within view of the +river at the place where we were pitched. It was now two o'clock in +the afternoon, and the cold had increased. We discussed the +possibilities, and both of us resigned ourselves to fate, deliberately +arriving at a conclusion, almost in resolution form, that we were to +have no more sport that day. Hawkins, however, would not hear of such +a thing. He said the fish were there, and the fish would come on to +bite sooner or later. Then he consulted us as to the advisability of +shifting the position a little, and we agreed that if he could do so +quietly perhaps it would be well to drop down so that the punt would be +a little below rather than above the pollard willow. +</P> + +<P> +This was done and with immediate effect, for our leger lines had +scarcely reposed to their mission on the river's bed before both rods +were wagging their heads. At one and the same time, and apparently +keeping time, the tops of those rods told us that we might both expect +a fish. We struck simultaneously; in unison we shouted "I've got him!" +and we were each engaged with a fish that we knew to be not small. As +a rule you prefer when in a punt to catch alternately with your friend; +that is more like cricket, and indeed there is nothing more risky, +unless both anglers are remarkably cool, than two lively fish being +played in so small a space. Whether it is that they have a sympathy +with each other, whether it is that the one suspects that he has got +into trouble owing to some diabolical treachery on the part of the +other and is out of temper; whether it is that they know all about it, +and were taught in their childhood that fouled lines are generally +broken lines, so much I know not; but be it in sea fishing or fresh +water fishing, two fish hooked and struggling within sight by instinct +often make towards each other. +</P> + +<P> +This happened in our case. My fish was the smaller, and would have +been the sooner played out if the barbel that my friend had on his hook +would have allowed it; but just as I was winching in, with the +intention of getting it into the net with all possible speed, my +friend's fish made a deliberate dart to starboard, and the result was a +foul. To have attempted playing them with our rods would have been +ruin, therefore we dropped them, and by getting the two lines in my own +hand and using them as one, I managed to haul in the brace of fish by +sheer strength, and the somewhat novel feat was accomplished of getting +into the landing net a 3-lb. and a 5-lb. barbel upon lines that were +entangled. As our lines were of the fine Nottingham description, and +the gut fine also, this was to say the least a piece of good fortune. +There will, I know, be some reader who has been in the predicament here +described, and I feel that he smiles at the thought of the fearful work +of disentangling those clinging, wet, white, undressed silk lines. I +will tell him. We cut them. +</P> + +<P> +The shoal below took time to reflect upon the circumstance of which +they had no doubt been witnesses, and we had no further touch of them +for several minutes. Then they came on again with an inspiring +regularity, distributing their favours alternately to myself and +friend. For an hour a barbel came to net every five minutes; and there +was no chance of loss, as the fish simply gulped at the worms and went +off with them at once, and the hook had to be removed sometimes with a +disgorger. In the very midst of the sport I thought I would make an +experiment in the matter of baits. I had my own box of gentles. One, +I suppose, never goes afloat or engages in any bottom fishing whatever +without this reserve, if the maggots are in season. Hawkins also +happened to have a small supply of stale greaves. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't do it, mister!" Hawkins pleaded pathetically, when he saw me +stringing on a bunch of gentles. "Leave well alone, mister! You +carn't better the business, and you may change the luck if you don't +stick to the lobs." +</P> + +<P> +But I was obstinate, and was very glad that I tried the experiment. It +was not the first time I had discovered that when the fish are really +"on" they do not distinguish much between this and that bait. Even in +fly fishing I have successfully tried the experiment, during a mad +rise, of putting on a fly that was the most opposite I could find to +what was on the water. The barbel took the gentles as freely as worms, +and greaves as freely as gentles, but I noticed that the fish were +smaller. +</P> + +<P> +It will be concluded that our prowess on this occasion came somewhat +into the slaughter zone. So at any rate it occurred to one of us as we +landed, and in the grey mist spreading over land and water, saw the +dead fish laid out decently and in order upon the grass. There were +two dozen and one barbel, the largest 7 lb. and the smallest 3 lb., the +average being about 4 lb. With a few accidental dace and chub thrown +in, there would therefore be over a solid hundredweight of fish. Was +this a thing to be proud of? Though I ask the question I do not answer +it myself. We had enjoyed the outing and even the sport; we looked +down upon the spoil with satisfaction, and if there was a sort of sense +of shame at the back of the mind that was for analysis afterwards. +Even as we pondered, perhaps to the degree of gloating, Hawkins was +enumerating instances of much greater numbers taken by his customers. +Yarrell records 280 lb. of large barbel in one day, and our old friend, +the Rev. J. Manley, who preferred "a good day's leger-fishing for +barbel to any other day's fishing within reach of ordinary or even +extraordinary mortals," states that he took "thirty-seven fish one day +on the Thames at Penton Hook, and there were several over 4 lb. and one +nearly scaled 10 lb." +</P> + +<P> +But these were the good, the great, the red letter days of a past time. +The barbel is extremely capricious, abnormally so of late years in the +Thames, and there are plenty of blanks to one fortunate day. There is, +however, a fascination in barbel-fishing that is not a little +surprising, and men have been known to boast aggressively that it is +the only form of angling that appeals to them. It must be confessed +that if the barbel is of poor esteem as food, he is the very gamest of +the coarse fishes and a fighter to the last. His rushes are fierce and +continuous; and as Providence has provided him with a decided snout, he +bores downward with dogged persistence, relying apparently as much upon +his classical barb appendages as upon his powerful tail for aid in time +of trouble; and an infallible sign of his unconquerable spirit is the +difficulty of bringing him into the net when he is close to it. There +is not to my mind any fish that bolts so often when to all appearance +played out. +</P> + +<P> +The uncertainty of barbel and barbel fishing was illustrated by the +sequel to our day on the Thames. Our adventures were told to the +members of a certain society on the evening of our return, and no doubt +they were envious, miserable, or glad as it might happen. We can only +speculate as to that, but what can be told is that by the first trains +next morning six brethren from different quarters of London went down +and made their way to Hawkins. They had not whispered their intentions +to one another, and looked rather sheepish as they stood in a cluster +to receive the announcement from the fisherman's wife that H. was not +at home. They looked a little more sheepish when they took boat to the +pollard tree swim and found two very young gentlemen with Hawkins +seated in a punt. But they smiled again on learning that there had not +been a touch at either of the three lines, which had been out since +daylight. That swim was diligently tried after our visit, but I had +reason for knowing that not another barbel was taken there during the +entire winter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TWO RED LETTER SALMON +</H3> + +<P> +It is not often that the angling clubs which encourage prize-taking +offer booby consolations for the smallest fish, but I have known +exceptions, especially at the holiday competitions by the seaside. The +biggest fish are another matter altogether. Sooner or later the world +is bound to hear of them. And who dare say us nay? That man was not a +fool who wanted to know, if you did not blow your own trumpet, who was +to blow it? Blowing it need be neither boasting nor defiance. In this +honest belief I shall try for a while to forget the butcher's bill in +Flanders by recalling the capture of my biggest salmon, and that of a +still bigger one by a friend during the same bygone back-end on Tweed, +leaving the general memories of autumn days on the great Border river +for future revival. +</P> + +<P> +It was during Mr. Arthur N. Gilbey's tenancy of the Carham water, and +he was, besides being my host, also the hero of the very best of the +two salmon which are my text. He rented a country house overlooking +the river, with the fishing, and no fortunate angler who sojourned +under his roof in those good days can ever forget the puzzle into which +he fell while deciding whether it was the gentle hostess or the +ever-considerate host who most contributed to his happiness. Among the +bright Carham remembrances no one will omit the after-breakfast descent +of the steep-wooded brae down to the boat animated with eager +anticipation, and the climbing home in the gloaming in whatever mood +the events of the day had warranted. +</P> + +<P> +The Carham fishing is really the lower and the southern section of +Birgham, famous for its dub, the rival in piscatorial fame of +Sprouston, a little higher up-stream. Its situation immediately above +Coldstream and not far from Berwick makes it a characteristic water for +the salmon fisher. The incoming fish sometimes linger there awhile +early and late in the season, and men catch salmon at Carham while +those in the higher beats are waiting their arrival or bewailing their +disappearance. Here, too, you may hook your fish in Scotland and land +it in England, for the Tweed begins to be the boundary between the two +countries at Carham burn. +</P> + +<P> +The Tweed is picturesque rather than romantic, as are so many of the +Highland rivers. They have their legions of admirers, but there is no +Scottish stream that can count so many ardent lovers as the Tweed, and +this for many reasons. It has much varied and positive picturesqueness +of its own, it has associations of legend and history; Walter Scott +lived on its banks, and its dividing course between the nations that +used to harry or be harried invests it with an abiding interest. As a +river it is distinguished by a characteristic dignity, and, save at its +narrowed channel and rocky bed at Makerstoun, maintains a stately yet +irresistible strength of flow from Kelso seawards. Nevertheless, there +are times when it shows moods of sullen rage, and is certainly too full +for the angler, to whom, in spite of faults, it is always Tweed, the +well-beloved. +</P> + +<P> +"How is she the morn?" is, therefore, a common question amongst all +sorts and conditions of men along Tweedside in the fishing seasons, and +at the visit now under course of recall there was assuredly ample +excuse for the formula. It soon transpired that the old-fashioned +barometer in the hall had been having a hard time of it for many days. +The master of the house never passed from drawing- to dining-room +without an anxious tap. While the maids were doing their +ante-breakfast work I myself stole down and consulted it, opened the +front door, studied the sky, and noted the drift of the clouds. I make +my forecast at once if the tokens are depressing. But I had ere this +seen the river. One of my bedroom windows gave direct outlook upon a +shrubbery, the most notable feature of which was a maple of most +brilliant tints, varying from bright red to faint orange; the other +framed a landscape picture of park, grassland, woods, and the broad +Tweed sweeping round towards the lower portion of the water for which +the angler cares. There was, however, another view from the front of +the house—a nearer reach where there was a mass of rough water, and a +certain tongue of shingle thrust out from the further bank. For days +and weeks these river marks had warned the anxious inquirers that they +might not expect sport. The diminution of the tongue of land on the +one side, and a blur in the pure white of the foam on the other, told +the one-word tale "waxing." +</P> + +<P> +At the outset I was saved any anxiety by finding the river dirty. +Travelling through the night, I had turned out at Berwick at half-past +four in the morning in the cold of a roaring gale that sent the clouds +flying express over the moon, and shrieked into every corner of the +deserted station. There had been heavy rain, and, in short, when day +broke bleakly near upon six o'clock, and I caught my first sight of the +river from the early train to Coldstream, my fate was evident. In good +order on Sunday afternoon, the Tweed was in flood when I drove over the +bridge on Monday morning before the village was awake. Not for the +first time, therefore, the kindly welcome of host and hostess was +pointed with mutual condolences. +</P> + +<P> +The October casts, so far, had been disappointing below Kelso. The +Tweed anglers above that town had been more favoured, being beyond the +malign influences of the Teviot, which has a wonderful facility for +gathering up anything that comes from the clouds, and sending down dirt +and volume to the beats eastward of the Kelso Tweedometer. +</P> + +<P> +The records of a week such as this was to be are not worth telling, for +men neither like to write about their own disappointments unless they +can treat them from the comic side, nor to read about the woes of +others unless they have the unhappy gift of gloating over them. Let +this indication, then, cover several days, and no more about it, except +that the time arrived when I caught a fish badly scored by seals, which +infested the tideway, and that I worked hard for odd hits and misses +with small fish on other days. +</P> + +<P> +My best fish, in all senses of the word, was a godsend, and I rose her +with a full-sized Wilkinson. She weighed 31 1/2 lb., and was the +largest baggit which either Sligh or Guthrie could remember being +caught in the Tweed. Up to the date of capture I believe it was the +heaviest fish taken with a fly that season, but a week later a lady +angler in Sprouston dub above took one of 35 lb. My fish gave me a +rousing bit of sport, lasting a little over the accepted average time +of a pound weight to the minute. But the circumstances warranted five +minutes' grace. It was one of the very bad days, with blustering +hailstorms, and evening was coming on. A grilse had risen short, and +contributed another item to the losses account (nine in four days was +the added total), and I was as gloomy as the weather, but fished on in +calm desperation. +</P> + +<P> +At last a long-drawn "Ha" from myself duetted (if I may coin the word) +with "Y'r ento 'm, sir," from Guthrie. The fish walloped an instant +near the surface, and then behaved with orthodox correctness, went down +steady, and swiftly ran out sixty yards of line or so. Of the others I +had said, "I shan't like this fish, Guthrie, till he's in the net." Of +this one I now observed, "I think he's right this time." Guthrie +responded, beaming, "Aye, he's grippit it weel." +</P> + +<P> +It was a piece of good fortune that I hooked my friend so near shore +that I was landed and free on the bank within five minutes. After +running across the strong stream the fish moderated speed, and the +winch could be worked. Some eighty yards below was a dangerous turmoil +of broken water, foaming off to a shallow. The fish was manifestly a +good one, and must be kept from those rocks at all hazards. Once in +the hurly-burly of the foam the chances would be all on its side. Not +a little disconcerting was it to find that it was making to this place +with persevering steadiness. The tackle was tried and good; nothing +was likely to give but the mouth of the fish. At one time my heart +sank, and I feared I was to be outdone again. Pulling hard, the salmon +forced me along the pebbly beach, with every ounce of strain I dared. +There it was at last, within five yards of the rough water, and then it +paused. Gradually it answered my leading, and with a slowness that +became positively exciting, moved upwards, say, thirty yards. I heaved +a sigh of relief, and Guthrie breathed like a bellows. +</P> + +<P> +And now the salmon appeared to be struck with a new idea; it turned +aside and shot across the river at a high speed for fifty yards. What +meant the sudden stoppage? It was not the halt of sulkiness. I knew +that well. Not daring to speak my fear I looked at Guthrie, who at +once put it into words—"Round a rock." Down-stream and up-stream I +cautiously moved, the rod never altering its tension curve. The racing +river was cut by the tight line, so that there was a hissing heard +above wind and stream. Somehow, though the chances were a million to +one against me, I felt that the fish was still held by the hook. Five +minutes of this suspense brought a different verdict from Guthrie: "Ah! +ye needn't bother; ye'll find the heuk, nae doot, but nae fish." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not so sure of that," I said. "Get the boat down, Guthrie, and +we'll go out to him, anyhow." The boat was brought down accordingly, +and out we went. The line was winched in cautiously (I might almost +say prayerfully), and—well, something inside my waistcoat gave a +mighty thump, and I could feel my face whiten. For, behold, the +salmon—marvellous to relate—was still on, and as we approached to +within a few yards of the rock the uplifted rod cleared the line, and +the fish sped up-stream to the sharp music of the reel. Quickly as +might be Guthrie brought me to shore, and the remainder of the battle +was fought out from the shingle. There was one rush of nearly a +hundred yards, then the fish calmed down and answered to the winch, +moving down, nevertheless, much too persistently to Scylla and +Charybdis. +</P> + +<P> +Confound it, the old peril was coming close again. The good sign was +that, as I followed on the bank, I could keep on reeling in line. A +sheer towards the rock of offence prompted the thought that the salmon +had been under its protection before, and I put on extra strain and +kept him this side of it. By this time the fish was getting exhausted, +but the distance from the broken water was so lessening that I +determined to either mend or end the business by a gift of the butt. +</P> + +<P> +"Go below, Guthrie, and I'll bring him in," was the word, and the old +man soon got his opportunity, not to lift it out in the ordinary way, +but to clap the net upon it as it struggled on the shallow, and pin it +most cleverly to the shingle, hauling it out without accident. It was +only done in the nick of time; two yards farther down would have been +ruin. Everybody said it was a perfectly shaped specimen of the bright +autumn Tweed salmon. +</P> + +<P> +The season, as a whole, that year on Tweed was what, in the mildest +form of regret, is termed "disappointing," though our old friend, Henry +Ffennell, in his annual statement of large salmon, was able to mention +a goodly proportion of heavy fish in the autumn. But that particular +back-end was bad during October and November on most of the beats below +Kelso. A few days after I had returned to the glories of Windsor +House, and had Bream's-buildings as the choicest of handy landscapes, I +realised the vast pleasure of learning in "Tweedside's" weekly report +from Kelso, which I was reading in a November fog that pervaded the +entire office, that Mr. Gilbey had been fortunate in catching a 42-lb. +salmon at Carham, his best fish to that date, and, I think, the best +Tweed fish of that season. It was taken on a salmon fly bearing the +troutsome name of Orange Dun, and it was a fancy pattern worked out as +I understood, by Tarn Sligh, one of the veteran gillies of Tweedside. +This fly was a very taking harmony in yellow, and Mr. Gilbey was +fishing with one of the small sizes on a single gut collar. The salmon +was hooked near the Bell Rock, a favourite autumn cast under the right +bank down by the woods below the hut. For some time the angler did not +realise what was at the end of the line. It kept quietly down, and +moved in steam-roller measure up-stream, never taking out more than a +yard of line at a time, which, under the good management of the boat, +fifteen yards or so in rear of the fish, was always recovered with +ease. So the salmon advanced, yard by yard, up to the more streamy +cast of the Craig. Mr. Gilbey landed in due course here on the high +bank, and then for the first time caught sight of the broad-sided +fellow, which the taciturn attendant netted without a mistake. The +fish was pronounced by all who saw it to be as beautifully modelled and +bright a kipper as autumn ever produced. Such a fish deserved to be +caught, recorded, photographed, and cast, and all this was duly done. +The plaster cast was a triumphant success, and you seem to see the fish +itself in form and colour upon the wall which it honours and adorns. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A SERMON ON VEXATIONS AND CONSOLATIONS +</H3> + +<P> +A happy heading for this chapter, as I thought, occurred to +me—"Spoiled days." But I retain something of a sense of the +ridiculous, and feared that the title might be capable of +misconstruction, for the amusing story rose to mind of the village +publican who had a spoiled day according to his own declaration. He +rode in a dismal mourning coach to his wife's funeral, accompanied by a +grown-up daughter, and she insisted upon having the window down. The +parent showing signs of uneasiness, the daughter ventured to hope that +he had no objection. "Oh! no," the bereaved husband replied, "keep it +down if you like, my gal, but you're quite spoiling my day." +</P> + +<P> +My intention will, however, be clear, for every one of us must be +acquainted with angling brothers for whom everything seems to go wrong. +Nay, a pretty heavy percentage of even the very first rank have their +bad days, and believe in them with a species of fatalism that of course +helps on the result they dread. Endless are the angler's troubles if +he will but devote himself to developing them. The worst victim is the +man who does not take things patiently, who is ever turning the tap of +impetuosity on at the main, who begins the day with a rush, goes +through it in a flutter, and ends it in alternations of dejection and +rage. +</P> + +<P> +What a charming man So-and-so is, but what a wet blanket he is to +himself and everybody from the common failing. The train is actually +moving, and, as usual, like a whirlwind, he is projected in by the +guard, panting and irritable. You know perfectly well how it has +happened; he got up too late, spluttered over the hot coffee, chivied +the cabman all the way, charged through the porters on the platform, +and here he is. Naturally he discovers that he left his waterproof in +the hansom; he searches in vain for his pipe; he fumes and frets, and +swears he is the most unfortunate wretch on earth. The song birds, the +flowers, the fields, the clear atmosphere touch him never a whit, and +the chances are that he continues through the livelong day as he began. +In running his line through at the waterside he will miss one or two +rings, and only find it out when the collar has been affixed. The +mistake remedied he essays a cast or two, and away goes half of his +rod; he neglected to tie the joints together, and attributes the mishap +to the tackle makers, who did not always provide patent ready-made +fasteners. These blunders, miscalled ill-luck, do not soothe the +temper, and they certainly do not assist him to joyousness and success. +</P> + +<P> +As a matter of course our friend smacks hard at the first fish which +rises, and hails the returning collar, minus point and fly, with a +sarcastic grin, as if some evil genius outside himself had done the +deed. Henceforth he will be in the mood to invite all mishaps that are +possible and probable. In climbing a stile he will tickle the hawthorn +hedge with his rod top, swing his suspended landing net into the +thorns, and perhaps shake his fly-book out of his pocket in petulant +descent from the top bar. If there is a bramble thicket anywhere in +the parish, or a tall patch of meadow sweet in the rear, or a +convenient gorse clump handy, be sure his flies will find them out. +Another man would coolly proceed to extricate them; he pulls and hauls, +and swears, carrying away his gear, and is lucky if his rod is left +sound. In wading he goes in sooner or later over the tops of his +stockings, cracks off his flies through haste in returning the line, +and altogether fills his day full of small, unnecessary grievances. +That this is possible I know full well. I have done it all myself. +But the minor tribulations I had in my mind when I began to write this +modest essay were not precisely of this kind, which are the heritage of +those habitual unfortunates who are, in a measure, beyond hope of +redemption. I had the pleasure of curing one of them, however, by +pointing out to him the cause of his chronic irritation, producing +haste, and a long train of inevitable ills. Anything in the shape of a +burden about his body chafed him; and this being so, I need scarcely +add that his equipment was always on the largest scale. The obvious +suggestion was that he should hire a boy to carry his great creel, +superfluous clothes, spare rod, and landing net. By proving to him +that the expenses would be less than the amount of losses and breakages +of both tackle and temper, he was induced to take my advice, and he was +henceforth a converted character. My theme is, rather than palpably +preventable disasters, the small accidents that will happen to the most +careful anglers, especially if they put off their preparations to the +last moment. Provoking is scarcely the word for the calamity of +travelling a long distance by rail and road to realise that you have +brought everything, including odds and ends that you will never use, +but have left an important factor, say winch and line, behind you. To +have brought the winch that does not fit your rod may be got over by +binding on with a piece of your line; but the general variety of winch +fitting is certainly a common trouble for anglers. Nor is it any good +to boast of bringing your handle if you have overlooked the net; nor to +take gigantic pains to buy live baits in London only to find that the +water has leaked out long before you leave the train in Leicestershire. +I have known a fly-fisher wretched for a whole day because he had not +brought the bit of indiarubber with which he was in the habit of +straightening out his cast; and a roach-fisher refuse to be comforted +because his plummet was not. +</P> + +<P> +You cannot, however, control the wind and weather; yet some men seem to +be under a climatic curse. Any landowners whose crops require rain +have only to invite them down for a day's fishing; there will be rain +enough and to spare. No hankerer after an east wind should be without +them. It shall breathe southwest balm when they start for the fishing; +they will be met at the waterside by a blustering Boreas with +out-puffed cheeks. Yesterday the wind would take the fly where wanted; +to-morrow it will do the same; to-day it is dead down-stream or in the +angler's face. This is no doubt inveterate ill-luck, and the victim is +to be commiserated. You can quite believe him when he says that if he +takes a fishing for August there will be no water; if for September, +perpetual flood; and when, the week after his return to town, he greets +you with a sickly smile and volunteers the information that the day +succeeding his departure the river at once got into ply, you deal +gently with the young man, for this verily is tribulation major, and it +may be your turn to meet it round a corner next year. I suppose there +are men in all grades of sport, as in all grades of work, to whom the +cards invariably fall awry, and the worst of the case is that there is +only one piece of advice to tender—forswear the cards, or grin and +bear. The angler ought to hold by the latter clause. The retrieving +chances that may happen; the many useful objects turned up even when +the philosopher's stone is never reached; the assets to the right if +there are deficits to the left—these may be philosophically set off in +the general account. +</P> + +<P> +How many acquaintances, are there not, who burden themselves by over +much comfort, or, what comes to the same thing from my point of view, +with too much fuss and fad as to their impedimenta? Some anglers whom +I meet really never appear to be happy unless staggering along like +Issachar "couching down between two burdens." Half of the gear is mere +ballast, never produced for actual service from one year's end to the +other, but always carried with patience most instructive to behold. +Not a month since I remonstrated with a comrade upon the unnecessary +exertion he was undergoing from the mere weight of his useless baggage. +He said he preferred it; he considered that he was not properly +equipped without that enormous sack—big as that which the "Pilgrim's +Progress" man shuffled off when he scrambled out on the right side of +the Slough of Despond. I think he regarded the trip to the +river—though we drove comfortably to it, and drove home again the same +evening—as a serious expedition into unknown wilds, and was buoyed up +throughout with the fancy that he ranked with the eminent explorers who +go forth with their lives in their hands. +</P> + +<P> +Once upon a time I habitually made a toil of pleasure in much the same +way, scorning assistance, deeming it unworthy of a British sportsman to +accept help from boy or man in any shape or form. But the golden days +all too soon become the bronze, and maybe iron, and then we naturally +pay more attention to trifling comforts and easements than in the happy +period of unchastened exuberance. The stage is eventually reached when +you will never sling creel or bag to shoulder if another can be found +to carry them; never gaff or net a fish unless obliged in your own +interests to do so, or in rendering friendly help to a comrade; never +bow your shoulders to a load which another will bear; and when, as a +matter of course, you will hand over your rod for the keeper to carry +as you pass from pool to pool. +</P> + +<P> +But though you may avoid superfluities, and entertain an instinctive +horror of effeminate luxuries, there are some things quite necessary. +Food comes first. The view of angling taken by comic men in the +papers, and satirists out of them, is that eating and drinking are the +principal amusement of anglers. The citizen party in a Thames punt on +a hot summer day makes it so, very often, no doubt; and hence the +caricatures of anglers who get a very small amount of fishing to an +intolerable amount of sack. This is of course a cockney view of what, +without offence, I will term a cockney proceeding. In the real angling +of the ordinary river districts, I find that as many men wholly neglect +their food as think too much about it. This, as I know from culpable +personal experience, is a fault. It is, however, a greater fault to +waste time in a set meal in the middle of a fishing day. Fortunately a +kindred spirit will sympathise with us when the hospitable invitation +to come up to the house to lunch is declined with thanks; but there are +times when the duty has to be done, and it often happens that the +summons comes at the precise time when sport is hot and high. +</P> + +<P> +Get a good breakfast before starting; secure an honest dinner at the +finish; but beware of heavy eating meanwhile. Keep going steadily with +the rod through the livelong day, taking a slight repast as it were on +the wing just to keep body and soul from premature separation. By this +method you will remain in condition for your work, and have all the +chances of sport that the time offers you. Sandwich boxes I have long +forsworn, for, after the contents (which are seldom satisfactory) are +gone, the awkward metal shell remains bulging out your pockets, or +banging about in your basket. Once I tried to fish upon a small silver +box filled with meat lozenges. It may have been as per prospectus of +the manufacturers that I carried the essence of a flock of Southdowns +in the waistcoat pocket, but the sheep after all did not seem to have a +satisfactory effect, and a sucked lunch was not at all up to my sense +of proportion. Then I tried cold chops, or sausages, carried in a fine +white napkin; and very capital they are for the five minutes you allow +yourselves on the bridge, or by the fallen log under the hedge, when +tired nature suggests rest and refreshment. Afterwards I pinned my +faith to a couple of home-made pasties, at the same time adhering to +the fine napkin, which comes in very handy for sundry purposes when the +fodder has disappeared. To anyone who likes the excitement of a +domestic breeze, as a wind up to a fine day's sport, I can recommend +nothing better than the steady use of the household serviette for +drying the hands after the capture of every fish. +</P> + +<P> +As to drink, that is too delicate a subject. My friend Halford, until +he had a fishing box of his own, and could establish "regular meals," +carried a flask of cold coffee without milk or sugar, and to this I +pretended to attribute his keen and valuable observations upon fish and +flies. One day I told him that it was all very well to imagine that +his second edition was due to his own genius, or the consummate art of +the lithographer; it was simply cold coffee neat that did it! Smoking +you may indulge in to any extent while fishing if your habit lies that +way, since the wind helps you materially in lessening the weight of the +tobacco pouch. To smoke cigars, however, is a sinful waste of good +material and of time, and cigarettes are a nuisance. Hence the +proverbial love of the angler for the pipe, and the d—n—ble iteration +of references to smoking in sporting literature. +</P> + +<P> +Some of us, I fear, will never learn the lesson of care in the matter +of clothes and boots. We make a boast of roughing it, of getting wet +in the feet, of letting the rain work its will, until one morning we go +grunting to our doctor to know what that twinge in the knee-joint or +wandering sensation across the shoulders may mean. If you must get wet +through, as will occasionally happen, do it manfully and even +thoroughly while you are about it, taking due care to keep moving and +to change everything at the earliest moment. The danger need, however, +seldom be incurred. For uncertain weather have the waterproofs near; +but a suit of really good cloth should be enough for passing showers. +</P> + +<P> +The angling authors of the last generation invariably elaborated +sumptuary laws in this respect, enjoining upon you special suits of +different colours to tally with particular days. I would not recommend +staring white for a chalk stream, but otherwise the colour is a thing +of small consequence. A distinctive suit for fishing is money well +spent; and the fly-fisher especially requires something more than the +commonplace cut of jacket. For years a small paragraph at the bottom +of one of the <I>Field</I> columns advertised a certain fly-fishing jacket, +and I smiled at the notion that such an article could be anything +different from the ordinary shooting coat or Norfolk jacket. It was +said to have gusset sleeves, a fastening for the wrist, plenty of good +pockets for fly books, and it would not work up round the neck in +casting. Eventually I became the owner and wearer of one, and can say +that in fly-fishing or spinning I never previously knew what real +comfort in casting was. +</P> + +<P> +Wading stockings and brogues are always worth using, either for +fly-fishing, even if you do not require to wade, or for winter angling +amongst the coarse fish. They keep you dry, and you can kneel on the +grass or potter about amongst wet osiers, nettles, and rushes with +impunity. The best hat for me has been one with a moderately soft and +wide brim that may be turned down like a roof, to shoot off the rain +behind, or to shelter the eyes from the sun in front. The felt +fly-band is a very serviceable affair, but, to avoid taking off the +hat, the user of eyed hooks may have a band of felt stitched round the +upper part of the left arm. Above all, let the angler wear the best +woollen underclothing, and in winter plenty of it. +</P> + +<P> +Finally, brethren, and in conclusion, let me say that when fishing in +light marching order one has to dispense with many odds and ends that +are in themselves fisherman's comforts, though not precisely +essentials. The "priest" wherewith to knock your fish on the head, the +machine for weighing him on the spot, the spare boxes of tackle, the +second rod, or joints, may be done without. If you bring yourself to +study how little you require for a day's outing, it is astonishing how +much you will by and by leave behind. We are prone, of course, to make +arrangements for a great catch, both in numbers and weights; take a +23-lb. creel for bringing home a brace of pounders, enough tackle to +last the season through, and each article on scale as to solidity. +Once in a hundred times, and not more, will the result be equal to the +preparation. Still, there is a sort of pleasure in being equal to any +emergency, though at the cost of personal convenience. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SALMON AND THE KODAK +</H3> + +<P> +We had waited with exemplary patience for the dropping of the water. +There had been a fairly heavy flood during the last week in February, +but there would be no trouble with floating ice; that, at least, was a +comfort when one remembered the cruel sufferings from exposure of the +previous year. The Rowan Tree Pool is, in the early part of the spring +season, a sure find for a fish if you can but catch it in the humour. +The humour, however, does not last long, and you require to know that +pool with the intimacy of personal experience to hit it at the right +time; you have to study its countenance, and then, sooner or later, the +afternoon will arrive when you say "Thank the stars; she will be in +order to-morrow." This year the to-morrow when it did dawn admirably +suited the purpose of two friends of mine who were in temporary +possession of the Rowan Pool. Cold weather one takes as a matter of +course, grumbling not if the wind be moderate and mackintoshes remain +unstrapped. +</P> + +<P> +The two points of congratulation were (1) that the pool was in perfect +height and colour; and (2) that the light was good. The first +condition was satisfactory for Grey, the angler, the second for Brown, +the kodakeer. And herein lurks a necessity for explanation. Grey had +one evening, at the Fly Fishers' Club, been much impressed with a +violent tirade from a member about the generally incorrect way in which +the ordinary black and white artist illustrates the fisherman in +action, and had listened attentively as a group round the fire argued +themselves into the conclusion that there was much more to be done with +the photographic snapshot in angling than had ever yet been attempted. +He looked about for a man of leisure who was an enthusiast with the +camera, and skilful enough to get his living with it, should fate ever +drive him to earning his bread and cheese. Such an amateur he at +length discovered in Brown, and these were the two who, by nine o'clock +in the morning, were at the head of the Rowan Pool; their plans +prearranged in every detail; both men in excellent form, head, body, +and spirit; and Burdock, the keeper, resigned to the innovation of +photography which he sniffingly flouted as a piece of downright +tomfoolery. +</P> + +<P> +There was another character in the comedy of the day, a salmon fisher +of some repute for skill, but disliked for his selfishness, cynicism, +and overbearing assumption of mastership in the theory and practice of +fishing. As he was ever laying down the highest standards of sport +much was forgiven him. The men who used phantom, prawn, and worm, +however much and often they were made to writhe under his sneers, felt +that in maintaining the artificial fly as the only lure with which the +noble salmon should be tempted, he was on a lofty plane, and, if not +unassailable, had better be left there in his vain glory. They loved +him none the more, of course, and spun, prawned, and wormed as before, +honestly envying just a little the purist whose fly undoubtedly often +justified his claims. His beat was a mile higher up the river than the +Rowan Pool, and he is here introduced because on this morning Grey and +Brown gave him a lift in their wagonette, and dropped him at the larch +plantation so that he might, by the short cut of a woodland path, +attain the hut in the middle of his beat. Before climbing over the +stile he exhibited the big fly which he had selected as the likely +killer for the day, and offered Grey one if he preferred it. Grey, +however, had his own fancies, and declined with thanks; there was a +mutual chanting of "So long; tight lines," and the purist went off to +his hut and the rod which he kept there. +</P> + +<P> +Brown, with his compact paraphernalia, was put across from the lower +end of the pool to the right bank. This was necessary for his share of +the day's work, which was to take snapshots of his friend operating +from the left shore. The fishing part of the Rowan Pool was directly +under a rocky cliff opposite, and the position for the kodakeer was a +clump of bushes on a small natural platform half-way down. From this +elevation he could look into the deep water where the salmon was +generally found, and could command the entire pool with his apparatus. +Grey's side was an easily-sloping shingle with firm foothold out of the +force of the stream, an assuring advantage to a man who had to wade +within a foot of his armpits. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you there?" by and by shouted Grey, looking across to the bushy +ledge of the cliff. "Yes, and all ready," replied Brown, so well +concealed that the angler had to look twice to discover him. It was a +full water, and every cast that would send the fly to its place must be +close upon thirty yards. Whatever may be pretended to the contrary, +this is mighty fine throwing when it is done time after time; and Grey, +having fruitlessly fished his pool down twice with different flies, +waded ashore. +</P> + +<P> +Had Brown seen sign of a fish? No, he had not. The fly had worked +beautifully over the best part of the pool, and fished every inch of +the run known to be the lie of the fish. Had Brown taken any good +shots? Yes; he had been snapping Grey ever since he entered the water. +"Then," said Grey, "I'll fish the pool below, and give you an hour's +spell. If you move, do it as quietly as you can." "All right," said +the kodakeer; "it is not very cold; I'll have a smoke and a read, and +won't move at all unless I get cramped or frozen." +</P> + +<P> +Brown enjoyed his book, suffering no sort of discomfort; he lazily +smoked his pipe and thought how much better it was to be listening to +the twitter of the birds, watching the clouds of rooks wheeling over +the distant wood, and resting in peace, than slaving with an 18-ft. rod +and straining every muscle in the effort to dispatch the unheeded fly +across the big water to the core of the pool (for fishing purposes) +under the cliff. Then, down out of sight went his meerschaum, for +beyond the stile appeared the face of the great purist, who looked +cautiously around, stepped stealthily over, laid down his rod, walked a +little down stream to a point whence he could see the half-visible +figure of Grey very clear in the noonday light in the water of the next +pool. Then he returned and waded in to fish the Rowan. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a chance for the Kodak," muttered the witness, shrinking into +cover, and scarcely breathing lest his hiding-place should be revealed. +</P> + +<P> +The purist was too intent upon his design of fishing another man's pool +once down, without loss of time, to look about him carefully. The +coast was so obviously clear. Brown therefore took snapshots, a round +dozen, of what followed: (1) A fisherman armed with a 12-ft. spinning +rod, wading into the water at the precise bit of shingle previously +trodden by Grey; (2) a guilty-looking man, looking up and down stream +before making the first cast of a full-sized blue phantom; (3) the act +of casting, well done, and dropping the bait in the exact place +required; (4) the steady winding in of the line with the rod-point kept +low; (5) the phantom and its triangles dangling a yard from the +rod-point in mid-air, in pause for a fresh cast; (6) the bend of the +rod as a hooked fish set the winch a-scream; (7) the figure of a +dripping salmon curved in a fine leap out of water; (8) the retreat of +the purist to dry shingle, playing the fish the while with a cool, +strong hand; (9) the tailing out of the fish (with a backward view of +the fisherman); (10) the slaying of the salmon with a blow from a +pebble on the back of the head; (11) attention to tackle and removal of +phantom, fish lying in background; (12) disappearance of the purist +over the stile, dead fish suspended by the right hand, hanging for a +moment on near side as fisherman clambered down the off side of stile. +</P> + +<P> +The three men met later at the rendezvous for the wagonette. Grey and +Brown were waiting in a state of suppressed hilarity as the other +emerged from the plantation, placidly carrying his salmon by a piece of +looped cord. +</P> + +<P> +"Any sport?" he asked. Grey explained that he had had none—not a rise +all day. Yet he had fished the Rowan Pool carefully twice down, and +the other pool also. +</P> + +<P> +"What did he take?" asked Brown, pointing to the bright little +10-pounder. The purist did not trouble to reply in words; he merely +pointed to the fly left in the mouth of the fish. +</P> + +<P> +"My fingers were numbed," he said presently in a casual sort of way; +"and, as the gut broke off at the head, I just left it there." +</P> + +<P> +There was a touch of suspicion, not to say alarm, in the look of +amazement with which the purist received the shrieks of laughter which +simultaneously burst from the other two. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me," at length spluttered Brown, "but it is so dashed funny." +Then Grey exploded again, and the purist looked from one to the other. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well, come along," Brown said at last. There was not a word +spoken during the drive. The echoes were awakened once, on the brow of +the last hill, by the kodakeer, who, without any apparent cause, +exploded with laughter and held his sides. "Pardon me," he remarked, +"but it really is—Oh, lord, hold me!" (Explosion renewed.) +</P> + +<P> +Before alighting at the porch of the hotel, Brown called a halt as the +other two rose to step down from the wagonette. "Let me take a last +shot, please! Do you mind holding the fish up for a moment?" asked he. +Snap! and the thing was done. +</P> + +<P> +"Thanks awfully," said the operator. "That's my thirteenth shot. Oh, +lord, but it <I>is</I> so funny." And the welkin rang with what seemed to +be the mirth of a lunatic. Then Brown wiped the moisture from his eyes +and recovered his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"Shall we wet your salmon inside?" asked Grey, very quietly, and with a +seriousness not obviously germane to a festive occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, why not?" answered its captor, much puzzled. +</P> + +<P> +The three men, the door being shut by Grey, after the maid had left the +room, drank to each other. "You'll take that fly out before you send +the salmon away," said Grey suavely. +</P> + +<P> +"Why should I?" curtly answered the culprit, by this time white-faced +enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," was the reply, "I'll say nothing about your sneaking down and +fishing my pool when my back was turned, nor even about your poaching +my fish with a big phantom; but we can't have you make it the text of a +discourse on the virtues of fly fishing." +</P> + +<P> +"The fact is," added Brown, "I have thirteen snapshots of the whole +business, and if they develop as I expect they will, they will make an +admirable series under the general title of 'Spinning for Salmon in the +Rowan Pool.' I began with you as you waded in, and finished with you +holding up the poached fish with the fly in its mouth. As Grey says, +we'll forgive you the rest, but can't stand the fly. That means +hypocrisy as well as lying." +</P> + +<P> +The purist was wise enough to say never a word. He jerked out and +retained the fly, left the salmon on the floor, walked softly out, and +had vanished by next day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HALFORD AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES +</H3> + +<P> +The story of Halford's life has been well told by himself in the +<I>Autobiography</I>, published in 1903, and it would be with a pained +amazement that the wide circle of readers who knew him and of him +received the shock of his announced death in the daily papers. They +will, I am sure, be sadly interested in the brief story of the close of +that life under circumstances that were unspeakably pathetic. Mr. +Halford was in the habit of escaping our English winter by going to the +sunshine of resorts like the Riviera, Egypt, or Algiers, and this year +went to Tunis with his only son Ernest, his inseparable companion on +all such voyages. They had a good holiday, and Halford was in +excellent health, full of life and energy, keenly enjoying the +Orientalism of the place, and very busy with his camera. +</P> + +<P> +"Tunis is a remarkably busy, bustling sort of place"—he says in a +letter to me dated February 13 from the Majestic Hotel—"very Eastern, +with the usual accompanying stinks, and most interesting to us. I have +taken a good many photos, but am a bit doubtful about them, and do not +know why. But—well, we shall see. They have made Ernest an hon. +member of the Lawn Tennis Club (he is now Colonel Halford), so he gets +plenty of exercise, and the other members are great sportsmen. Indeed, +this is the most manifest development I notice amongst the French of +today." +</P> + +<P> +The Halfords left Tunis for home on February 24 in bad weather, and a +wretched boat, and F. M. H., always a good sailor, was the only +gentleman aboard who could appear at meals. At Marseilles, reached on +the 26th, Ernest and his father separated, the former to make a +business call at Paris, the latter to finish the voyage to London on +the P. and O. <I>Morea</I>, which sailed on the 28th, arriving at Gibraltar +on March 2 (Monday). Halford had found an old friend, Dr. Nicholson, +amongst the <I>Morea</I> passengers, and was greatly enjoying his voyage; +that day took part in a game of quoits, and cabled from Gibraltar, +"Excellent voyage. All well. Best love." After leaving Gibraltar he +felt out of sorts, and the ship's doctor and Dr. Nicholson, acting +together, found him somewhat feverish. Symptoms of a chill developed, +and on Tuesday he was no better, but after a temporary improvement +became worse. Pneumonia succeeded, and so rapidly strengthened that on +Wednesday morning the patient dictated a message, and in the afternoon +the doctors, by wireless telegram, informed his family at home of his +condition, and asked them to meet the boat. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest +Halford, Dr. C. R. Box, and Mr. Bertie Brown accordingly caught the +midnight train to Plymouth, rushed on board a tender that was on the +point of starting, and boarded the <I>Morea</I> at just before nine o'clock. +Mr. Halford was able to recognise his son and daughter, conversed a +little at intervals, but with difficulty, and became alarmingly worse +after a slight rally about one o'clock. He was passing away peacefully +during the afternoon as the ship came up the Thames, and died in his +son's arms as she was entering Tilbury Docks. +</P> + +<P> +No man is perfect; many are perfect in parts; some are almost perfect. +But the broad fact faces us that we must not say of any man that he is +perfect. There is a word, however, that years ago I applied to my +friend when I had learned to know and form a loving estimate of him. +He was thorough—thorough in his likes and dislikes, in his work, in +his play, in great things, in small things, in his common sense, in the +things he knew, in the things he did, in his many merits, in the clear +mind that planned no less than the deft hand that executed, in the +privacy of the home, and in the brazen bustle of the world of business. +That is how I long looked at F. M. Halford. He was just a specimen of +a real man, the man you can respect, admire, and trust; and, should you +know him well enough, you may add your love without being foolish. I +grant you Halford was one of those men who require knowing, but that is +another matter. It was my good fortune to be an intimate friend of +over thirty years' standing. I was asked to supply the <I>Field</I> with +this "appreciation"; for me, therefore, it is to justify my high +opinion, and to praise him. This I do with all my heart, keeping +myself in hand nevertheless the while, and not permitting the dolour of +Willesden Cemetery to act in favour of him there laid to his rest. +</P> + +<P> +But a man may be thorough, and at the same time we should not object if +he kept his thoroughness all to himself. Halford was not of that kind. +He was a delightful companion—generous, big-hearted, amusing, a sayer +of good things in a human way, and finely opinionated, which, of +course, was not a serious matter when he expected and liked you to be +opinionated also. He was a dangerous man to tackle in argument if your +knowledge of the subject was rickety. He was emphatically what is +termed a well-informed man, for that thoroughness of his stamped his +knowledge, and ruled his memory. You might not always agree with him, +but could seldom floor him, the ground he stood upon being rock-solid. +As both a giver and taker of chaff he was an adept. He had the courage +of his opinions, and none wiser than he when it was best to keep +opinions an unknown quantity. In travelling or by the waterside he was +wonderfully helpful if help was good for you—perhaps, if anything, too +helpful, though I cannot conceive a more pardonable fault than that. +Aye, Halford was verily a fine fellow. +</P> + +<P> +An important note to register in thinking of Halford is that he was one +upon whom fortune smiled. That makes a vast difference probably in the +shape a man will assume as he gets over the dividing range and goes +down the other side towards the cold river. In this respect, H. had +every reason to be grateful for blessings bestowed, and freely said so. +He had, of course, his ups and downs, and his part in life's battle; +but while still in the prime of life he had, so far as one could see, +achieved all that a reasonable man could desire. He could go from a +happy home in the West End to his club; as, per wish or mood, could +wander on Swiss mountains or by Italian lakes; and, above everything, +could have and hold his choice bit of fishing. In his younger days he +was a great opera-goer, and never lost his fondness for music; he was +an officer in the City Artillery Volunteers, and was thorough in that, +and there is a silver cup that notifies his prowess at the rifle butts. +</P> + +<P> +Need it be said that Halford's ante-chamber to paradise was his +fisheries? He was not himself a hard fisher, being content with two or +three hours in the forenoon (ten to one, as a rule) and the evening +rise. It might be wondered how the time could be passed in that case. +There need not be wonderment. He was not under the necessity, like so +many of us, of crowding a maximum of fishing into a minimum of time. +His fishing visits signified taking quarters and fishing the season +through, a succession of friends sharing the pleasure. The host would +be looking patiently after his water, collecting insects, carrying out +experiments, making notes, concerning himself with banks and +weeds—filling the days to the full with useful occupation, which, of +course, gave a zest to his actual fishing when he took it. Within a +fortnight of his death he was to take up his quarters at Dunbridge for +the season; all arrangements were made, and Coxon, the faithful keeper, +was ready to point out what had been done during the winter. And Coxon +was one of the mourners at the Saturday's funeral in the Jewish +Cemetery at Willesden. +</P> + +<P> +It will be of interest and useful here to announce that Mr. Ernest +Halford, after long consideration of what his father's wish would be, +decided to maintain the fishery in all respects as it had been +maintained since the beginning of the tenancy. Mr. Halford was +immensely popular in the Mottisfont district, and I may mention that +they had given a great ovation to his son and grandson on occasions +when they attended or presided at the annual dinners to the tenants and +workpeople on the fishery. That grandson, Halford always believed, +would by and by develop the family fishing traditions. The young +gentleman was meanwhile at Clifton College, and had already killed his +brace of rainbow trout, which his father had preserved for the +collection in the gallery at Pembridge Place; and these, at my last +visit to him at home, F. M. H. showed me, beaming with pride. His +pride also took the form of setting the head of the firm of Hardy +Brothers to the making of a special rod to fit the young Cliftonian's +hand. +</P> + +<P> +To the advantage of ample means should be added in happy sequence that +Halford had, on the whole, robust health to enjoy his fishing. His +regular habits of living, and common sense in food and matters of +hygiene kept him in excellent condition. Early rising and early +bed-going were his rule at home and abroad. Truly, he was in these +matters captain of both soul and body. Then his good fortune shone in +his happy home life. After the death of Mrs. Halford a few years ago, +it was feared the effect upon her husband would be abiding cause for +anxiety. As time went on, however, a new era dawned; the son had +married a lady who was, from the first, "puppetty's" best chum; bonnie +grandchildren arrived to make much of "puppetty," a charming house was +taken for the united home, and there was sunshine again. It was sweet +to see the contented grandfather in the midst of it and witness the +devotion of the young people to him. +</P> + +<P> +Amongst anglers in the English-speaking world Halford has been long +known as the apostle—nay, the Gamaliel of what is called "The Dry Fly +School." It is said that he reduced dry-fly fishing to a science. By +some he is ranked as the arch-type of the dry-fly purist, by which +word, I suppose, is meant the pushing of a theory to an extreme. +Certainly of late years devotion to the fly-rod admitted of no +allurements in other directions, and henceforth Halford will be +generally known, as he has been known since he took rank as master, as +a first authority on the one branch of our sport. Yet he reached that +position through the love and practice of every kind of fishing—in +short, through his enthusiasm as an "all-round angler," as it is the +custom to formularise the general practitioner of our sport. Even as a +boy-angler, however, he showed his inherent tendency to inquire, and +understand, and improve; he worked out the mysteries of the Nottingham +style on the Thames, and the betterment of sea fishing tackle with the +same ingenuity, perseverance, and success as in after years attended +his studies of chalk stream insects, their artificial imitations, and +the perfecting of the tackle demanded by the highest class of +fly-fishing. Let it not, however, be forgotten that he was never out +of sympathy with any class of angler or angling. If he appeared +indifferent to forms of angling loved by others, it was simply that he +placed his own first. In angling, it was trout and grayling fishing +that mattered most. He adopted it as his choice, and clung to it. +</P> + +<P> +People were just getting accustomed to the word "dry-fly" when Halford +began his career as a scientific exponent of the art to which he +devoted so many years of work and study. This was in the late sixties, +and he took trout fever on the pellucid Wandle, at that time a +beautiful stream with good store of singularly handsome trout, and a +regular company of gentlemen fly-fishers. The dry-fly men were, +however, few, for the eyed-hook was not in fashion, and the custom, not +only on the Wandle, but on other chalk streams, was to use the finest +gut attachments to flies that were dressed for floating. +</P> + +<P> +It was so like Halford to listen with all his ears to the advice of the +few who urged the advantage of the dry fly. Anything in the shape of +an improvement upon something that existed was like red rag to a bull +to him, and he went for the new idea with all his heart. He also went +for the line which was the standard of perfection to our forefathers, +and I must confess that the love of the familiar silk and hair line, +with which we of the old guard learned how to cast a fly, abides with +me to this day, and with it I, for one, can associate the hair cast, +and a certain ancient pony up in Yorkshire who was famous for his +never-failing tail supply of the best white strands, which were +considered indispensable by the fishers of all Wharfedale. Halford, +however, objected to the line, which certainly was given to +waterlogging and sagging at inconvenient times, and eagerly he took up +the dressing of modern lines. He had a hand in all the developments of +the process, and only declared himself satisfied when the Hawksley line +was perfected, leaving others to this day who are aiming at still more +betterment. +</P> + +<P> +How Halford accumulated his experience, building up a fabric so to +speak, brick by brick, is told in the <I>Autobiography</I> and the other +books written by him; and I may, in passing, suggest that in reading +Halford in these volumes you must always read very carefully between +the lines. You never know when you will find a pearl. The apparently +prosaic statement often contains a valuable lesson, and what seems to +be a sentence merely recording the capture of a trout of given inches +and ounces will be found to have been written with the object of +sustaining an argument or enforcing a truth. +</P> + +<P> +The story in the <I>Autobiography</I> of the fishing on the Wandle in those +early years is an instance in point. It is quite a short narrative +destitute of embroidery, and seemingly a casual introduction to what +shall come after, but it is in reality a revelation of the practical +methods that governed him from first to last, and which I venture to +sum up in one word "thorough." There is a paragraph telling how he +overcame a difficulty in circumventing a certain trout that lay about +the mouth of a culvert, and habitually flouted the Wandle rods. +Halford made it a problem and solved it at the opening of his second +Wandle season. He studied the position, obtained the necessary +permission to put white paint on a patch of branches, have them cut +down during the winter, and next season went down with his plan of +campaign in his head. Of course, it succeeded. On the face of it you +here have just an ordinary incident with nothing much in it. But it +emphasises the value of the horizontal cast and something of its +secret, while the kernel of the nut is the fact that it illustrates the +efficiency of using the wrist and not the length of the arm in casting. +</P> + +<P> +You will again and again find Halford's wisdom as if carelessly thrown +down upon a bald place. Some of the critics in the daily press were +fond of saying of his books, "Yes, yes: this is all very good no doubt, +but it does look as if page after page is simply a monotonous recital +of catching trout that are very much alike by processes that have a +strong family likeness." A careless surveyor of the page perhaps would +think in this way, and never for the life of him perceive the point +sought to be made by the writer of the book. +</P> + +<P> +Halford was an angler from his youth upwards, and himself tells us that +by his family he was considered "fishing mad," which, as so many of my +readers may remember, is the orthodox manner in which the young +enthusiast is classified by the unbelievers of his family. He fished +often and in various places as a youth, but it was not till he became a +member of the Houghton Club water on the Test that he plunged into his +life-work for anglers. The date may be given as 1877, and the fire was +kindled by being on the river one April day, and witnessing one of +those marvellous rises of grannom that might once be relied upon every +season on the Test. Many of us who still linger have seen this +phenomenon, only equalled by the hatch of Mayfly in the Kennet Valley +twenty years ago. Just as clouds of Mayfly would greet you on the +railway platforms between Reading and Hungerford, flying into the open +windows, clinging to the lamp-posts and seats, so at Houghton and +Stockbridge the shucks of the grannom would drift into eddies and +collect almost as solid as a weed-bed. Such things are not to be seen +now, and have not been seen for years. +</P> + +<P> +From the swaddling clothes of the risen grannom, cast thus upon the +surface of the water by the insect made perfect, Halford turned to the +artificial imitations then in use. They were of importance in those +days, for the grannom was an institution much regarded, and the grannom +season was held in high esteem. Anglers packed their kit and hurried +away when the grannom was signalled up. There were as many patterns of +the artificial grannom as there are to-day of the March brown, and it +was because Halford found them of varying forms and colourings, and not +a really good imitation of the natural fly amongst them all, that he +resolved to learn how to dress a fly for himself. His stores of +patience were heavily taxed in the preliminary stages, and the victory +came only after a long battle with difficulties. The standard volumes +he produced on the subject of dressing, and the kindred subject of the +entomological side of it, are conclusive evidence of what came of it +all. "Halford as a fly-dresser," however, is a topic too big to handle +in a chapter which merely aims at rambling recollections of him by the +waterside, and indeed it can only be dealt with by a master in the art +of fly-dressing. +</P> + +<P> +In his early days at Houghton, Halford went to John Hammond's shop in +Winchester just before the opening of the 1879 fishing season to buy +flies, and there met, and was introduced by the rubicund John to, a +tall, not to say gaunt, gentleman, who was the most famous of the +Hampshire trout fishers, none other than Marryat himself. This was the +beginning of a close, life-long friendship between the two men. +Halford was at all times most grateful to any helper, and never failed +freely to acknowledge assistance received. Whether he took advice +proffered or not was another matter; he sometimes did it all the same, +but he was always grateful. Words would fail to describe his +appreciation of such co-workers as Marryat at the beginning, and +Williamson at the end of the labours which are embodied in the series +of books which preceded the <I>Autobiography</I>. They were co-workers in +everything; hard workers, too. I have heard men lightly joke about +these worthies going about the meadows with a bug-net and lifting +individual ephemerals from the surface of the stream. Let those laugh +that win. It meant collecting hundreds of tiny insects, selecting the +fittest, preparing, preserving, and mounting them. It meant the +endless autopsy of fish and the patient searching of their entrails. +To stand by while Halford and Marryat with their scissors, forceps, and +whatnot laid out the contents of a trout's stomach, and bent low in +separating and identifying the items, putting what were worthy of it +under a microscope, and proceeding all the while as if the round world +offered no other pursuit half so worthy of concentrated attention, was +most fascinating. Many a time was I a spectator—I fear sometimes an +irreverent one—of this ritual, but always privileged and welcome; +always, of course, sympathetic, and always in a way envious of the +qualities of mind and extraordinary knowledge which made the whole work +a labour of love to them. +</P> + +<P> +It so fell out that two days after the meeting in John Hammond's shop +the parties met at Houghton, and the first of many foregatherings took +place that day in the well-remembered Sheep-bridge hut—Marryat, +Francis, Carlisle ("South-West"), and Halford. Halford had rooms in +the neighbourhood, and, in his own words, there this historical +quartette would "hold triangular fishing colloquies," "South-West" +having his home up the river at Stockport. Francis was the first of +the trio to fall out, his last casts being on his beloved Sheep-bridge +shallow. Halford's quarters were now at the mill at Houghton, and it +was my privilege to take Francis Francis's vacant place there, as also +in another place. +</P> + +<P> +What ambrosial nights we had in the homely millhouse after untiring +days with our rods! It was there that I insisted upon my host becoming +a contributor to the <I>Field</I>, and he required considerable persuasion. +Indeed, the suggestion roused him into one of his dogmatic +disputations, and he held on tenaciously, till, taking up my bedroom +candle, I said, "Well, I'm off to bed. You've got my opinion and my +advice, and, if you don't write that article you are a so-and-so. Good +night, old chap, sleep on it." Next morning I was taking my +ante-breakfast pipe on a cartwheel in the shed outside, and listening +to the diapason of the mill, when Halford came out. "All right, +sonny," he said, "I'll try it, but candidly I ha'e ma doots." This was +how the first "Detached Badger" article came to appear in the <I>Field</I>. +Walsh, the famous "Stonehenge," was editor of the paper then, and he +stuck for a while at the pseudonym which Halford chose. But he was the +best fellow in the world, and very soon good-humouredly gave in and +left it to me. Walsh, nevertheless, would always make merry over that +signature, and used with a twinkle of his eye to ask me whether my +friend the Badger was quite well. +</P> + +<P> +And what a delightful fishing companion the Badger was! Perhaps for +the first two years at Houghton the pleasure was just a little tempered +with one insignificant drawback. I had not then been long a dry-fly +practitioner, and was terribly ashamed for H. to watch me fishing. +'Tis thirty years back, yet I acutely remember my nervousness on that +point. Having got his brace or so of fish, and finished his studies of +water, rise of fly, weeds and weather, and neatly (and oh! so orderly +and accurately!) made his entries in his little notebook, he loved to +play gillie to his friend for hours together, criticise his style of +fishing, and give advice; naturally, after a time, if you are nervous, +you are certain of one thing only: that you are the king of asses, and +had better imitate the immortal colonel who hurled his book of salmon +flies into the pool shouting "Here, take the bally lot." The droll +thing was that Halford never dreamed that his chum was put out by his +good intentions, or that the victim's feeble smiles were but a mask for +nerve-flutters. +</P> + +<P> +One hot day I was over-tired and nakedly accomplished everything that +was wrong; the backward cast caught buttercups and daisies, the forward +throw fouled the sedges, the underhand cut landed line and cast in a +heap on the water, the fish was put down, the whole shallow scared. +Halford stood behind amiably commenting upon the bungling operations, +and then I uprose from a painful knee and delivered myself of remarks. +Well; yes, I let myself go, and let <I>him</I> "have it." The amazement of +Halford; his contrition; the colour that spread over his countenance +(you will remember how prettily he could blush with that complexion of +his, delicate as a woman in his last days); these sufficiently told me +that he had not the ghost of an idea of the perturbation that had been +seething in me. It took him the rest of the week to cease regretting +that he had been so unobservant, and never again during the remaining +eight-and-twenty years that we fished together at different times and +in divers places did he once depart from his resolve "never to do so no +more." During our long and happy acquaintance that was the only cloud +flitting over the sunshine of our friendship, and it was one of my +making. +</P> + +<P> +After Houghton there was a farmhouse at Headbourne Worthy, and a +season's fishing in the Itchen, and later Halford fished a good deal +below Winchester, where Cooke, Daniels, and Williamson had private +waters. But after Houghton the most notable preserve to be mentioned +was the Ramsbury water on the Kennet. The inspiration of "Making a +Fishery" came from that, for the four friends who leased the +water—Basil Field, Orchardson, R.A., N. Lloyd, and Halford—earnestly +addressed themselves to the reformation of a fishery that had become +depreciated. They spent much money, and carried out operations with a +lavish hand for four seasons. The story has been fully narrated by +Halford, and the conclusion (p. 217, <I>Autobiography</I>) is in these +words:—"We had perhaps been extravagant in our expenditure, and also +over-sanguine as to the probable result. The river when we took +possession swarmed with pike and dace, and had a few trout in the lower +part, and in the upper was fairly stocked. When we gave it up the pike +had been practically exterminated, and every yard of the river was +fully stocked with trout of strains far superior to the indigenous +slimy, yellow <I>Salmo fario</I> of the Kennet." +</P> + +<P> +The plain fact was that at the end of four years four of the best of +our dry-fly fishers gave up a water of which they had become very fond +because the trout did not rise at the little floating fly that +appeared, and the sport had decreased to a marked degree. A fishery +that gave poor and diminishing results, even with the Mayfly, sedge, +and Welshman's button, was not suitable for dry-fly experts, and the +Ramsbury experiment was abandoned. The moral has yet to be drawn, and +I have not yet seen anyone grapple at close quarters with the question +of cause and effect with the Ramsbury experiment as a test. "Making a +Fishery" sets down in detail what was done; the <I>Autobiography</I> tells +what came of it. Being one of those who has not faltered in the belief +that the clearing out of coarse fish, the introduction of new strains +of trout, and the artificial feeding of fish may be overdone, I used to +discuss the matter with Halford, but he did not agree with me. +</P> + +<P> +Having known the Ramsbury water before the reformation was undertaken, +I can testify that I seldom at any time saw a good rise of duns upon +it, and that a basket of trout more or less was, notwithstanding, a +reasonable certainty there under ordinarily favourable circumstances, +spite of pike and dace. I have with the wet fly, on days when no +floating fly was coming down, caught my two or three brace of trout +with some such pattern as Red Spinner, Governor, Alder, or Coachman for +the evening; indeed, if I remember correctly, it was on a six-brace day +with the "Red Spinner" on this water that, enamoured of that +artificial, I annexed its name for a series of articles contributed in +1874 to the <I>Gentleman's Magazine</I>, and have held by it ever since. +Foli, the opera-singer, once caught three half-pounders at a cast, and +the keeper netted them all, on this fishery. +</P> + +<P> +One evening we met at Ramsbury, after an afternoon without sign of fly +or rising trout. Halford and Basil Field were there, and we stood and +bewailed the absence of duns and lack of sport. We loitered there with +our rods spiked, and smoked sadly. I then, and not for the first time, +repeated the tale of my former experiences, and at last begged Halford +not to be shocked, not to think me an unforgivable brute, but would he +give me free permission to try the wet fly in the old way, and without +prejudice. He at first laughingly protested, but saying he would ne'er +consent, consented. I was to do my best or worst. The difficulty was +to find a fly that could be fished wet, and in the end a Red Spinner on +a No. 1 hook was forthcoming. I thereupon followed the old plan, +except that there was one instead of two flies, and caught a brace of +three-quarter pounders before we had moved fifty yards down the meadow. +They were the only trout taken that day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CASUAL VISITS TO NORWAY +</H3> + +<P> +It must be confessed that there is something really casual in the use +of such a word to head these sketches of my angling visits to Norway, +and the excuse is that it is appropriate as a keynote. The punishment +in a word fits the crime. Those visits, between 1889 and 1905 were +only occasional, a makeshift. The proper way to fish Norway is to +spend the fishing season there, living amongst the people and the +rivers. The casual visitor would always envy him who lived in the +Norwegian cottage fragrant with its deal boards into which he loved to +stick his flies when they had to be dried, or retouched with varnish or +whipping, and where somewhere outside he could keep his rods in +security and order when they were put together say in June, and kept +ready till they were packed up for the voyage home when the season was +over. +</P> + +<P> +The fascination of Norway grew to be very strong amongst anglers and +tourists by the sixties of the last century, and continued to grow +until all the conditions were violently upset by the catastrophe of the +reign of the devil engineered by Germany. The fascination will not be +forgotten with the return of peace. It will lay hold of us again, and +for the same reasons as before. The ordinary traveller will as before +find in the scenery and ways of the people the old fascination of +contrast. +</P> + +<P> +It might, however, be remarked that the fascination of Norway to the +angler somewhat changed as time proceeded into the nineteenth century. +Early in the century it was known to the few as the paradise of the +salmon fisherman. It remained without any great change for something +like a generation, and, like Scotland and Ireland in a lesser degree, +was not overrun. In those days only the rich could afford the time and +money which travel and sport without railways demanded. The railways +came, and with them a wonderful transformation of the world's habit and +custom. The growth of the Press in journalism and literature ranged +abreast of improved facilities for going afar, and the choice preserves +of the angler were, all in the order of things, invaded. +</P> + +<P> +Part of the fascination of Norway to the angler fifty years ago was the +cheapness of it. The man who talked to his friends of "my river in +Norway" paid but a few pounds a year for it; as the native farmer had +not yet been exploited, he retained the simple notions of his class, +and was mostly amused that the Englishman should take such trouble +about the salmon, which were of such small account to him. It is +common knowledge that this desirable state of things is past history, +and there is no need to waste words, or pipe laments, or (to descend to +homely metaphor) cry over spilt milk. +</P> + +<P> +The change came home to me on deck one night in the North Sea with +striking insistence. We were returning from fishing in Norway, and no +one, after a particularly bad season of "no water," seemed inclined to +be enthusiastic about the fascination of Norway; one sorrowful +gentleman, however, told me in hushed tones that his seven weeks on a +hired river had cost him 300 pounds, and for that and all his skill and +toil he had been rewarded with two salmon, three grilse, and one sea +trout. That, of course, was the extreme of ill-fortune, and might +occur to anyone anywhere. The truth is there are still fine chances +for salmon in Norway, and excellent chances for trout if you have the +gift of searching for rivers and lakes in remote districts. The +fascinations of the characteristic scenery, the comparatively unspoiled +people, and the rich legendary past remain. +</P> + +<P> +It is quite possible that the distance between Great Britain and Norway +is somewhat in the direction of fascination. If you go there for a +fishing holiday you are entitled to talk about seafaring matters. It +is not a mere crossing; it is a voyage, and I have known men get a +F.R.G.S. on the strength of it. On my first visit it did strike me on +my return that five days to reach your river and five to return, was +paying a fair price, apart from the fares (which were indeed reasonable +enough), for ten days' clear fishing, and I would suggest to the reader +to make his stay on the fishing ground as long as he possibly can, so +that the journey may seem worth while. Justice cannot be done to +Norway, its fish, or yourself under a month. There is not much to +choose between the two routes, the one from Hull, the other from +Newcastle, but care must be taken to time the arrival at the chief +ports to suit the smaller steamers that traverse the fiords. The North +Sea passage has its caprices of weather, but it is not very protracted. +If you leave port on Saturday night, by breakfast time on Monday you +are threading between the rocks that introduce you to Stavanger. That +same night you are (wind and weather permitting) at Bergen, and thence +next day you are going up the beautiful fiords to the river of your +choice amidst surroundings that are nowadays the property of the +picture postcard. +</P> + +<P> +In the short Norwegian summer great variations in weather must be +expected, and in the valleys I have experienced downpours of rain and +spells of heat equal to what I knew in the tropics. But as a rule the +angler has little to complain of. The warmer the air and the brighter +the sun the better in reason for the glacier-fed rivers, but let no one +wish for such floods as are caused by heavy rain in association with +warm winds. Out of my four visits one only was seriously marred by wet +weather, and that was nothing like so provoking as another year when +there was no rain, and yet no generous contributions to the rivers from +glacier or mountain. Even in July the rain is occasionally emphasised +by bitterly cold wind, and should your place that day be in a boat +there is little pleasure. An ordinary mackintosh is useless, and hours +of casting in solid oilskin and sou'-wester become irksome what time +the clouds press heavily down upon you and the rugged mountains frown +right and left. +</P> + +<P> +The one consolation rendered imperative under such circumstances by +poetic justice is a continual carolling from the suddenly agitated +winch. Fishermen forget this sentiment when they denounce the clamour +of the check and lay all their money on the silent reel. After an hour +of swish, swish, without touch from a fish, the scream of a winch is +like hymns in the night. However, let that pass. The point is you +must be prepared for heat and cold, wet and dry. I remember one +morning when, going out of our snug farmhouse in the valley to +reconnoitre, I found three or four poor cottagers cutting down their +wretched oats and snipping off their 3-in. growth of hay in a cruel +north wind, with the mountain tops white with new snow. A week +previously we had been sweltering in moist heat, and it was the only +time I ever saw a mosquito in Norway. +</P> + +<P> +The right-minded salmon fisher will always give first place to casting +from the bank, with or without waders. On some rivers such casting is +from rocks or boulders, and the work here is of the hardest, since it +means severe scrambling and slipping to pass from pool to pool. It is, +besides, a hazardous foothold that you get now and then. The +remembrance of half an hour in such a position has given me the shivers +many a time since. There tumbled over stupendous rocks upheaving +masses of pure white foam, true type of the great foss of the Norwegian +river in all its thunder and impetuous onrush. They poured into a +rock-hollowed basin of churning foam and smoking spray. It was a +turbulent oval pool, roaring and racing on either side, and narrowing +somewhat at the tail, where it leaped a barrier of boulders and became +a succession of rapids. The middle of this pool was, however, +comparatively tranquil, very deep, and more like an eddy than a stream. +This was the lie of the salmon, and there was said to be always one +there. To fish this maelstrom you waded across a platform of shallow +paved with slippery boulders bushel basket size, and stood in rough +water about a foot deep on a narrow ledge of rock protruding a yard or +so into the pool. It was deep enough beneath to drown an elephant; the +din of that roaring foss and the swirl of the waters bordered on +vertigo and deafness. But there it was to take or leave. +</P> + +<P> +Taken with good heart, after a thorough testing of tackle (the motto +being "Hold on for dear life"), the big Butcher failed to attract, and +I floundered ashore and sat on a rock before trying again with a +Wilkinson. That trial succeeded, for the line was rushed out and +across some twenty yards. The butt of the rod was then sternly +presented, and thereafter no line of more length than five yards could +be allowed. Every muscle strained, I literally leaned back solidly +against the bent rod for a full quarter of an hour, the fish below +meantime moving in circles or sulking. The gaffing was most cleverly +done by the good man who had never left my side, and I staggered out, +backed on to a mossy patch, and sank to ground exhausted and panting. +That capture stands out as my most thrilling episode in Norway. +</P> + +<P> +The more frequent occurrence is a foreshore of shingle, much or little +according to the volume of water, and here wading trousers are +indispensable, and I dare venture to say they are to the majority of +anglers wholly delightful. In waders somehow you feel very good. The +opportunities for wading on many of the large rivers are, however, +limited, the boat being a necessity for both salmon and sea trout. It +is the only way of casting over the fish. The boats are often too +skittish for comfort, though they are never so slight as the Canadian +canoe. You step ashore to finish conclusions with your fish, and when +your gaffsman is a village worthy who leaves his ordinary occupations +to gillie the stranger, accidents are not uncommon. Does one ever +forget the swiping at the cast instead of at the salmon by the honest +fellow who so much tries to please you, or the losses caused by sheer +inexperience or natural stupidity? +</P> + +<P> +The finest sea trout of my life ought to have been lost to me by this +sort of blundering. I had, as I thought, drilled the worthy cobbler at +least into the duty of keeping cool and combining vigour with +deliberation. I was casting from a grassy bank overhung with alders, +and the fish was well hooked on a Bulldog salmon fly. He ran hard and +far down-stream, but was checked in time and reeled slowly up. After a +quarter of an hour's play he was under the rod point, Johan all the +while dancing with the excitement of the keen sportsman. I kept him +off till the fish was spent and feebly gyrating at my feet. Then I +gave the sign, and he swooped at him with a ferocious stroke, falling +backward in the rebound. Just one word I uttered (spell it with three, +not four, letters), and implored him to be calm. Then he hit the fish +on the head with the back of the gaff. In the silence of despair I +resigned myself as he smote again; he actually now gaffed the fish, but +seemed too paralysed to lift him up the low bank. However, I dropped +the rod and snatched the gaff out of his hands, to discover that the +strangest thing in my experience had happened. The fish was gaffed +clean through the upper lip. The point of the gaff lay side by side +with my fly, the only difference being that the former was clean +through and the latter nicely embedded in the mouth. It was a sea +trout a fraction over 13 lb. +</P> + +<P> +An unkind fate declines to give me the month of August in its entirety +for a holiday; and the best I can do is to catch the steamer on +Saturday night, August 19. Salmon, so late as this, are not always to +be reckoned upon, and the best part of the sea trout run might be over +before I reach my destination. Certain data with the talisman +"Brevkort Gra Norge" had come to hand during that tropical fortnight +under which London experienced a wondrous spell of melting moments. +They were cheery messages of good sport and rosy prospects upon the +salmon and sea trout rivers of Norway, all sound material for hopeful +musing in the pleasant run from Hull to the Norwegian coast. +</P> + +<P> +The visit on which I invite the reader to share my introduction to the +country was very memorable. Five days to reach your fishing ground, as +I said before, represent a fair price, in labour and time, for, at the +outside, ten clear fishing days. We leave Hull at ten o'clock on +Saturday night. After a sweltering day the sky is wonderfully +brilliant with stars, the air undisturbed by even the faintest zephyr. +The minutest of the myriad lights that glow where there are wharves and +shipping are abnormally clear: and the dingy docks, in that atmosphere, +under the lamps of the streets and houses, give somewhat Venetian +effects. Outside is a summer sea, and the whole passage, in a ship +which, if not large, is wholesome and comfortable, and officered by +people who are never weary of ministering to your wishes, is pleasant. +</P> + +<P> +On Monday morning at breakfast time you are passing through the three +hundred and odd rocks, each having its own name, bestudding the +entrance to Stavanger. Two hours' discharge of cargo gives the +opportunity of running ashore, laying in a stock of Norwegian coins, +and seeing the cathedral and the few other sights of the place. In the +afternoon, when the Domino is fairly on her northern course, and when +the fiord landscapes should be a delight, we are in a gale, with +incessant rain. At eleven o'clock on Monday night we quietly come +alongside at the Bergen wharfage, but the rain keeps on. At eight on +Tuesday morning we are on board one of the smaller type of fiord +steamers, with three rod boxes amongst the luggage, some battens piled +on deck, and a moderate complement of passengers. +</P> + +<P> +Here, then, is our introduction to famous Norway, which seems not to be +in too kindly a mood. After the heat of London the gale blows very +cold, and the rain seems too effectually iced. The weather is, it +seems, phenomenally bad even for the time of year, and all this day, +and all the next alas! the voyage, in and out of the fiords, with +sundry stoppages in bays where the patient farmer makes patches of +green on a stubborn soil, and the hardy, sober-sided fishermen toil for +scant living, is done at disadvantage for those who would fain have the +masses of rocky borderings clear against the sky. The mountains are +shrouded in mist and capped with clouds, and during Tuesday night the +gale howls, and the storms of rain volley against the windows of the +cosy little smoke house on deck. Wednesday is an improvement in that +the gale has blown itself out. But the rain it rains on, though now in +a soft drizzle instead of driving sheets. The sides of precipitous +mountain crags are silvered with cascades, and as we penetrate further +into the fiord the scenery develops grandly, and the old snow patches +on the dark and lofty summits and picturesque saddles look startlingly +white. +</P> + +<P> +Voyaging up the coast and on the Norwegian fiords is delightful indeed +in fair weather. As a rule there is neither pitching nor rolling, but +it would be rash, nevertheless, to suppose that it is always like +boating on a river. Our little steamer for the best part of one day +and night, as a matter of fact, pitches and rolls enough to save some +of the passengers the expenses of the table. As the ticket only means +passage money, and the traveller is charged, as in an hotel, for what +he eats and drinks, he, at any rate, is not tormented by the thought +that he has paid for that which he has not received. Still, it is not +often that the fiords are in a ferment of waves under a heavy gale, and +the worst that happens is a temporary deviation from the general +smoothness when the course lies where there is open sea on one side. +The voyage northwards from Stavanger, where the Hull boats first touch, +is mostly between islands, and in continuous shelter. Sometimes the +narrows are not wider than the Thames at Oxford; then you steam out +into what seems to be a land-locked expanse of water, with precipitous +mountain rocks ahead. By and by you swerve to right or left, and a +totally different picture is presented. And so it is, hour after hour, +and day after day. For many a league north of Bergen the mountains and +island rocks are bare of vegetation—gloomy masses of grey and brown +that frown upon the waters in cloud, and cannot be glad even in +sunshine. Some of them are like gigantic wildernesses of upheaved +pudding stone. Then, as the voyage progresses, the hillsides put on +greenery, sombre when it is pine, cheerful when the hangings are +supplied by the silver birch, and bright ever when the emerald patches +bear testimony to the industry of the farmer, winning his scanty +harvests against heavy odds. The calling places are numerous, but +often consist of some half a dozen houses of the usual weatherboard, +red and white pattern. +</P> + +<P> +The hour is nevertheless welcome when you espy the sun-browned face of +a brother angler, surmounted by a cap in which the flies cast upon the +pools during the day are regaining a dry plumage, turned towards the +vessel bearing you to the homely wharfage of the fiord station which +for the time being is your destination. The rod box is no unfamiliar +item of luggage in this country, and it is borne ashore by men who +understand what it is, and who like to handle it. Norwegians have a +deep respect for the English gentleman who fishes their salmon rivers, +and when he has arrived at the same place many years in succession he +is most heartily welcomed by natives of both sexes, who while he +remains will devote themselves to his interests, in their own +way—which has to be understood, no doubt, but which is on the whole of +a character that makes the respect mutual. After five days' travel by +land, sea, and fiord, the Norwegian hotel seems a veritable home, and +you are quite ready to be predisposed in favour of bed and board. It +is not true that first impressions are lasting, but they certainly go a +long way; and that first <I>tête-à-tête</I> dinner with your host must needs +be a merry one. He probably is not so full of fishing as you are, +however keen he may be, for his rods have been for weeks on the pegs +under the little roof built for them on the side of the house. Any +wayfarer might take them, but they are safe enough, with reels and +lines attached, in this country, where the honesty of the people is +proverbial. +</P> + +<P> +Conversation now, and at breakfast in the morning, reveals a temporary +check in sport. About a week since there was a big storm, during which +the thunder rolled amongst the mountains, and the lightning flashed +upon the face of the fiords. Then followed three days of warm winds, +and these did what heavy rains do at home. The river coming down in +rolling flood through the melting of the glacier at the head of the +valley, the migratory fish had seized the opportunity, to them no doubt +a welcome chance, and pushed up to the higher reaches and even into the +lake. But this particular river can wait, as an excursion is arranged +for my first day to another river in a branch fiord, some eight miles +distant. A little local steamer picks us up at nine in the morning, +and my host, to whom I shall henceforth refer as G. P. F. (short for +Guide, Philosopher, and Friend), does not appear in his war paint. He +pretends that he wants an idle day, but he leaves his rod at home +simply that I may take the cream of what sport is going; hence, by and +by, when the owner of the river presses him to take his rod, he +laughingly declines, urging that he never likes to break other men's +tackle. +</P> + +<P> +The wonderfully pure atmosphere deceives you so much in Norway as to +distances, that it is best to give up guessing. The fine summit of +dark mountain, mottled with snow, lying in the rear of the nearer +range, at the head of the charming little fiord up which we steer this +morning in water smooth as a mirror, and glaring in a bright sun, seems +to me for instance, entitled to, say, a rank of 2,000 ft.: but I learn +on landing that it is over 6,000 ft., and a notable sentinel on the +outskirts of a most notable glacier and snowfield. The shores of the +fiord are cultivated to an unusual distance up the mountain side, and +after the rain and mist of previous days, this grand landscape is my +real introduction to the characteristic scenery of the better kind of +Norwegian fiord. In truth it is all most beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +The English gentleman who owns the river lives in a house near its +banks, and the ladies of his family are spending the season with him, +delighted with the experience, and the daughters taking their share in +the rod-work performed. The house is a type of the Norwegian fishing +quarters where life cannot be described as discomfort, much less +"roughing it." It is a pretty little villa, brightened by the refining +influences of cultured womanhood, and a summer inside its wooden walls +cannot surely be a hardship to anyone. One of the young ladies to whom +I am introduced is made to blush by the paternal statement that three +days previously she has slain a 28-lb. salmon, after two hours' battle, +with a 15-ft. grilse rod. +</P> + +<P> +But a man in his waders, eager for action after months of piscatorial +abstinence, pants for the river and its chances. At present there are +none of the latter. The sun is bright upon the pools, and we take a +stroll by the stream that I may comprehend its points as an example of +a Norwegian river of the smaller size. It differs from other types, +hereafter to be described, but, like all of them, its headwaters are a +lake, and it is fed by a glacier. The salmon, however, are prevented +from reaching the lake by a foss, or waterfall, about a mile and a half +from the mouth: the fishing is therefore limited to a few pools. It +is, however, a real "sporting" river by reason of the turbulence of +many of the runs for which the fish generally make a direct dash, and +have to be followed and contended with in roaring rapids, what time the +angler makes the best running he may amid stones, brooks, and with many +a bush between him and the river. +</P> + +<P> +It is the particular desire of the gentlemen who are looking on that I +should hook a salmon that will at once corroborate this theory by a +vigorous object lesson; equally sincere am I in my supplication that I +am not thus forced to make play for the Philistines. The chances are +as hopeless as they can be. But a slight cloud overcasts the sun by +and by, and I verily find myself well fastened in a salmon, with that +terrible threat of rushing foam at the tail of the pool; I make up my +mind to do the best, and mentally mark the point, near a footbridge +across a runnel, where I must probably come to grief. The salmon, +however, is no more inclined to give amusement to the spectators than I +am. He cruises about in a sullen humour, and acts as if he is rather +anxious than otherwise to come to the gaff. There is no difficulty, in +short, in applying the familiar time principle of a pound a minute, and +without a serious attempt to try escape per rapids, he comes to land, a +fish of 16 lb., that has been some time in the fresh water. +</P> + +<P> +As I nave not yet seen the fiord end of the river, we cross down from +the other side, and our host of the day kindly points me to scenes of +exciting adventure, in which the difficulties of killing a hooked fish +virtually furnish sport which amounts to catching twice over. He +presses me to try a somewhat shallow and level run where sea trout love +to lie, and offers me his rod (mine being left behind) for the purpose. +About the twelfth cast the reel sings a sweet anthem, and I have a +delightful quarter of an hour with an unconquerable fish that leaps +again and again in the air, but that has to give in at last, and lie +beside the salmon eventually, as handsome a fresh-run sea trout of 9 +lb. as mortal eye ever feasted upon. +</P> + +<P> +The Norwegian angler, as I soon discover, has to regard the sun not +precisely as would a worshipper. It has so fatal an effect upon the +pools that he gets into the habit of laying aside his rod, and waiting, +book in hand, pipe in mouth, excursionising in the land of Nod, or +practising any other pursuit that may occur to him for filling up the +time. In the southern streams that are not affected by the melting of +glaciers, and that have a habit of quickly running out to a no-sport +level when the winter snows have disappeared (confining the fishing +often to about one calendar month), the cloudless days, glorious though +they are to the tourist, are a dire affliction to him. Such a river as +this which gives me friendly welcome to the Norway fish is generally in +fair volume, and I see it tinted with a recent rise of some feet. In a +grey light, and from the water level, it seems to have a milky +discolour that bodes ill; but get upon one of the knolls when the sun +shines, and you have an exquisite blue, or rather variety of blues, +according to the depth of the water, or reflection from the changing +lights. There is a sweet silence in all this out-of-the-world valley, +and you can always lift your eyes to the eternal hills that look so +near, yet are so far, and smile at the thought of how very small you +are. The head gillie here is a Norsker, who makes nothing of dashing +into a whirlpool to gaff a salmon, and he once followed a fish to whom +the rod had been cast under a bridge where the torrent madly swirled, +came out safe on the other side, and triumphantly killed in the open. +My friend had many a story to tell of his smartness and knowledge, born +of a true love of sport. He once hooked a salmon at dusk, the man +standing by with the gaff. With one impetuous rush the fish raced down +the pool, through a long rapid and round a promontory, taking out line +until little was left. The angler held on grimly in the dark, and the +man, after grave cogitation, struck a match, leisurely made himself +acquainted with the angle of the line, and without a word moved away. +Possessed by an afterthought he, however, returned, struck another +light, and examined the quantity of line left upon the winch. Then he +walked off, and was heard climbing rocks and forcing his way through +the alders. After a time the line slackened and my friend reeled up; +but the fish was safe enough on the grass a long distance round the +promontory. The man had made his observations (literally throwing a +light upon the subject), concluded therefrom behind what particular +rock the salmon was taking refuge, groped and waded his way to the +spot, and gaffed the fish at the first shot. Such an attendant, who +knows every stone, so to speak, in the river, is invaluable. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CASTING FROM ROCKS AND BOATS +</H3> + +<P> +The reader of these sketchy studies of fishing in Norway has been +fairly warned already not to expect exciting records of slaughter +amongst salmon. Of course, no angler would be at a loss to explain +away his poor bags; his excuses are proverbial, they are an old joke, +they have long been a proverb. When people hear of unfavourable +weather, too much sun, rain, wind, or too little, they very sensibly +smile. I smile too, whenever, as so often happens, the necessity of +offering such pleas is emphasised by a discreet silence. The fisherman +who knows will be able, for himself, to read that the fates were very +much against us; and I would again remind him that my object is to +provide him with some knowledge that will be useful when the good time +of casual visits to Norway returns, and he sails across to make one for +himself. +</P> + +<P> +To a student of geology anxious to acquire knowledge on the practical +methods of Mr. Squeers, or to the athlete who loves to skip like a goat +from crag to crag, I fearlessly recommend No. 8 beat of the Mandal +river. He may take choice of rocks of every sort and size. The +convulsion of nature that transformed this peaceful valley of Southern +Norway did it with a will that left stupendous evidence of thoroughness +through all the ages. There are rocks more or less along all the +higher portions of the river, but in our section we had them in +unquestioned abundance. Sometimes they acted as frowning walls for the +stream, running deep and dark through narrow gorges; elsewhere they +took the form of great round-headed boulders, varying in size from a +coalscuttle to a dwelling-house. At other times they were strewn about +miscellaneously, varying in size, angular, and abounding in traps for +the unwary; at a distance they might look innocent as shingle, but the +going when you once began to tread amongst them was most fatiguing, and +even dangerous. +</P> + +<P> +Rocks are very well in their place, and as Norway is mostly rock they +give a distinctive character to the country. Peeping out, weather +stained, on the pine-clad mountain sides, they claim your admiration; +as a foothold for casting your fly or battling with a fish they are apt +to be a severe trial to the muscles, and in any shape or degree they +are an ever-present source of danger to rod or tackle. Had the water +during our stay in the country attained full proportions I must have +put up my best salmon rod. But I had too much respect for my favourite +steel centre split cane to leave any of its dainty varnish upon the +South Norway granite. The smaller greenheart, therefore, for the third +time gallantly survived its month on a Norway river; but those rocks +have literally chipped the shine from every joint, leaving, I believe +and hope, its constitution, nevertheless, quite sound. +</P> + +<P> +The higher reaches of our beat, as I have intimated, were a succession +of gorges or rapids; but whether precipitate wall, which rendered it +out of the question to fish the water, or comparatively open +boulder-land, you must always look down into it from the excellently +kept road which mostly followed the course of the stream. There were +no footpaths or tracks down to the water, but an adventurous person +might let himself down from crag to crag, and have his rod lowered to +him from above. This part of the Mandal I tried twice, but "Sarcelle," +who had been accustomed to some such exercise in the mountains of +Italy, tried it later with much perseverance, when the white foaming +water of the rapids had become moderate pools of dark water. +</P> + +<P> +We were often told that they always held salmon, and when the river is +in ordinary volume probably they do so. Very exciting it is to hook a +fish in one of these cauldrons, for the salmon must be held by main +force, and prevented from rushing into the rapid below. With the +strongest tackle, and a firm hold for the hook, it is amazing what a +strain you can put upon rod and fish when the playing must be confined +within a space of 100 yards by 50 yards. As a matter of fact, we did +badly in these rapids; the beat above had the advantage of a number of +long resting pools, and the fish apparently ran past us with scarcely a +halt. They seemed to know that the river was dropping; instinct told +them what the inhabitants were told by memory and eyesight, namely, +that so low a river had been seen but once before in this generation; +and they said, "Let us hasten until the rapids be passed; in beat No. +9, lo, we may rest from our labours, and, free from anxiety as to the +future, perchance lie at ease in the tranquil flow of the pools, and +push on to the lake at our leisure." +</P> + +<P> +Whereat the anglers of No. 9 rejoiced, for they had lovely wading +ground, with probably a minimum of rock trouble, and so killed fish day +by day. The rapids and passes to which I have been referring as +constituting the upper length of our beat were, I may add, not +continuous, but had to be approached by repeated climbs up to the road +level and a descent at some point farther on. The rocks hereabouts, +too, were wonderfully sharp-edged as compared with others which had +been fashioned and polished by the action of water, and there was a +general idea of Titanic splintering up that was not a little impressive. +</P> + +<P> +One pool of the highest repute for salmon in a fair height of water was +walled by lofty rocks on the village side, but was fishable from shore +on the other. This could only be attained by crossing the river either +above or below in a boat, and walking or stumbling to the head of the +pool over an acreage of scattered rocks. From the elevation of the +road this seemed an easy task, for distance toned down the obstacles so +that they appeared scarcely more formidable than pebbles. At close +quarters they, however, proved the most fatiguing of all; they were too +high for lightly stepping over, and too far apart for unbroken +progress, so that for a quarter of an hour you were letting yourself +down and hoisting yourself up these countless hindrances. The stones +along the edge of the pool were a trifle smaller, but it was never safe +to take a step without looking at your ground. +</P> + +<P> +You soon get into the way of such a condition of affairs; you learn +that, however the torrent may swirl or roar, you must keep your eye on +your foothold, since a small error may plunge you into the current. It +is essential, of course, to take advantage of every boulder that +affords even an extra foot of command over the pool. The pool in +question could only be properly fished by keeping the rod at right +angles over the stream, which could be beautifully worked at the edge +or centre by the rod-top pointing a little upwards. But to do this you +had often to stand on a boulder-perch in the water not larger than your +brogue. +</P> + +<P> +Strangely enough I was always in dread of hooking a salmon in this +pool, though in truth we never caught or saw one in it. I had arranged +beforehand with Ole to lend me the support of his strong arm if I had +some day to follow a fish down from boulder to boulder, and I am not +ashamed to confess that on many occasions both Ole, the gaffer, and +Knut, the boatman, rendered me assistance of this kind; they hauled me +up, and lowered me down, and kept me from falling when I was engaged in +a fight with a fish. +</P> + +<P> +So far as the pool under consideration went this emergency did not +arise; it yielded me nothing but tired limbs, and a few precepts which +may be useful to brother anglers who cast from rocks, as, for example: +In moving about, keep your eye on the stones; if you support yourself +with the gaff handle, make sure that the end of it is not jammed in a +crevice; keep going when stepping from boulder to boulder, as the swing +of regular advance is a greater help than occasional pauses; do not put +down your rod save when actually necessary, if you would do a friend's +duty to it and your winch; keep on examining the point of your hook; do +not be afraid of sliding down a rock that cannot be otherwise travelled +over, for in these days of science the reseating of breeks is not +impossible, and any casual personal disfigurement that may ensue is not +likely to be obtruded upon the notice of even personal friends. +</P> + +<P> +The nearest bit of fishing to our honest farmhouse gave us a charming +landscape, and it was not reached without some little difficulty. Just +above the village the rapids and fosses were finished by a broad pool +pouring over a fall, and creating the particular pool about which +something has been said. Then the river opened out to a lake-like area +from three to four hundred yards either way; the stream then took a +sudden turn at the lower end, charging direct upon a long line of +smooth, lofty, round-headed rocks, sloping considerably more than the +roof of an ordinary house. They would be of an average of 30 ft. above +the water. The river, after babbling over its expanse of shallows, +swerved sharply and coursed along at their feet in a kind of gut, which +was said to give the best low water holding ground in that part of the +river. +</P> + +<P> +In the early part of July the view from The Rocks, as we called them in +special distinction, was most enchanting. The whole expanse was full +like a lake, only a single spit cumbered with logs showing above water. +One of our three boats was fastened ashore to a line of booms fixed to +direct the course of the timber, which was already beginning to come +down in force, and it was always possible to pull across to a +convenient corner of The Rocks, and save ourselves a considerable +journey by land. As time went on the brimming lake disappeared; little +white heads of stones would appear one morning, and thereafter enlarge +day by day until they emerged as innumerable upstanding boulders. The +boat was now no longer available, for the water was so shallow that it +was blocked effectually at the outset. The stream, of course, charged +down upon The Rocks in gathering strength, and for the first fortnight +we were always sure of a grilse or two. At first The Rocks had to be +fished by standing on their open crowns, and although one was in +constant fear of scaring the fish by showing on such an eminence, no +great harm seemed to be done, probably because there was a background +of pine trees in the forest behind. As time advanced little ledges on +the rock slopes were left dry by the water, and it was possible to +slide down to them on all fours and fish the run with the rocks behind +us, necessitating left-handed casting, but giving perfect command of +about 60 yards of stream, which was for a while sure holding ground, +since it was deepest at the foot of the rocks. +</P> + +<P> +"Sarcelle" had his first experience of a fish on the Mandal river from +this place, and it was rather unfortunate. If I remember rightly, it +was Sunday evening, and in a shame-faced sort of way we had gone out at +seven o'clock to fish. The grilse were then running, and, as they are +here to-day and gone to-morrow, and I had already discovered that they +did not linger long in our parts, it was almost a duty not to allow a +day to pass without an attempt. "Sarcelle" had adventured upon a +Mayfly cast with a fly of sea trout size as dropper, and in point of +fact a sea trout fly at the end. I was sitting down filling a pipe +when he made his first cast, more by way of wetting his line than +anything else, and "I've got him" brought me to my feet, only in time +to see a grilse bend the rod and then break away. At the next cast a +salmon came, took one of the small flies, made a thrilling run, and +then snapped the collar. +</P> + +<P> +Even after this mishap "Sarcelle" killed his grilse and lent me his rod +to try for another. We had an example that evening of the way in which +fish are made shy. "Sarcelle" had the first turn down the pool, and, +besides losing two and catching one, he rose several others, three or +four of them showing away on shallow water that was rippling merrily, +but that was quite out of the orthodox limits of the run. I had the +second turn down, rose two, hooked one, and killed one. "Sarcelle" had +the third handling of the rod, and killed one fish without moving any +of the others. The place that evening seemed to be alive with grilse, +and there was an undoubted salmon that had escaped below. It was too +late, however, to give the pool the necessary rest and fish it down +again; but we were up early in the morning, to find that our grilse +during the night had left the country. +</P> + +<P> +After a fortnight's miscellaneous sport from The Rocks, during which +the grilse proved themselves to be as game as fish could be, frequently +running down into the rough water a hundred yards before we could get +on terms with them, we began to discover that even in this essentially +good place the water was too thin. If the grilse were running at all, +they no longer stopped in the old haunts; but the neck of the lower +pool gave us fish occasionally. But during the last three days what +had been here dark, deep water became a rough stream, which clearly +revealed the yellow boulders at the bottom. On our very last morning +"Sarcelle," who had been disappointed throughout in not getting a good +salmon, determined to make a final attempt from The Rocks where he had +made his first. I had packed up on the previous night, and was ready +for breakfast at eight o'clock, with all my goods stowed away on the +carriage, when he triumphantly appeared with an 8-lb. salmon and a +5-lb. grilse. He had caught them in this newly formed rapid, the +salmon being close by the side. +</P> + +<P> +The Rocks, however, were troublesome when they were slippery, but there +were little niches and crevices on their shoulders and sides, from +which grew flowering ling and tiny seedling pines, by the aid of which +we could manage to insert the edge of a boot sole somewhere and hold +on. "Sarcelle" one evening had hooked a capital fish in pretty strong +water, and had to follow it as best he could over The Rocks. Generally +very sure-footed, on this occasion he tumbled on his back, keeping the +rod all the time in his hands, but of course making a slack line. The +fish was still on when he regained his feet and tightened up, but the +relaxation had been fatal, and the grilse presently escaped. +</P> + +<P> +The Rocks, as I have said, were our favourite spot. When the water +became too low for ferrying across in the boat we had to walk about +half a mile down the dusty road, then diverge across a bit of marsh, +into the moss of which the foot sank as in velvet-pile; then ascend a +forest path, carpeted with pine needles that made the walking most +slippery; then traverse a bit of high plantation, and then walk or +slide down a steep, slippery, winding ascent to The Rocks themselves. +In the hot weather we generally arrived at our starting point in a bath +of perspiration, and began our fishing from a low platform, with a +great rock concealing us from the fish. This, however, was not the +favourite lie for the migrants, though it was the spot where "Sarcelle" +lost his salmon and grilse. I have already stated that The Rocks +formed a practically straight line right across the valley. Sitting on +the highest point, which would be fifty yards above the stream, there +was outspread to our eyes an exquisite panorama of typical South Norway +scenery; that is to say, there were pleasing evidences of cultivation +everywhere. Here, instead of having to get their bits of grass with +small reaping hooks, and send their baskets of hay by wire down from +the mountain tops, the farmers enjoyed fair breadths of pasture and +grain crop, so much so that mowing machines could be used. The verdure +of these bottoms and easy slopes at the foot of the hills was +delicious, with mountains all round, dark with pine, relieved with +occasional rock and patches of silver birch and other deciduous foliage. +</P> + +<P> +It was a glorious amphitheatre with environment of picturesque +mountains, and within these towering ramparts reposed the little +village of Lovdal, the prominent object in which was the church, with +its pure white walls, gables, plain grey spire and red roof, standing +on a little eminence in the middle distance. Then came a patch of +greenery formed by the apple trees of our most comfortable farmhouse. +Around it clustered the red-roofed wooden houses of the neighbours, and +there were two or three flagstaffs always conspicuous in the clear air. +On my arrival they had hoisted the Union Jack on our flagstaff, and +there was generally either the Norwegian or English flag to be seen +flying. The farthest point of mountain would be, perhaps, a couple of +miles distant as we looked straight up from The Rocks. +</P> + +<P> +It was my fortune to behold this entrancing scene considerably +transformed during my month's stay. At first the immediate landscape +was beautified by wild flowers; the blue of the harebells was +exquisitely set off by masses of golden St. John's wort, and on our +walk to The Rocks we would trample down meadow-sweet, marsh mallow, +bird's foot trefoil, and potentilla. There was one little detail of +the picture that was quite remarkable; it was a bright composition of +harebells, with the red-brown of ripening grass, and a patch of +Prussian blue representing a crop of oats immediately behind. By and +by the haymakers came, and down went the harebells, and in course of +time the Prussian blue became yellow straw. One Sunday evening +impresses itself upon my memory especially. The bells were tinkling as +the cows came down from the mountains, and the voices of the women and +children were heard afar in the clear air; down the valley came the +music of a military band in the encampment, and the sun disappearing +over the mountains brought out the colours of the pines and birches in +an indescribably vivid manner, and everything seemed luminous beyond +conception. +</P> + +<P> +But what impressed itself most upon me were the odours brought down to +me on my rocky seat by the soft wind. For quite half an hour there +were regular alternations of the fragrance of pine and new-mown hay. I +had often read of scents borne by zephyrs, but never so thoroughly +realised the sensation of air filled with them. The Rocks, I may add, +were at places hoary with age, curiously stained by the weather, +patched with mosses and ling, and rearwards was the wood with all +manner of shrubs and diversity of forest trees, amongst which I noticed +elm, oak, and cedar, and a complete undergrowth of bilberry and other +berries, which we could pluck and eat at any hour of the day, and +diversify such dessert with wild strawberries and raspberries by a +little search. The whole scene from The Rocks was one of peace and +tranquil prosperity, and one's heart was always warming towards the +kindly people, whose friendship we had quickly gained. During our stay +we cast and caught from many rocks, but none gave us so characteristic +and beautiful a picture in sunshine and in shade as these to which we +gave the distinctive name. +</P> + +<BR> +<HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center"> +<BR> + +<P> +The majority of anglers probably agree that fishing from a boat must, +under the best of circumstances, be ranked amongst the necessary evils +of an angler's life. The ideal salmon pool is one that can be waded, +and the stream where the salmon lie commanded from head to tail with +precision, without danger or unnecessary exertion to the wader. The +foothold for the man should be shingle or stones presenting a fairly +even bottom, sloping gradually from the edge, and enabling the +fisherman to operate comfortably with the water at his hips. Should he +have to venture deeper, the necessity of keeping the winch above water +requires a special strain upon the muscles, and this in time becomes +fatiguing. There is always, however, compensation in hooking a salmon +in this position, in which you have to hold your rod well up what time +you retire slowly to the <I>terra firma</I> that is above water, carrying on +the action as you go. +</P> + +<P> +A long pool of sufficient briskness to keep the fly in lively and +regular motion, a pool with varying depths and a sharp shallow at the +tail, a pool that will, let us say, take not less than half an hour to +fish down carefully, is what we should all perhaps choose if we could +do so; but even where the bottom is rough, and the angler, if he would +escape peril, must move with wary steps, where the stream is so out of +reach that it can only be properly worked in parts, and then with +difficulty—even this is better than fishing from a boat. I know of +nothing more delightful than wading such a pool at just the depth and +force of water which allows you to sit on it. Those who have not +indulged in this sensation may laugh at the idea of sitting on running +water, but it is quite possible, and many a time have I enjoyed this +utilisation of a current strong enough to support you as a seat. +</P> + +<P> +The principal fishing must after all be from a boat. It must not be +supposed that the frail craft in Norway are to be compared with those +models of boats for casting which you have on Tweed or Tay. The +Norwegian boats have to be used upon water that is often both shallow +and swift, and must be dragged from place to place. It is not +comfortable to cast from such boats in a standing position. You cast +sitting, very much cramped, on the first thwart, with your back to the +oarsman. After a little practice you can get out quite as much line as +you require, and for myself I retained my seat in playing a fish. +There is no need to enumerate the drawbacks of casting from a boat; +suffice to say that there are always enough to prevent you from +becoming attached to the practice, save as an occasional change. I say +nothing of harling, which is a different matter; you can lounge at your +ease in the stern of the boat, with a book in your hand, and trail on +until the winch gives you warning that a fish has hooked itself. +</P> + +<P> +Casting from a boat is much more trying than casting in other ways. +When on foot you are tired of fishing, you can choose your resting +place and sit down; but in a boat you are cramped and confined all the +time, with only the muscles of arms and shoulders engaged. One forgets +all this, of course, when there is sport, and I often smile on +remembering the amused expression which used to steal over the faces of +my men when they first beheld the little formulas which I always +observe, be the fun fast or slow. I can best explain this by recalling +one particular evening on the Mandal river. It was the one occasion +when I deemed it necessary to take out a mackintosh. With the +exception of a thunderstorm in the early part of July, the downpour as +to which was during the night, the days had been of strong and unbroken +sunshine; but in the middle of the month there came a close, cloudy day +when the flies were exceedingly troublesome, and the only mosquitoes +that were annoying during our stay came out in full trumpeting for an +hour or two. There was a favourite pool, very long and lively, which +we called Olaf's Garden, that served me very well, and one morning, in +bright sunshine, in the course of a half-hour I caught three fish +weighing 15 lb. +</P> + +<P> +On this day it began to dawn upon me that the water had become too low +for a grilse to remain here any length of time. Higher up was a +favourite reach of mine, named Pot Pool, and after fishing Olaf's +Garden and another reach, finding only a couple of grilse, I moved +elsewhere, and in the evening discovered that the fish appeared to be +resting in Pot Pool. A gentleman who formerly leased the Mandal river +had recommended me to try some of the delicate flies dressed by Haynes, +of Cork, and with one of these (the Orange Grouse), at starting, +between seven and eight, I killed a grilse of 5 lb. The pool was then +fished down leisurely, with no other result. Returning to the head, a +long rest was called, and, as I suspected there might be salmon, I +changed the fly to a fair-sized Durham Ranger. My gaffer, Ole, had +done me the honour in the forenoon of losing an 18-lb. or 20-lb. fish +in another pool, and though his custom was to sit on a rock and sing a +hymn while Knut was working at the oars, this evening, while I was +fishing the pool, the memory of his afternoon mishap kept him dolefully +silent. I had directed him to a little rocky cove for service in case +I should have the fortune to bring in a fish, as fruit meet to his +repentance. My custom is to fish a pool very patiently and thoroughly. +It is true that not more than half a dozen times in my life have I ever +hooked a salmon other than when the line was straight down the stream, +but by keeping the boat in the right course, and handling the rod to +suit it, there are several possibilities of presenting the fly on an +even keel. +</P> + +<P> +The swish, swish of the casting becomes decidedly monotonous as the +boat drops downward inch by inch. You lose yourself in dreamy +reveries, casting at length quite mechanically. The fly goes out to +its appointed place, sweeps round with the stream, and with a kind of +involuntary sigh the line is recovered, and the cast repeated. It +becomes machine action at last. On this evening I had impressed upon +Knut the desirability of being very slow indeed, and he was working +well. The stream was strong without rage, there was a dull curtain of +slate-grey overhead, and a light breeze was blowing in your teeth, but +not enough to make casting twenty-five yards of line a hardship. For a +time your thoughts centre upon the working of the fly. You wonder +whether a salmon has noticed it and is following it craftily round; if +so, will he take it? Or is it possible that after all you are not in +the exact lie of the salmon? +</P> + +<P> +The water, you see, has not yet become, as it will (and does) in a few +days, clear enough for you to know that the entire bed of the river +consists of huge boulders, with manifold guts and hollows, all lovely +abiding places for any well-disposed fish. You speculate on what you +shall do if you do hook a salmon at this or that particular point. You +scan the shore, mark the likeliest spot for landing, and mentally go +through the whole programme to its happy ending. You think what a +splendid thing it would be if you could get four, five, six, a dozen +salmon in as many casts, and how much better the bottom of the boat +would look if, instead of two or three comely grilse, it showed the +biggest salmon ever known in these parts. But no, nothing disturbs the +monotony. Swish, swish, swish! Gradually you forget all about salmon +and sport, and are thinking, maybe, of kith and kin across the North +Sea, or of sins of omission and commission. All at once you are +startled by that inspiring cry of the winch which some faddy people +pretend to think a nuisance. It is to the angler what the trumpet is +to the war horse. +</P> + +<P> +This was precisely what happened to me on the evening of which I write. +The bent grilse rod described an arc that only a salmon could make. He +went straight down, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty yards without a +possibility of check, even if one were so foolish as to wish to stop a +strongly running fish. At the first slackening of speed, however, it +is always wise to put on a little pressure, and cautiously begin with +the winch. After such a run a salmon will generally respond to the +slow winding in of the line, and, although after he has advanced ten or +fifteen yards he may make another spurt, you have him more under +control than in the first burst. A taut line, a bending rod never for +a moment allowed to unbend, and a firm yet sympathetic finger and thumb +at the winch handle are enough. Just keep cool, you and your man. +Knut, I may say, had to learn his management of a boat for fishing +purposes from me, and, therefore, knew the importance of being ready on +the instant to pull ashore, when and how he was ordered in a crisis. +On this occasion we had fixed upon our landing place, and Knut had +already received orders to pull steadily towards it if I hooked a fish. +In his excitement he put on the pace a little too much, a source of +danger met by letting the line ease the position. +</P> + +<P> +The salmon was incessant in short, sharp rushes, but, in course of +time, we were out of the stream into easy water, although the fish had +returned half a dozen times before he relinquished the advantage of the +current. He became convinced, however, that resistance was vain, and +stubbornly allowed himself to be towed on and on to land. Ole, eagerly +waiting in the cove, gaff in hand, was now determined to mend his +damaged reputation, and listened with humble attention to my injunction +to take it easy, and not to hit till he was quite sure. He was +standing on a small slab of rock that protruded into the water, and, +unfortunately, there was nothing but lofty rocks behind us. What one +likes is a nice beach or field upon which one can step backwards, +conducting the salmon safely and easily into the net. There was no +possibility of this now; indeed, we were forced to change our tactics +in a hurry. The salmon at the finish came in more quickly than I +wished, and was virtually under the point of the rod. With a couple of +inexperienced men I feared a smash if I attempted to land at such a +place. Salmon at close quarters often prove troublesome. This one was +several times brought near enough for a skilled gaffer to strike him as +he swam slowly along parallel with the boat, but this would have been +too much to expect from a learner. I had, therefore, to keep to the +boat, and not only to bring the fish in, but to guide it past me to the +ledge below. The fish, however, as I knew, was firmly hooked; it was +merely a question of time, and, as a fact, Ole very cleverly gaffed a +clean-run salmon of 13 lb. That day, besides the salmon caught and +another lost, I had grilse of 5 1/4 lb., 3 1/4 lb., 4 1/2 lb., and 3 lb. +</P> + +<P> +It was my good fortune to have Pot Pool again for the evening. Again +it was dull, with an incipient drizzle as we started out at six +o'clock. The fish were now rising, at any rate, in my pool. At the +very entrance to it, which was, in fact, the connecting run from The +Rocks, I killed, after a fussy tussle and plenty of leaping out of the +water, a grilse of 4 lb.; and we had barely rowed out into the stream +when a fish of 6 lb. or 7 lb. leaped head and tail out of the water at +my fly without touching it. The overcast character of the evening +suggested to me the use of a Bulldog, and we were now enabled to +practise the formulas at which Ole and Knut at first appeared so much +amused. On hooking a fish I keep my seat, and direct the course of the +boat to a suitable landing place. The craft must be pulled partly +ashore, if feasible, before I attempt to move. Then I rise and back +gently to the bow of the boat, where Ole is in readiness to lend me a +hand as I step out, sometimes no easy thing to do if I have to land on +a high, slippery rock. Delightful it is to have the fish fighting all +the time as only a grilse will. Your salmon often moves sullenly, and +will cruise slowly about with a dull, heavy strain that is most +comforting to an experienced man, who feels certain that the fish is +well hooked; but this is not wildly exciting. +</P> + +<P> +Your grilse is here, there, and everywhere. There is no slackening for +him. He is a dashing light dragoon ever at the charge, determined to +do the thing with spirit if it is to be done at all. At first I have +no doubt I lost more grilse by giving them too much law. The longer +the fish is on, the looser becomes the hold, and I have always found it +better with fish of 5 lb. or 6 lb. to play them to the top of the +water, and then run them in without another check. Occasionally you +may lose a fish this way, but in the long run you gain, and after a +little practice you will get into the trick of bringing the grilse on +his side submissively into the net. The butt, however, must be applied +at the proper moment, and when the proper stage of exhaustion is +reached can be told only by experience. To return, however, to the +formulas. The fish, being in the net and landed, is handled by myself +only; the eager, sportsmanlike instinct of your man will have to be +repressed, his first idea being to seize it and knock it on the head +with a stone. I have sufficient respect for either salmon or grilse to +finish them with the orthodox priest, and that also is a function I +like to perform myself. Then comes the extraction of the hook, always +an interesting, because instructive, formula for the angler. Next +follows the satisfaction of weighing the game with a spring balance, +and then seeing that it is deposited in the boat with a covering of +ling or alder leaves as a protection against flies or sun. +</P> + +<P> +Returning now to my evening, I may explain that Ole was absent on +leave, and that Knut, who was a most intelligent young fellow and the +schoolmaster of the village, was anxious to use the gaff or net as the +case may be. Having caught a 3 1/2-lb. grilse on a small Butcher, I +fished down Pot Pool very leisurely without a touch. After a fair +interval I removed the small fly and elected to take my chance +thereafter with a Jock Scott of larger size. It was now about eight +o'clock, and we went down the pool again, having a brief run with +probably a grilse, which held fast only a moment or two; then I was +becoming conscious again of the monotony of fruitless casting when +there was a splendid spin of the winch. This, I confess, was of such a +nature that I rose at once and determined to take my reward or +punishment, as it might happen, standing. It was an undoubted salmon, +for fifty yards down out of the water he came, the winch, curiously +enough, screaming all the time, and never ceasing when he fell in with +a loud splash and resumed his run. I had about 115 yards of line on my +winch, and I noticed, just as the fish moderated his express speed, +that there could not have been ten yards left. +</P> + +<P> +He was fighting all the time. Knut, fortunately, understood my +directions to follow him down instead of pulling up-stream and a little +across, as he usually did, and I was able at least to winch in +three-parts of the line before the next rush, which was equally +formidable, but not so long. I think I never had a salmon fight as +this one did. He, at any rate, was not one of the sulky kind, and it +was quite on the cards that I had one of the twenty or thirty pounders +for which the angler is always longing. By and by we landed on a +rock—or rather two rocks—Knut on a flat bit of crag and I on the +round head of a small boulder. The fish had so tired himself in his +shoots and fights out in the stream that he gave little trouble in the +slack water, but refused for a long time to be brought up anywhere near +the surface. When he did yield he came in the most lamb-like way, and +Knut had the pleasure of using the gaff for the first time. He hit the +fish fair and well, and, marvel of marvels, it was to an ounce the +weight of the fish killed in the same pool in the previous evening, +viz. 13 lb. +</P> + +<P> +Having now a good salmon, for this water, in the boat, and a grilse or +two, and it being nine o'clock, overcast, and with a dark bit of the +forest to walk through to the road, I signified my intention of going +home; but Knut's blue eyes opened wide in surprise and pleading, and he +besought me to have one more trial. As the young fellow had been +working hard for three hours, and this was uncommonly good of him, I +consented, and, keeping on the same fly, we began half-way up the pool, +my intention being only to fish the tail end. At the fifth cast, and +on a portion of the stream which I had fished over without disturbance +twice the same evening, up came another salmon, which fastened and went +off at the same fierce pace as the other. He stripped off the line +several times, gave me a splendid quarter of an hour's sport, and there +we were, the dangers of the stream left behind, the fish quietly +circling in easy courses in the slack water, Knut ready with his gaff +on his little platform, and I, cocksure of the fish, standing on the +round rock. To the left was water that in the dusk seemed to be deep +and black, and as all along this side the water was deep close in, I +concluded that all was safe. The fish was coming quietly in, and was +not two yards from the gaff, when it made a sudden dart to the left +into this dark water close to the rocks, and in a very short time I +realised that he had hung himself up. +</P> + +<P> +Getting as quickly as possible into the boat again, we moved slowly out +to the impediment, in the hope of its being nothing more than a rock +which could be cleared; but on looking down I saw that the bottom had +been a regular trap for sunken logs, and as I looked down into the +water I saw the fish, a silvery, clean-run fellow of about 8 lb., +fighting his hardest at the end of the line, which sawed and sawed +until it parted. I recovered most of the cast, but the fish had got +away with my bonny Jock Scott and the last strand. This was very +sickening, for we might have had a nice bag to take home; but it was +not to be, and in somewhat subdued spirits we fastened up the boat, got +our baggage together, and walked homeward. Still, it was a typical +experience of casting from a boat, and Knut and myself had the pleasure +of carrying home in the net, I holding the handle and he the rim, a +salmon of 13 lb., and grilse of 4 lb., 3 1/2 lb., and 3 lb. +</P> + +<P> +This, I may say, was the day when I hooked and played fifteen fish, of +which only five were caught. I dreamed about that fraudulent dark +water and its hidden logs, and in the searching sunlight of the next +day went over to examine. It was most artful of the salmon to take the +course he did, for I found that he had run under what was virtually a +spar of about 10 ft. long, with each end resting on a rock; below it +was a nice little interval of 18 in. of water, under which a salmon +could run. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SOME CONTRARIES OF WEATHER AND SPORT +</H3> + +<P> +At my first visit to Norway in 1899 I was greeted with days of roasting +heat, with roaming thunder growling incessantly in the mountains. The +angler fresh from England, out of training with his salmon rod, and +with the precarious rocks and boulders for foothold, gradually discards +his clothing; the coat is shed first, then probably the collar and +scarf, then the waistcoat. Some underclothing goes next. In two days +the heat sufficed to stick together in hopeless amalgamation all the +postage stamps in my purse, and I have at last discovered that the +haberdashery goods warranted fast colours, and paid for as such, leave +confused rainbow hues upon every vestige of attire after a good +Norwegian sweat. +</P> + +<P> +All this will signify to the initiated that fishing during the six +middle hours of the day is out of the question. It is not the case +that salmon will never take in glaring sunshine, but it is the +exception rather than the rule, and the game is decidedly not worth the +frizzle. It means, moreover, that the rivers are low, and it may be +stated that they have been so all the season so far, and that there can +be no really good sport until there is a change. To be sure, even a +single thunderstorm does help a little, but in my case it has wrought +harm; the rolling of thunder in the hills day after day, and the +surcharged atmosphere have had an undoubted influence in sulkifying the +fish, and there is a worse thing than that. +</P> + +<P> +This worse thing is the modest pine log of commerce. Driving, last +Sunday, from Christiansand over the hills and down into the Mandal +Valley, a distance of twenty-eight miles through most beautifully +typical South Norway scenery, in which, with the towering mountains of +rock timbered with dark sentinels to the very skyline, alternate +verdant, peaceful, prosperous, valleys glowing with wild flowers, in +which the bonny harebell is more assertive by the waysides, I was much +interested in the cut timber strewing the half-dried river bed whose +course we followed. The logs are of no great size, mere sticks of +pine, averaging a foot diameter and in lengths varying between twelve +and forty feet. It was obvious that these spars, like the anglers, +were waiting for a spate. How nice it would be for the hardy, honest +natives engaged in this all-important lumber industry if these prepared +sticks, each well ear-marked for recognition leagues perchance +down-stream, were swept offhand to market. +</P> + +<P> +My sentiments changed somewhat yesterday and the two previous days. I +may explain that there was a violent thunderstorm on Monday night, and +the Mandal river, a noble type of the rocky Norwegian salmon stream, +rose, perhaps, a couple of feet in the wider portions, and considerably +more where the bed contracted. Even such an addition to the volume of +water gave these logs a friendly lift, and brought them tumbling and +grinding along in hundreds without the aid of man; but on Thursday they +appeared in endless battalions, for by this time the timbermen had been +ordered out in force to give a friendly shove to the masses that had +jammed in some eddy or rocky corner. It is astonishing what a mere +touch will effect. With my pocket gaff last evening I lightly nudged a +floating spar in the ribs, and he set off right heartily, very gently, +yet firmly, cannoned without temper against a neighbour, and in less +than five minutes a block of perhaps 150 logs had started off, +scattering irregularly over the stream, and making a noise like distant +thunder as they charged over the boulders of the rapids below. +</P> + +<P> +There are circumstances, I have been told, under which salmon will rise +as well as at other times while logs are drifting, but our best pools +here are even-flowing and stately, reminding one often of the Tweed +between Kelso and Coldstream. The logs in such water are bad for fish. +The testimony of the local men is that the pools, from the piscatorial +point of view, are always unsettled while the logs are descending in +quantities, and that it is a rare thing at such times to induce a +salmon to take a fly. Moreover, with a thunderstorm spate of this +nature, and the operations of gangs of lumbermen hastening to set the +stranded stock on its way to port, the water is rendered very dirty; in +a word, until the muck has passed, and the river settled, the angler's +chances are poor indeed. +</P> + +<P> +The danger to the angler's gear, and any fish he hooks, when he finds +himself amongst the logs, is well known. The tenant of the beat above +ours lost two or three good salmon in one day by collisions of this +nature. Down at Lovdal we fish mostly from one of the somewhat crank +boats of the country, and my first salmon was hooked from the stern of +one of them, at the moment when a score of logs that had been gyrating +in an aimless sort of way in a great dark backwater must needs hustle +one another in company into a corner where they were suddenly caught by +a strong undercurrent, and almost hauled out into the current, +unnoticed by my boatman. For myself I was engaged with a hooked fish, +and fortunately for me he was not large. The man had all he could do +to fend off the spars with his oars, and at that critical moment, when +the fish is either turned or allowed a new lease of life, we had the +honour of notice to quit from a spar on either side. Mr. Salmon, +without a fin-flick of apology, taking a mean advantage, darted under +the stick to the right, and at express speed made across stream. One +does not, however, use Hercules gut for nothing; the log was travelling +swiftly, and I ventured to clap my rod-top down to and under the +surface, thus saving my tackle, and being presently able to land and +gaff my 10-lb. fresh-run salmon without risk or hurry. This fish, I +may add, rose in the fiercest of sunshine in the forenoon, and some +logs were coming down, but only one here and there. +</P> + +<P> +The river in fact had only then begun to rise briskly, and on +Wednesday, when the lumbermen were hard at work above, three salmon, +one of them a certain twenty pounder, fluttered up at the fly. They +did not mean business though. That pool I fished, with change of +pattern and abundant intervals, until I was not merely fit but ready to +drop, and rose two of the fish a second time. On Thursday the river +was so out of order that I left the salmon rod in its rack in the barn +and drove up to Manflo lake, arriving there in time to see the effects +of an apparently innocent occurrence of thunder and lightning. There +was no storm or overcasting of the heavens, only a single discharge +from one wandering cloud, yet it fired the forests in two places, and +we saw the columns of white smoke of the conflagration. With thunder +all around the hills it did not seem promising for the trout; still we +had driven eight miles to try them, and were there for the purpose, so +we unmoored the boat and began. The trout were small and of two +varieties—a dark, heavily-blotched, lanky fish, with coarse head, and +a shapely golden fellow, thickly studded in every part with small black +spots. I used merely one cast—Zulu, red and teal, March brown with +silver ribbing—and in two hours I had caught forty-one trout weighing +13 lb. In salmon fishing here one catches brown trout every day; your +salmon fly may be large, medium, or small, it is all the same to these +voracious fario, which never appear to be more than half a pound. One +has the consolation always in Norway of knowing that what one catches +need never be wasted. There is something quite touching in the +gratitude which the poor villager evinces in return for a present of +two little trout. +</P> + +<P> +An instance may be mentioned of apparent service to the salmon angler +by the trout which, as a rule, are execrated as an intolerable +nuisance. After you have succeeded in working your fly some thirty +yards below, and can feel it swimming on an even keel at the end of a +straightly-extended line, the supreme moment of expectation has +arrived; to have the situation thus achieved by labour ruined by the +impudence of a trout 9 in. or 10 in. long is warranty, if ever, for +speaking out. My example is of such a nuisance to which I owe a +grilse. At any rate, that is my theory. Two salmon and five grilse +were at that time my total for odd hours of fishing during part of the +week, and I had fished with the Durham Ranger and Butcher (No. 4). One +evening, putting off for another drift down the pool, I bethought me of +a set of his favourite turkey wings specially dressed for this +expedition by my friend Wright, of Annan, and resolved to fulfil my +promise of giving them a trial without further delay. The name of the +fly of my first choice is, I believe, the Border Fancy; the brown +turkey wing showed well in the water, and the irregular mingling of +lemon, red, and black of the pig's wool, relieved by a band of silver +twist, made altogether a very attractive lure. The boat was crossing +diagonally to our course, and I was leisurely getting out line, when a +trout plucked at the fly. I saw him, as it were, knocked aside rudely, +and shall always believe that it was intentionally done by the grilse, +which immediately fastened to the fly, and was duly netted on shore. +Within twenty minutes the same fly rose and landed me a salmon. I +rechristened this fly the Wullie, and determined after that evening's +work was done to preserve it for copying. King log, however, +interfered with my well-meant intentions. A stick of pine by and by +feloniously shot round a corner of rock unawares, and ere I could +recover the cast the fly was embedded in the butt of it, and there was +a quick smash. In what remote part of the earth will the Wullie be +next found—or will it become the adornment of a permanent waterlog +without leaving the river of its birthplace? +</P> + +<P> +The fish which I have caught to this date, fishing about twenty hours +during the whole week (including Sunday night, when, after my sea +journey and long carriage drive from Christiansand, I went out at eight +o'clock, caught seven trout, and afterwards read a chapter of <I>Shandon +Bells</I> under an apple-tree at half-past ten at night in good daylight) +have been curiously uniform in weights. The salmon were 10 1/2 lb., 10 +1/4 lb., and 10 lb.; the grilse 3 1/2 lb., 3 1/4 lb., 3 lb., 3 1/2 lb., +and 3 lb. +</P> + +<P> +As a contrast to these hot days, let us arrive at the doings of a wet +week, of which most travellers in the country get more or less +experience. +</P> + +<P> +When you read in your guide-book "The climate of the west coast is +usually mild, being influenced by the Atlantic and the Gulf Stream, +which impinges upon it," you will, having the ordinary experiences of +this vale of tears, not omit the mackintoshes from your baggage. It +may be, as is set forth a little farther down, that July and August are +the best months for this part of Norway; but there is never any +trusting that Atlantic and Gulf Stream. Yet here we are at the end of +a solid week of rain, with every promise of more to follow. This +morning the rushing sound which greeted my waking moments was, +nevertheless, different from that of previous mornings. It was merely +the steady but strong flow of the river, not fifty yards from my +bedroom window, speeding from the wooden bridge to the mouth at the +fiord, half a mile below. Previously there had been variations upon +this unceasing monotone, and they were caused by the rain pattering +upon the leaves of an old ash outside, upon the shrubs and trees of the +little orchard, and at times upon the veranda and even window panes. +</P> + +<P> +There is no mistake about rain in Norway when it is in earnest, and a +week of it is more than enough. It is true the nights have not this +time been so wet as the days, but what consolation is that when the +effect is to keep the river in perpetual flood? No; there is a vast +difference between three and seven days, on a salmon river. The lesser +infliction moves the fish and improves sport. In the days that are +left you may find ample compensation in superior bags. Now there have +been seven days' downpour, the river getting worse every day, and +leaving a tolerable certainty of three days' additional patience for +running down and clearing. But that is not the worst. I have said +that there was a difference this morning when I got up and looked out. +The sandy paths were dry, showing that there had been no fresh rain in +the night. Moreover, the hillsides were open to view, the silver rills +that veined the rugged steeps were dwindling, there was a blue sky, and +great ranges of wooded or desolate mountains were in clearly cut +outline—the first time since the wet period set in. Over the shoulder +of the huge pyramid to the east there was actual sunshine, and the +fleecy clouds were high. So at last there was to be an end to our +mourning; verily so, since the wind had at last veered from south to +north-west. Yet at this very moment, and it is still an hour short of +noon, a heavy storm is making uproar without, the rain is descending in +torrents, and there is the added discomfort of a shiver-breeding +atmosphere. At any rate, we are under cover, and need not issue forth +unless we choose. This is better than what must have been the fate of +poor S., who went to the fjelds just before the break of fine weather +to shoot ryper. He has been literally up in the clouds, and the birds +will have been lying so low as to give points to "'Brer rabbit." +Condemned to the solitude of a rude saeter, a hut in the most primitive +sense of the term, he must have furnished a capital example of the +English gentleman who forsakes the seductions of a London season and +the luxuries of a Piccadilly club for the sake of sport. +</P> + +<P> +To be sure, in our case, this reverse is only part of fisherman's luck, +and we may be—and no doubt are—thankful that there was a fair +fortnight, to begin with, placed on the right side of the account. +Sport was, for various reasons, not by any means up to par, but we can, +on this miserable Sabbath day, in our comfortable hotel by the strong, +highly coloured river, count up a total of a trifle over 500 lb. to our +two rods in little more than a fortnight. These were mostly sea trout, +but of a lower average weight than is usual at this period of the +season, the run of heavy fish—anything from 6 lb. to 16 lb.—having +apparently taken place in July instead of August. The rule on this +river is first a run of big sea trout, then a run of smaller size, and, +lastly, a small run of bull trout, with occasional salmon throughout. +H. has had the best of the bag, but a few salmon and grilse on another +river gives me 244 lb. as my share. +</P> + +<P> +My prettiest experience in the wet week was interesting. The river was +big and dirty, the rain most hearty. The prospects were so poor that +H. stuck to Anthony Trollope in the veranda. A thin piece of water on +the lower beat to my mind offered a remote chance for a sea trout, and +I was rowed down in a particular direct rainfall to it. The boatman +shook his head at the small Bulldog I put on; he would have preferred a +darker fly, salmon size. In a rough tumble of water over small +boulders, which were not a foot beneath the foam-headed waves, a fish +fastened, and the spin of the reel was shrill above the tumult of the +waters. The grilse rod was tested severely, as in truth were my arms +for a few minutes. The fish rushed forty yards down stream at express +speed, then dodged and fought right and left. By and by the clever +boatman got the boat through every variety of strong water to a landing +place, and in good time the fish came to the gaff, a splendid bull +trout of 10 lb. I wish some of my friends who are not satisfied upon +the bull trout question could have seen this dark, broadly-spotted, +burly fish, as it lay side by side with a silvery four-pound sea trout +that I had previously taken with the same fly. It was as a Clydesdale +to a thoroughbred. Seeing must then have been believing. +</P> + +<P> +For the present let us forget that wet week. We will return to the +rain, perhaps, another day; suffice now to state that we had three +weeks of it—three weeks and never a day without mackintoshes. Last +night it must have snowed pretty hard up on the fjelds, for there are +at this moment white mantles lower down on the mountains than have been +seen for many a year at this period of the season. The only way by +which I can temporarily forget the weather is to go back to the day +when, in England, the sportsmen were "inaugurating" (there are worse +words than that though it is not pure English) the grouse season. On +August 12 we were on a visit to S., whose river is a few hours' +steaming from the stream upon which I was established in headquarters. +It was our fourth day there, and, as a relief from the salmon rod, +which had found out the unused muscles of my arms and shoulders, I took +a holiday so far as to go out for once with a trout rod. It was a +whole-cane pattern of 10 ft. 6 in. As it was already put together in +the rack at the back of the hotel, I borrowed it just to save the +bother of fixing up my own greenheart. In the tidal portion of the +river capital sport was sometimes to be found with the common trout. +They are Salmo fario of the kind one often catches in Norway—silvery, +marked with a galaxy of small black spots, with a red point here and +there, and game to the death; and their favourite taking time in this +river was when the tide was nearing low water. +</P> + +<P> +On that particular date this happened pretty early, and I was on the +pebbly strand by eight o'clock. Our friends who fish the river use +small March browns, blue duns, and teal and reds for such light +amusement; but I had with me a couple of patterns—to wit, the Killer +(a sea-trout fly which in a previous visit to Norway the small trout +had fancied very freely) and an adaptation of the Alexandra used on the +Costa for grayling. Both have silver bodies, but the former is a study +in yellow, the latter a harmony in peacock-blue; and these special +dressings were on eyed hooks, say about the size of a medium sedge, +though of more scanty material. One of each was put up on an untapered +cast of the finest undrawn gut; but, in ordering the collars to go with +the flies, I had begged that every strand should be of picked stuff, +round and even from end to end, and that they should be in every detail +sound and sure. +</P> + +<P> +My temporary gillie D. was by nature taciturn but always willing. This +morning he was willing enough, but mum as an oyster. Nay, he sat upon +the great grey rock on the little island and watched me make ready with +a wonderfully melancholy expression. It was only when a salmon on the +other side splashed noisily that he smiled—the grim relaxation of +features that means resignation tempered with pity, not encouragement, +nor hope, nor approval. His entire demeanour said, "To think that I +should have carried the gaff, and gillied good salmon fishermen for +years, and be degraded into this mean tomfoolery." A little impressed +with his attitude, and, I think I may add, half in sympathy, I advised +him as well as I could to rest him tranquilly on the rock, and not +worry till I demanded his assistance. Then, hitching up my wading +stockings, I went in to less than knee-deep and angled for trout for a +quarter of an hour to no purpose. The green, dark water of the regular +current was an easy cast out, but the fish I sought were generally +taken on its edge, or in about a foot depth of shallow, when the flies +came down at the end of a line that had been allowed to sweep round +with the stream. I got a couple of 9-in. fish, and knew that the +half-pounders were not rising. +</P> + +<P> +Next I moved in to above the knees, and pulled out a little more line; +was looking up at the snow patches on the mountain tops, and the fir +trees on the slope, when I was startled by a rude pluck and a whirring +of the little reel. I receded to shore as quickly as I could with a +bent rod and running fish to hold, and then became aware that my line +could not be more than thirty yards in length. Down and down went the +fish. Sometimes he paused and shook himself; now and again he even +responded to my winching in, or even played about without rushing. +Once he ran ten yards upstream, but for the most part I ran with him, +and was mainly absorbed by a desire to keep as much line in hand as +possible. D. had seen my position at once, and was soon at my rear, +pocket gaff in hand, and all the sadness gone from his harsh visage. I +think the fight lasted about ten minutes, but it was splendid battle +every moment of the time, and D. finally gaffed out a silvery grilse, +the smallest I had ever taken. I weighed him on the spot; he was 3 lb. +He had taken the small edition of the Killer, and a few moments more +would have given him liberty. +</P> + +<P> +This was an encouraging beginning certainly, for I suppose no man +complains if, going out to catch half-pound trout, he bags a grilse, +small though it be. Now I regretted that I had no longer line, and +that I had not stuck to the winch which I had replaced by one of my +own—a small ebony and silver one, which five-and-twenty years ago +formed part of a collection of goods composing the only prize I ever +received. It happened that the biggest pike of the year at the Stanley +Anglers, of which I was a member, had been caught by me without +competing, or thinking of prizes; but I was proud to take the award +when it was offered, and had the amount laid out in tackle. Here was +the winch, after much service, accounting for a grilse in Norway! I +now ran my fingers down the gut cast, tested the knots, and began +again. D. did not go back to his rock, and while in the water, having +delivered my cast, I was turning round to hand him my tobacco pouch, +when a furious pluck nearly brought the rod-top to the water. But one +manages these things by instinct, and the whole-cane was arched like a +bow again, and, out of the water, now abreast, now below, now away in +the stream, leaped a sea trout. He was the most restless of fishes; +the grilse had gone through his campaign with severe dignity, but this +fellow played endless pranks, and led me a merry dance down the +pebbles, ending in the production of the spring balance, and a register +of 2 1/2 lb. The sun was out strong now, and I feared that the fun was +over. Never, however, leave off because of the sun with sea trout; no, +nor with salmon either, though only half or quarter of a chance is left +you. I have killed some salmon and plenty of sea trout, though after +much apparently hopeless toil, against all the rules as to sun, wind, +and cloud. I was recalling examples when the rod was made to quiver +again, and this time it was a sea trout of over 1 1/2 lb. I would not +degrade D. by allowing him to interfere, but walked back and hauled the +fish up a sandy spit, extracted the hook, and weighed him myself, as I +generally do. In the next quarter of an hour I got three sea trout of +the smaller size, and weighed them <I>en bloc</I>, tied together, at 5 lb. +the leash. Breakfast was now fairly earned, and in a fine state of +perspiration and contentment I led the way home. In the afternoon I +was bound to make a show with the big rod, but left the whole-cane +trouter where I could pick it up for an evening trial on the scene of +the morning's sport. We all got something that day, but the sun was +too much for anything but casualties with salmon. With a small Bulldog +I found, hooked, and strove with a fish that bored and jiggered most +unconscionably. He worked like a fair salmon so long as he remained +dogged; when once he moved up from the bottom, however, I estimated him +for a sample that would at least not prove beyond the 10 lb. limit of +my spring balance. And so it turned out. D. did me the honour of +missing him twice in succession with the gaff, and he quite lost his +nerve. He threw down the gaff, in his agitation, and, amidst roars of +laughter from a couple of onlookers on the farther side, literally +danced about amongst salmon, gaff, and line. Sternly I bade him get +out of the way, and by a crowning mercy his gaff at the false strikes, +and his feet during the <I>pas deux</I> (he and the salmon were actually +waltzing together on the stones) had not touched the line, However, the +fish was exhausted, and followed me with commendable docility as I +retired in good order up the bank, hauling him bodily. D. now seemed +stricken with remorse; he clattered into the water behind the fish, and +with the ferocity of a very Viking kicked it ignominiously up to the +grassy plateau to which I had moved. How much avoirdupois the worthy +man had kicked out of that salmon I know not; what remained weighed 7 +lb., and it was a singularly bright and handsomely shaped fish. There +was this advantage in the application of the boot instead of the +gaff—the fish was not disfigured by a gashed side. +</P> + +<P> +The salmon was very welcome, but I was thinking all the while of the +excitement of the morning and the brisk quivering of the trout rod. +Somehow I found myself down there again in the early evening, D. +accompanying me with another attack of depression. He was quite right +from his point of view. His master had taught him—if, indeed, he had +not inherited the doctrine—that salmon are the only things worth +calling fish. Sea trout count for nothing; brown trout for less than +that. Still, he pocketed his disapproval, and came along with lack +lustre eye. S. came down, too, just as I was wading in, to see me +start, and in a few minutes I announced that a good fish had risen +short at the small Killer. This was a timely falsity, as I wanted just +then the opportunity of filling my pipe—not an easy thing to do +knee-deep in water. By putting your rod over your right arm, and +fixing the butt into your pocket, it may, however, be done; the line +takes care of itself, and the flies will be below you somewhere out of +danger. There must have been down there a 10-in. sea trout at the very +lap of the water on the stones—perhaps it had followed the fly in from +the stream; anyhow, there it was on the Killer when I had lighted the +pipe, and I gave it freedom, without including it in the bag of the +day. After the brief interval I addressed myself to the false riser +who had, without knowing it, accommodated me in the matter of the pipe. +With the sense of obligation strong upon me, I gave him his opportunity +with delicacy and deliberation; he came up like an Itchen patriarch at +a Mayfly, and I had a full ten minutes' race down the bank, with +heartfelt tussles at intervals that made the engagement gloriously +alive. This fish was quite worthy of the gaff, being a beautiful sea +trout of 5 lb. +</P> + +<P> +The five-pounder had been hooked on the shallow, and to the shallow I +again devoted myself. There were rises, without touches at the fly, in +two successive casts; at the third I was fast in another good fish; saw +him roll over and over on the surface, and lost him. He was lightly +hooked, and the little Killer and the cast came back entire. It was a +sea trout quite as large as that last knocked on the head. But I could +afford one loss that day, and my philosophy was presently rewarded by a +sea trout of 2 1/2 lb. As the golden sun set in a world of +rose-coloured clouds reflected in one of the loveliest of bays, I found +myself engaged in a warm contest that seemed never to end. Twice there +was not a yard of line left on the small winch; several times I had to +go into the water again; between whiles I was kept on the trot and +canter, and was puffing like an engine when the combat ended with a +grilse of 3 1/2 lb., the gaffing of which caused the loss somehow of +the ornamental handle of the instrument. I never found the gaff +handle, but I retain a vivid remembrance of my gymnastics during that +superb sunset. There was another sea trout to complete the day's +sport—an inconsiderable pounder—which my henchman, however, strung up +with the rest. Besides the eleven fish (one salmon, two grilse, and +eight sea trout) there were some small brown trout, given to a young +Norsker who had been hanging about the bank; and the bag was altogether +an honest 34 lb. It must be remembered that the stream was always so +strong that the endurance of the cast and strength of the rod was a +really remarkable fact. At times the rod was bent until it seemed it +must break somewhere, especially with the grilse and 5-lb. sea trout; +but it came home as straight as ever. The same fine gut collar and the +one small Killer accounted for every fish caught that day except the +salmon, which was taken with the usual salmon equipment. Yes; +balancing the accounts fairly, I really do think I may with a clear +conscience set that one bright day against that one wet week in Norway. +At the same time it must not be supposed that such a bag is anything to +talk about for Norway. Did not H., only two days agone, venturing out +for an afternoon, return early with 40 lb. of sea trout, and did he not +three seasons back kill 60 lb. in part of a day? The moral of my +modest narrative is that you may do more than you wot of sometimes with +a trout rod and fine tackle even in the strong streams of Norway. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LAST DAYS WITH NORWAY AND ITS SEA TROUT +</H3> + +<P> +To-day we say "farvell" to the willing, good-hearted fellows who have +served us so loyally these bygone weeks, and to the kindly people with +whom you cannot help making friends after a brief residence amongst the +simple farmer and village folk of Norway. We have, therefore, to +prepare for flight of seventy miles down the fiord in order to catch +the English boat at Bergen; and, to do this, we have had to charter a +small craft on our own account if we would intercept the next regular +steamer plying from Trondjhem southwards. The greater part of the day +has been, in consequence, spent perforce in the odious work of packing +up; but I need here only say, as cognate to packing up, that the tackle +one carries is considerable, and that many of us undoubtedly get into +the habit of taking much more than is necessary. At any rate, the +occupation of stowing away impedimenta has gobbled a considerable slice +out of this day. Yet I have not only managed to get a bit of fishing +but, strange to say, have made exactly the same bag of fish as to +number and weight as I did on that bright day aforetime described. +Perhaps it is unnecessary to begin by affirming that once more, as diem +per diem for three weeks, we have had to work at our play amidst rain +unceasing from morning till night. H. has been two hours and more gone +up the river salmon fishing, and as dinner to-night will be somewhat +late, I sit down with the storm racketing around the house, to write +the history of this last day's sport with the sea trout. The +consciousness of a fairly good day, all things considered, puts me at +peace with myself and the world; and the transference from wet to dry +clothes, not to speak of the storm-tossed appearance of an occasional +boatman dropping down to the fiord, imparts a sense of comfort that is +not at all a drawback when one takes up the pen. +</P> + +<P> +Before getting into his stolkjarre this morning, H., referring to the +high tides, solaced me by the remark that, although the river was a +couple of feet higher than it ought to be, there was an even chance of +fair sport. To begin with the water was not badly coloured, and it was +clearing. The two hours preceding low water were, as usual, mentioned +as the period in which business with sea trout should be most pressing. +After, therefore, three hours in my littered rooms with two big +portmanteaux, I summoned my man (always ready for a summons), and we +trudged off along road and bye-track to the island which was our +customary starting point, and a favourite place at all times. +</P> + +<P> +If newly-run sea trout rested <I>en route</I> anywhere, it would be +somewhere off its green banks. Above the island the river was a long, +broad, dull reach, where a good deal of harling was done by the +natives. At H.'s boundary there were rocks, breaking the stream into +typical runs, and there was one channel or gut, about ten yards out +from the island bank, which rarely failed in giving temporary lodgings +to running fish. Properly speaking, an angler should, in fishing this +down from shore, keep behind the low-growing alders; but it always +seemed more advantageous to me, as a student of fish movement, to watch +the progress of the fly. Never in the world could there be a better +place to note the movements of a sea trout, and so you began the day +with faculties all awake. The small Bulldog (after the point had been +duly touched up by the file) was first put up, and at the third cast I +beheld a brown streak and a silver flash, followed by an abrupt +disappearance of the object. A sea trout had showed himself without +nearing the fly, and had retired immediately to quarters. Ten minutes +as a rule was ample for this island casting, but as, on this occasion, +there was no other sign than that I have mentioned, I could not but +spare a few extra minutes to my friend who had falsely made overtures +to the Bulldog; the least to be done was another trial with a fly of a +different pattern. But he remained sulky or scared. +</P> + +<P> +Then we took to the boat, and began to fish the well-known water with +careful assiduity. And my heart sank as time sped along, and +resting-place after resting-place for fish was deliberately worked +without result. Low clouds, in horizontal strata of white masses, +shrouded the mountain sides, there was a miserable shiver of wind upon +the water, and for any token to eye or hand there might not have been a +fish in the river. By and by we came to the conclusion that, for the +time being, the game was not worth the candle; and we went ashore to +snatch a hasty luncheon under the dripping eaves of a boat-house. In +the bows of the boat there were two fish, so insignificant that we +would not weigh them, though we afterwards found that they were each +about 2 lb. We shrugged our shoulders on the surmise that either there +had been no run of sea trout during these propitious moonlight nights, +or that they were by one consent in one of their non-taking humours. +Sea trout, however, are notoriously capricious, and not being likely to +get any moister than I already was from the rain, I determined, before +saying a final good-bye, to toil on through the two hours after low +water, notwithstanding that what remained was the lower part of the +beat on which the slight incoming tide made itself felt earliest. +</P> + +<P> +When you are fishing on the forlorn-hope principle, you are not +thinking much about the immediate chances of sport. At times of +anything like encouragement, you are keenly particular as to the fall +of the fly and its correct working on an even keel; nay, you are so +sensitive and alert that the touch of a passing leaflet on the hook +produces some sort of excitement. Every cast goes out with a cluster +of hopes in pursuit, and dreams as to possibilities; you keep looking +round to be satisfied that the gaff is ready to hand, and everything in +the boat shipshape for action. As it was after luncheon to-day, you +think of anything but a fish taking hold; you swish on monotonously and +mechanically; you muse of friends at home and abroad, of the sport you +enjoyed yesterday or the day before, of chances lost, perhaps even of +your general career through either a well-ordered or misspent life as +the case may happen to be; and then, hey presto! you are startled, +brought up with a round turn by a sudden plunge of the rod and that +delicious sound—an alarm of the reel. +</P> + +<P> +This was precisely my case, and from the evidences permitted it should +have been a worthy fish which, so suddenly welcome, intruded upon +reverie. One of the disadvantages of boat fishing in a big, strongly +flowing Norway river, is the prolonged chances given to your fish by +the necessity of going ashore to land him. We had now to tow this +unknown quantity close upon a hundred yards across before we could gain +the shore, and the hooked one was resisting all the time. It turned +out to be a 3-lb. sea trout, hooked foul. For a little while there was +seldom a cast without at least a rise. Twice the fish broke water +heavily without touching the feathers, and that is comparatively an out +of the way occurrence. Two or three times they just touched the hook, +ran out a yard or so of line, fluttered on the top of the water, and +were off. This is one of the common phases of sea-trout fishing; it +just now showed that the fish were in a different temper from that of +the pre-luncheon era, when there was no moving them, whether truly or +falsely. There was, at any rate, a change, promising that sooner or +later they would fall into a really gripping mood. Sea trout are +indeed kittle cattle. There are days when the fish one and all seize +the fly boldly and are fastened beyond recall, while for days in +succession they touch the hook only to get off the moment a fair strain +is realised. +</P> + +<P> +Three times during this fast-and-loose interval was the fly changed. +Now it was a Jock Scott with double hook, now a Durham Ranger on single +hook, now the Bulldog again. The latter, however, was out of favour, +and I rummaged out from the box a Fiery Brown, which I had selected +with some others from the stock of Little (of the Haymarket), who +happened to be in Norway at the time inspecting certain salmon and +trout rivers, with days of fishing in the intervals, and who was good +enough to allow me to take what I wanted from his book on the morning +of his departure for England. The Fiery Brown did very well. It +brought me in succession fish of 4 1/2 lb., 3 lb., and 2 1/2 lb., and +others, so that at four o'clock in the afternoon, instead of two small +sea trout in the boat, I had ten, and was quite satisfied if they +remained at that figure. +</P> + +<P> +On this last day I did not, however, care to lose sight for ever of +that half-hearted sea trout which had baulked me at starting up at the +island. A., although he was out of sorts, and had been pretty well +worked day by day, was for towing the boat up-stream and fishing the +whole river down again, but to this I objected. There was no use in +working a willing horse to death; and perhaps I might also honestly say +that by this time I was a trifle tired myself. We therefore left the +boat at its usual moorings half-way, and plodded up through the sloppy +marsh and over the slippery rocks to the desired spot. I wanted no +more two- or three-pounders, and, in a sort of care-nothing spirit, +decided upon a Butcher, of small salmon-fly size, this being perhaps +one of the very best all-round patterns for Norwegian waters. A few +casts tested the hold where my sea trout of the morning lay, but he was +still obdurate, unless he had adopted the unlikely course of pushing +upwards since our transient interview. +</P> + +<P> +I pulled out a few more yards of line, and fished farther out over +water that was deeper and not of high repute as the halting-stage of +sea trout. But I had my reward presently in a determined assault upon +the fly, delivered well under water. +</P> + +<P> +It might here be mentioned that at the tapering point of the island, +some fifty yards below, a swift branch stream, created by the island, +poured in; and again fifty yards farther on there was a general +conjunction of streams and eddies, making a leaping, roaring toss of +broken water, with a tremendously heavy, sliding volume to the left. +Below this lively meeting-place the concentrated currents swept round +furiously under the cliff at right angles. It was tolerably certain +disaster to one party if ever a fish got so far as that. To be +forewarned was, however, to be forearmed, and, knowing the dangers of +the position, we always examined our cast beforehand, so that, in case +of the tug of war, defeat should not be caused by defective gut. It +was evident from the very beginning that I was now at issue with a +heavy fish of some kind. There was that short steady run deep in the +water which we all like; no foolish pirouetting at the end of the line +on the top of the water here. The rod was arched to its utmost; +everything was splendidly taut. It was one of those combats when the +fisherman feels that he may, when challenged, plant his feet wide apart +and lean bodily against what he is holding. +</P> + +<P> +After the preliminary canter the fish made a gallant rush straight +down, shot like an arrow past the end of the island, and, hesitating an +instant, betrayed a desire to sheer into the heart of the rapid. Kept +out of this by a firm hand, he sped across to the other side, then made +another attempt to get down to the narrows. For just about a minute it +was neck or nothing between us, but I had made up my mind that, whether +he broke me or not, go a yard farther towards danger he should not. He +might have known what was my fell purpose, for, after doggedly holding +his own while I might count ten, he came up, literally inch by inch, in +response to the cautious turn of the winch handle. It is the acme of +sport to have a fine fish on your winch, as it were, trying his best to +increase distance, fighting right and left incessantly, and yet +compelled to advance against his will in the teeth of a powerful +glacier-fed stream. There was a prolongation of this exquisite +excitement. Sometimes the fish would be winched up to within thirty +yards of line, and then in a twinkling there would be fifty or sixty +yards quivering at the stretch, and the old tactics had to be repeated. +The fear all the while was that the fish, however well hooked at first, +might eventually break away the hold; but I had not now to learn that +in such a dilemma it is always well to be as hard with the fish as the +tackle will bear, and the time arrived when the line became short and +the fish subdued, and A., seeing his opportunity with the gaff, waded +in amongst the boulders at the very point of the island. Nothing, +however, could induce the fish to come into the moderately slack water +where gaffing would have been an easy matter. He floundered about on +the very verge of the branch stream, and before long, rather than give +more line, I was forced to walk back amongst the undergrowth. +</P> + +<P> +It was time the fish was out of these mutual difficulties, and if he +would not take the steel where he ought to have been, we must strike +him where and how we could. Back amongst the bushes I could just see +A.'s head and bent body with the outstretched gaff. As the poor fellow +had missed a fish once or twice that day (being as I have before said +much indisposed with a severe cold and a splitting headache), I was, at +this delay, fearful of the sequel, and observed with horror his wild, +scythe-like sweep with the gaff. I could feel also, but too surely, +that the fish had received a violent blow; but the sound of its +continued splashing in the water and the steady strain upon the line +allowed me to breathe again, and to realise that the weapon had not +touched the gut. A. would get very nervous if you spoke to him under +these circumstances, and the ejaculation that would have only been +natural was therefore suppressed. Silently retiring a few steps +farther into the bushes, with tightly set lips, I could only hope for +the best. The best happened, and in a moment or two A. came up the +grassy slope with a glorious sea trout of 12 lb. impaled upon the gaff. +It was a mystery that the ending was of this kind, for on the shoulder +of the fish there was a rip quite six inches long, where the gaff, on +its errand of failure a few moments before, had shockingly scored the +flesh. "A good one for the last," I said, "now we will go home"; and +homewards we went, calling at the boat on our way down to string up the +rest of the spoil, which I counted and weighed there and then, and, as +I intimated earlier, found that it was exactly the record of my other +best day in August—eleven fish (but all sea trout) weighing 34 lb. +</P> + +<P> +Having written so much of this last day with the sea trout, I find on +inquiry that there is no sign of H. yet, and that dinner will not be +ready for at least another hour. I therefore amuse myself by going +through my daily record, to tot up the gross returns. We are very +curiously fashioned, inside as well as out, and although, considering +the adverse circumstances which I have not failed to describe, I ought +to be contented, I find myself grieving. Will the reader guess for a +moment why? I will save his time by stating that it is because upon +adding up the daily jottings of my notebook, I find that I leave off +just 5 lb. short of 400 lb.—ninety-eight fish totalling 395 lb., not +including sundry bags of brown trout. This is hard, but it is too late +now to make the gross weight even figures. It is much too dark to go +out again, the tide would be all wrong if I did go out, yet had I known +that I was so near 400 lb. I should have remained on that river until I +had made it up. +</P> + +<P> +The salmon fishing, I may take the opportunity of adding, was a +failure. But for the fact that we had hired the river for ten days, we +probably should never have gone to the trouble of making the two or +three attempts we did make. There had been some fine fish taken during +the weeks when we were occupied in sea-trout fishing. There had been +one of 57 lb. killed on a spoon, and on my first visit to our newly +acquired fishing, a party of young gentlemen, who had taken the other +side of the water, were in high spirits. On the lawn in front of the +house there lay a fish of over 30 lb., another of 29 lb., and two +smaller ones. +</P> + +<P> +The angler who had caught them naturally thought that with a record of +four fish weighing 96 lbs. in a day, and that his first day, too, and +the fish all caught with the fly, he was in for an uncommonly good +thing. But the river, instead of improving, afterwards got worse, and +to the time of our leaving the party had had indifferent sport after +that auspicious beginning. The sight of the big fellows lying white +and shapely on the grass in front of the chalet taught me that I might +have driven up two or three hours earlier, but there was still reason +to suppose that there might be a salmon left for me. I began by +hooking and playing in the first pool a small red fish of, I should +say, 7 lb., which did me the honour of making a graceful twirl when I +had, as I supposed, tired him out; with a flutter of his tail, he +sheered off with contemptuous slowness under my very nose into the +deeps again. An hour later I got a similar fish, small and red (just +under 7 lb.), which did not escape. By and by, with a full-sized +Durham Ranger, I had an affair of the good old sort; it was a +well-sustained contest after I had been landed on the farther shore, +terminated by the landing of a bright, handsome salmon of 25 lb. A +young gentleman on the same side, fishing from the boat with a prawn, +hooked and brought to the top, while I was playing mine, a fish of +equal size apparently, but it got off, leaving him still the +consolation of an 18-lb. fish and another smaller, which lay in his +boat. +</P> + +<P> +One of the most curious days in the way of weather was yesterday. It +was my turn to fish the salmon water, and I did fish it, hard and +honestly, but came ashore with a clean boat. H., on the same day, did +splendidly with the sea trout in his own water, making a bag of close +upon 40 lb. There was a gale blowing in the morning; rain of course +was falling, but the curiosity of the day was an intermittent sirocco, +which came up the valley like blasts from a fiery furnace. The wind +was so overpowering on my salmon reaches that it was hardly possible +either to hold the boat or to get out line. But here is a summons to +dinner, and I have only time to add that on one day last week I had a +very pretty half day with the sea trout, getting six fish, which +weighed 29 lb., and they included one of 8 lb., one of 6 lb., and two +of 4 lb. each, all caught with the small Bulldog. Three fish, weighing +17 lb., is the entry for another day, and that included an 11-lb. bull +trout. On August 15, which was a day of continual losses from short +rising, there were four sea trout, weighing 18 lb., one of them a fish +of 9 1/2 lb. On the following day, fishing from eleven till three in a +bright sun, the take was five fish and some small trout, making a total +of 24 lb. +</P> + +<P> +One morning (it is August 30) the mountain tops were beautifully white. +There has been heavy snow during the night, and the poor hard-working +people I find reaping down their scanty oats, or chopping off their +3-in. grass for hay, in a bitter north wind. The G. P. F., as we +trudge off to his water, draws my attention to that spot in the middle +of the estuary which has been mentioned before as exposed at low water. +There are now a man and three women upon it, mowing and gathering in +whatever growth it bears, so that not even this is unworthy of the +economy enforced by their hard conditions of life. We fall into +converse, as we walk, about the manner in which the Norway salmon are +netted, and truly the wonder is that so many run the gauntlet and reach +the spawning grounds. In ascending the fiords the fish creep along +within some twenty yards of the shore, and this makes it easy for the +native to intercept them. Besides bag and stake nets, there is a +look-out dodge, under which a primitive but fatal net is hung out at +each promontory in the direct path of the travelling fish. The nets +are off, however, and the traps open after the middle of August. Thus +holding sweet counsel by the way like the pilgrims of old, we defy the +north wind, and can afford to stop occasionally to admire the new +panorama which has been arranged during the night. Where there were +only occasional patches of snow yesterday, to-day there is a widespread +whitening, and the folds of the ermine mantle are lying far down the +shoulders, traces of the first heavy downfall of the season. We do not +expect any sport to-day, but a moderately lucky star smiles, and for +myself, on one of Bickerdyke's Salmo irritans (Jock Scott) patterns, I +get a lively quarter of an hour with an 11-lb. sea trout, a grand fish, +so thick that I am not certain about it until I lay it on the grass. +There was a fish of 14 lb. or 15 lb. killed by my friend yesterday, +which he pronounced a fair sample of the richly spotted and burly bull +trout which runs up late in the season. He himself has killed one of +19 lb. My fish I at first fancied might be one of the breed, but it is +not, as indeed I see for myself the moment he points out the +difference. In the afternoon I flank this fine Salmo trutta with a +brace more—3 1/2 lb. and 1 1/2 lb., some compensation for a wet, cold, +blustering day. +</P> + +<P> +The next day is hard, clear, exhilarating. The snow has spread out +rather than melted, and encroached still farther down the hillsides, +but the sun waxes strong as we drive to the upper water, and the bolder +mountains up at the lake are in dazzling splendour, and apparently +close. There is a wire across the stream, an easy means of crossing +for the ladies and gentlemen who inhabit the handsome fishing lodge +built by an English gentleman on the very edge of a grand salmon pool. +The stalwart Norsk gillie who attends him found it a trifle too easy +yesterday, for it gave way and let him into the river. The house-party +were making ready to leave, however, and the young ladies, who had been +doing well with the salmon, had the concluding excitement of their +favourite henchman floundering in the water to take on board the +steamer as a final remembrance of their visit. The toss by which the +lake water escapes is a magnificent commotion of white roaring water, +tossing at first sheer over huge rocks, then tumbling headlong down a +broken slope. Just below is a deep hole, always, however, in a state +of froth, upheaval, thunder, and spray. Away races the water in a +turbulent pool about fifty yards long, rough and uproarious on either +side, but more reasonable in the middle. Below are the rapids again. +The game is to kill a salmon in this pool. There is not much +difficulty in finding him, for there are always fish there, and they +take well when the humour is on them. By every right, human and +otherwise, Hooper should take first toll of this ticklish maelstrom; it +is called by his name, but, as usual, he insists upon his guest making +or marring the chance, and leaves me for other pools bearing the names +of brother anglers, members of that Anglo-Norwegian band of sportsmen +whose names have been welcome household words in these parts for many a +year. I confess I like not this pool. To command it you have to wade +out in a very rough shallow, amongst bushel-sized boulders, each more +slippery than its fellow. The din of the foss is deafening; the rush +of the water as you stand with uncertain foothold over the deep dark +swirl bewildering. +</P> + +<P> +Before leaving me my friend finishes his brief explanation of the +conditions with the application of the whole. "Hold on"; that is the +ABC, the Alpha and Omega of it. So mote it be. Still, saying it is +one thing, doing it another. My steel-centred Hardy I know pretty +well, and have no fear, though it is small by comparison with the +full-sized greenhearts to which my attendant is accustomed, and I can +see that he distrusts it. Of the line and twisted gut collar I am +reasonably sure; the hook, of course, is what it may be. But I test +the tackle all along, and fish down the pool with a large Butcher. It +does not take long, with this express speed of water, and, I think +rather to my relief, nothing happens. Then I flounder out, sit on a +rock, fill a full pipe, and look through my flies. Here is a Wilkinson +that brought me a big fish on bonny Tweed last autumn; for auld lang +syne I meet the blue-eyed gaffsman's shake of the head with a confident +smile, and put up the Kelso fly. I know the hang of the pool now, and +get back again to my precarious ledge, feeling much more master of the +position. +</P> + +<P> +What is that feeling you get in salmon fishing that tells you so surely +that the fly is doing its work well? Certain it is that such an inward +assurance helps you amazingly. Thus at the fourth cast there is a +thrilling pull under water, a momentary, but shrill, complaint from the +winch, and a quivering arched rod. "Hold on," of course, means +shutting the mouth of that reel. The House of Commons gag was never +better applied. Not five yards of line, in fact, go out after the +first rush, stopped with a firmness that amazes myself. But I have to +follow down, in stumbling cautiousness for another ten yards, which +bring me perilously near the torrent of the pool's tail. Now it is the +salmon or the angler. And the fish responds to the insidious sideway +slanting of the rod, and is good enough to head, ever so gingerly, up +into the heavier water. Never no more, Salmo Salar, unless something +smashes—not an inch, be you of gold instead of silver. How the good +man gaffs the fish in the rough edge stream I know not; only he does it +masterly, and with back and knees trembling, and breath puffing hard +and short, I drop upon the moss in an ecstasy of silence. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it is only a salmon of 15 lb.; but that quarter of an hour of "hold +on" is the most intense thing, so far, of my experience with salmon, +not forgetting that surprise, many a year back, when I killed my first +salmon with a No. 1 trout fly by the dorsal in the Galway river. The +split-cane rod comes out of the fray as straight and happy as when new, +and I notice that, as I am recovering my equanimity, the gaffer +examines it closely, handles it fondly, and pronounces it correct, in +warm English words. The rod indeed seems to have entered into the fun, +and to say, "Get up; don't waste time." We therefore move off to +another pool, and in the course of a couple of hours, after trying two +or three different patterns in a bright sun, I get a 12-lb. salmon on a +Carlisle Bulldog, medium size; this, however, in a pool where we all +have fair play. +</P> + +<P> +On either side of a foss below that above mentioned is one of the +salmon traps peculiar to the country, built in the slopes which form a +natural salmon pass. It is a grating of massive timber and stone +blocks, roughly fashioned like an inverted V; and, on the principle of +the Solway stake nets, when a salmon swims into it he cannot return. +He is trapped in a narrow chamber at the end of the open entrance. The +old timbers of these particular traps remained, an irregular line of +upstanding palisadings, at the top of the foss nearest the roadside, +protruding a yard or so, jagged and weather-stained, out of water. +Hereby hangs a tale worth telling. My friend was fishing the short +swift pool above, on his favourite "hold on" principle, but there was +no checking the salmon. "Do they ever go over?" he asked his man, in +the midst of the battle. "No, sir," was the reply. "Well, there's one +over now," said my friend, as the fish shot over into the churning +foam. At the foot of the foss the little road curved round with the +stream, making a sharp bend at the tail of the rapid. Altogether it +was an ugly situation at the best; as the line had become entangled in +those weather-worn palisades it was hopeless. There was a hang-up. +The angler looked at his winch, which was nearly empty: he could see +the barrel between the few coils of line left—left of 120 yards. The +gillie was (and is) one of the smartest, now that he has had a few +years with the Englishman. At the suggestion of his master he departed +to reconnoitre, got round the bend of the road, and was lost to view, +the master remaining rod in hand above the foss, as well hung up as +angler could desire. The man, it seems, saw the fish in the tail of +the rapid, tied a stone to a piece of cord, threw it over the line, +hauled in hand over hand, and gaffed the salmon, a beautiful fish of 25 +lb. Then he went up and told the angler, who was still holding on to +the tight line, for it was jammed and would not answer to a pull. A +consultation followed, and the man went back round the corner, and +discovered that the line would slip from below. The angler thereupon +cut it at the winch and the line was recovered. This is the kind of +adventure, demanding resource upon the spot, and experience in every +move on the board, that so piquantly spices angling in Norwegian rivers +of this kind, where the ordinary methods of fishing with the fly are +practised. +</P> + +<P> +On the morning when the breechloaders are cracking amongst the coveys +there is incipient frost, followed by a blazing sun, which finishes off +the remnant of new snow which did not melt yesterday; and there is a +violet hue upon the shallower water which ought to look brown. +Beautiful to look at, but fatal, they tell me, is this reflected tint. +The shade of the alders and the velvet pile of the mosses induce a fit +of idleness; it is only the flycatchers, in great numbers, that are +busy in the heat and glare, twittering as they hawk for insects, in +notes that suggest robin redbreast on a winter day. By and by the +clouds obscure the sun and we tackle our pools, with the result, for +myself, of sea trout of 7 1/2 lb. and 3 1/2 lb., and a miscellaneous +lot of a dozen and a half of brown trout whipped out on a small cast in +the evening hour. Before this happens, however, I sit me down for a +spell, and, in pursuance of a determination to make these notes as +practical as can be consistently done, jot down the following sketches +of pool types as they present themselves to my friendly vision. They +will answer, I dare believe, for many a river in Scandinavia. +</P> + +<P> +i. This is a true boiler, a torrential pool never at rest. It charges +down amongst huge masses of rock, and just where the descent is +comparatively easy the inevitable salmon trap is fixed. Sometimes the +salmon takes in the very boil, if you cast fly right into the milky +tossings, and believe me you need not strike. Hooking is quite an +automatic affair if the fish comes. Downward it goes at speed, and +your man will have to steady you maybe as you follow amongst the +stones, at least until the rapid has become something like a stream. +</P> + +<P> +ii. Here you have a very strong stream, making a ridge of wavy +upheaval in the middle. The fishable water is on either side in an +average height of river. Wading is the plan, and you can fish every +inch of likely ground. I know the fish lie in this central +disturbance, for I saw one dart out amongst the waves, and follow the +fly for some fifteen yards, by which time the line was at the proper +angle for sport if the salmon had inclined that way. Pity that it was +not so, for I have always found turbulent water likely to send a +turbulent customer. I love a pool of this kind, if only for the bright +life and music of it. +</P> + +<P> +iii. Now we have a totally different type. The pool is at least 200 +yards long, is, in fact, a broad straight section of the river, with +two distinct streams, and an oily passage between, in which the salmon +lie. A favourite method here is to be let down slowly in the boat. +The Norwegians are extremely clever in this work, and it is a treat to +see one of them tow the boat up with one line attached to the bow and +another to the centre thwart. They steer it between boulders and round +spits with the certainty of driving a horse with reins. By letting you +down, the boat never disturbs the pool proper, and you command every +portion. On hooking a fish you get out and play it from the bank, a +practice, of course, followed also on the necessary occasions when the +boat must be rowed. +</P> + +<P> +iv. A stately sweep of dark deep water, with a high-wooded bank of +rock on the farther side, and ample wading ground on your own, with +pleasantly shingled bottom perhaps, and a current where you may work +breast-deep in safety. Yet it is strong and even enough to make very +tolerable a notion quite new to me, though, no doubt, well known to +many. I learned it in this very pool. When you are wading about to +the fork, just sit down on the water, lean back upon it, and you find +delightful support and help from the buoyant easy chair of running +water. There will be the inevitable rapid by and by, and the salmon +have a great fancy for taking you at about the last cast at the end of +the glide. This is a capricious sort of pool, but when the fish do +take they are worth the having, and are not given to fooling. A cock +salmon of 40 lb. was killed here this summer. +</P> + +<P> +v. This is a swift and massive stream that is ever troubled and +seething rather than rough, patched with smooth areas that look much +more innocent than they are. Your line will get drowned somewhat until +you know the tricks of the under-currents and eddies. From the boat +you often have a chance of casting right and left as you drop ever so +slowly down, and it must be a good man who knows how to keep on rowing +without advancing faster than the stream. +</P> + +<P> +It is in such a pool that I make my last cast for salmon in this +delectable valley, and it fully satisfies my chief ambition of this ten +days' fishing; humble enough in all conscience, being nothing higher +than to finish up knowing that I have not once returned at night with +an empty bag. Even that is something, and it is something done. In +the last two hours I get a 12-lb. salmon, a 2-lb. sea trout, and a +leash of 1/2-lb. brown trout, all on the same No. 3 Jock Scott. +</P> + +<P> +On one of our days we see a procession of carioles proceeding up the +valley, and all the natives are in a state of agitation, if such +sober-minded people ever are agitated. <I>The Midnight Sun</I> is in the +fiord, and these ladies and gentlemen are ashore for the day bound for +the glacier. We dine on board at night with the captain, who is a +brother angler, and who makes light of a sea trout of 10 lb., which he +has caught in the afternoon. Well; I have met many anglers in Norway +who feel disgusted at such game; they want salmon, and think themselves +hardly used if sea trout intrude. But I thank the gods (when I suppose +I ought to sit in sackcloth for perverted taste) that up to this +present Salmo trutta, great or small, evokes my fervent gratitude, and +I can only say that, while I paid my five gaffed salmon the highest +respect, I recall with no less satisfaction my seventeen sea trout; +and, while serving this week on the grand jury at the Old Bailey, +sketched the best of them one after another on the margin of the +prisoners' calendar, and found a true bill for at least the fine +fellows of 11 lb., 9 lb., 8 lb., and 7 1/2 lb., which headed the list. +They are good enough prisoners for me, anyhow. However, I really +believe our captain was after all secretly proud of his ten-pounder, as +he sat at the head of the table in the palatial saloon of the +magnificent steam yacht of oceanic size. The passengers seemed +entranced with their luxurious life and the charms of the fiords they +were visiting, and we heard a concert on board that was really +first-rate. A fortnight of this sort of yachting for twelve or fifteen +guineas is, verily, one of the privileges of this age of enterprise. +</P> + +<P> +On my way south I broke the journey to spend a couple of days upon +another river, but only added a few sea trout to my achievements. The +salmon were plentiful enough, but they were waiting, sullenly yet +restlessly, for a rise of water, and I left the two anglers, owners of +the river, who were living in a snug Norwegian home of their own, +waiting, too, with patient resignation. There they were amongst the +fishing tackle, guns, cartridge cases, dogs, and miscellaneous +paraphernalia essential to noble sportsmen who, poor fellows, in these +hard times, can only spend a few months every year with a lovely fiord +under their noses, and a few hundredweights of salmon, and odds and +ends of reindeer, blackcock, and ryper now and then to engage their +attention. I wonder no more that English sportsmen go a little mad +about their beloved Norway; and that hard-working judges, bishops, +university dons, and professional men of all sorts and conditions, find +their best balm of Gilead amongst its picturesque valleys and hills. +Of course the sportsmen are not always happy. If in the smoking-room +on our homeward passage A. was able to remark that he had finished up, +two days previously, with a 30-lb. salmon, and B. stated the heavy +totals on a few favoured rivers, there were C. and D. to bemoan +deplorable blanks, and tell of anglers who had gone home disgusted +before their term of tenure expired; indeed, one fellow passenger +whispered me near the smoke stack that a gentleman of his acquaintance +had paid close upon 400 pounds for a river that yielded him just thirty +fish for the entire season. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +GLIMPSES OF CANADA, ETC. +</H3> + +<P> +Perhaps I may be allowed to say that my visits to both Canada and the +States were on journalistic work which gave little time for play of any +sort, and I half fear that I only introduce these scraps of fishing +matter to get an excuse for re-telling my own story of how I caught a +big "'lunge" in Canada, in the early autumn of 1897. In the Natural +History books of the Province of Ontario the designation is Maskinongé. +The word is often made mascalonge, or muscalunge, and, it being less +labour to pronounce one than four syllables, people in many districts +where the fish is caught, for short call it "'lunge." As offering a +minimum strain upon the pen, in this form I will refer to it in the +course of my chronicle of how I caught my sample. The fish is, in a +word, the great pike (Esox nobilior), and it is to all intents and +purposes possessed of the general characteristics of the Esocidae +family. Our old friend E. lucius occurs in Ontario waters, and the +Indians call it kenosha. The French having, in old days, rendered this +kinonge, we can easily understand why the name, as adopted by Ontario, +was given. While, however, the pike proper is common to both sides of +the Atlantic, the 'lunge is confined to the basin of the St. Lawrence. +</P> + +<P> +My angling friends in the club at Toronto could lay before me a +bewildering choice of places where I should have a fair chance of that +one 'lunge and one bass with which I professed I would be content. But +to do them justice it would require a week of time, and much travel by +night and day. After contriving and scheming I discovered that three +days would be the utmost I could spare for fishing, and on the advice +of friends, Lake Scugog, at Port Perry, was decided upon as a tolerable +ground, not more than forty miles from the city. We were set down on +the permanent way of the Grand Trunk line about nine o'clock, and were +met by a couple of local gentlemen, anglers good and true, who had been +advised of our approach, who had kindly come down to guide our +footsteps aright, and who welcomed us in the true spirit of sportsmen. +First came breakfast in the hotel opposite, or to be exact, first came +inquiries of the boatman and all and sundry as to possibilities of +sport. The lake was most fair to look upon from the veranda, the water +curled by a nice breeze, the sun shining over it, and the abundant +woods of an island about two miles from our landing-place. +</P> + +<P> +But the fish had not been biting well for a week. It was +incomprehensible, but true, that the boats had never returned so empty +of fish as latterly. One shrewd boatman, who fell to our lot for the +day, said that the Indians, of whom the small remnant of a tame tribe +lived as agriculturists on the island, had a tradition that in August +and part of September the 'lunge shed their teeth, and that during this +period they never take the bait, or feed in any shape or form. What +fish did Scugog contain? Well, there were shiners, suckers, eels—— +Oh! sporting fish! Ah, well, there were no trout, but there were +'lunge, perch, and any number of green, or large-mouthed, bass. This +was Ben's information, elicited by cross-examination as we sat on the +veranda before unpacking our effects. +</P> + +<P> +As to what he considered a reasonable bag, he had often, from a four or +five hours' outing, returned with a dozen and a half of 'lunge or bass, +the former averaging 9 lb. or 12 lb., the latter 2 lb. or 3 lb. The +opening day was June 15, and at daylight the lake, so he said, was +alive with boats, each containing its fisherman. He had known a ton of +'lunge and bass landed every day for the first week. I am not to be +held responsible for these statements, but everything I subsequently +heard from gentlemen who weigh their words and know what they are +talking about, confirmed the assertions of the Port Perry professional. +'Lunge of 40 lb. had been taken moreover, but not often. These were +the encouragements which dropped like the dew of Hermon; refreshing us +into temporary forgetfulness of the undoubted fact that the visitors +who had been angling on the lake had met, even on the previous day, +with bitter disappointment. The boats had not been able to account for +more than perhaps a brace each of four or five pound fish. +</P> + +<P> +Skipper Ben stared in amaze at the preposterous tackle with which I +proposed to try and catch my first 'lunge. I had much better take the +rig-out provided with the boat. If, however, he disapproved of my +equipment, how shall I describe my feelings with regard to the vessel +for which (man and tackle included) we were to pay two dollars per +diem. It was a canoe of the smallest, built to hold one person besides +the man at the small oars. It was impossible to stand up in such a +cranky craft, and your seat was about 6 in. from the bottom boards. No +wonder all the fishing was done by hand-lines. The local method was +simplicity itself. To fifty yards of line of the thickness of +sash-cord was attached a large Colorado spoon, armed with one big +triangle, and mounted on an eighth of an inch brass wire. The canoe +was slowly rowed about, up and down and across the lake, the spoon +revolving behind at the end of from ten to fifteen yards of line. All +that the angler had to do was to sit tight on his tiny seat in the +stern of the cockle-shell, holding the line in his hand, and dodging +the inevitable cramp as best he could by uneasily shifting his position +from time to time. +</P> + +<P> +This, of course, is trailing in its most primitive form, and it is the +method adopted by the majority of fishing folks on Canadian inland +waters. Even the grand lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush really) are +taken in this way in the spring and fall when they come in upon the +shallows. The fish hook themselves, and are generally hauled neck and +crop into the boat; but the careful boatman will have a gaff on board +for the emergency of a ten-pounder or over. Many, however, do not +affect this luxury, but treat great and small alike on the +pulley-hauley principle. They say, nevertheless, that few fish are +lost. The hooks are so big and strong that there is no reason why they +should be lost when once they are securely hooked, as they will almost +invariably be by this easy style. The boatman is always maintaining +his steady two mile an hour pace, just sufficient in fact to keep the +spoon on the spin, and the lightly hooked fish of course quickly find +freedom by honest and abrupt tearage. The coarse triangle fairly +within the bony jaws would be instantly struck into solid holding +ground, and with tackle fit for sharks, there would be no more to be +said. Something, however, there would be to be done, and the same +simplicity which characterises the style of angling is carried on to +the process of dealing with a hooked fish. +</P> + +<P> +"Yank him in," is the order for medium sizes, and I had the opportunity +very early of seeing how it was done. We were nearing a canoe in which +a gentleman was seated, holding his hand-line over the gunwale, and +slightly jerking it to and fro; suddenly he struck with might and main. +The effort should, as one would suppose, have wrenched the head off an +ordinary fish, and I should say this event often happens with 2-lb. or +3-lb. victims. In this instance there was no harm done. Out of the +water, like a trout, ten yards or so astern of the canoe, came a +yellow-hued, long, narrow-bodied fish, and presently, hand over hand, +it was dragged up to the side and lifted in by sheer might. It was a +'lunge of apparently 7 lb., and the only one taken by the fisher, +though he had been out three or four hours. +</P> + +<P> +We had not been long afloat before I began to see that Ben was not far +wrong in preferring his rude tackle to mine, though he was all abroad +in his reasons for ruling me out of court. His belief, expressed in +the vigorous language of the born colonial, was that it was darn'd +nonsense to suppose that my line would hold a fish, or that my rod was +other than a toy. The difficulty, of course, was with the boat. For +the sort of spinning to which we are accustomed in England the thing +was useless. The discomfort was vast and continuous, and as the hooks +were everlastingly fouling in loose weeds, and the progress of the boat +converted the hauling in of the line into not inconsiderable manual +labour, the outlook became barren in the extreme. My companion A. in +the stern was furnished with the orthodox hand-line, and I sat on the +second thwart facing him. The rod rendered this necessary, and A. told +me afterwards that Ben spent most of his time winking and +contemptuously gesticulating over my shoulder. Probably this accounted +for the number of times he pummelled the small of my back with the +clumsily advanced handles of his oars. +</P> + +<P> +My rod, I might explain, was the trolling or sea fishing version of a +capital greenheart portmanteau rod, to which I had treated myself in +hopes of use in Canadian waters, and was a stiff little pole (in this +form) of a trifle over 9 ft. The medium dressed silk trout-line on a +grilse winch was about a hundred yards in length, and quite sound, and +on a twisted gut trace I had attached a 3-in. blue phantom. Ben +impartially, not to say profanely, objected to the lot. We had ample +opportunity to admire the very pretty scenery of the lake shores, and +the charmingly timbered island which for ten miles diversified the blue +water. The depth was seldom over 6 ft. or 8 ft., there were subaqueous +forests of weeds in all directions, but there was a kind of channel +known to Ben where one had the chance of intervals of peace—spells of +clear spinning for A.'s great spoon to starboard and my delicate +phantom to port. In those times of tranquil leisure we learned much as +to the splendid duck-shooting of the fall and the wonderful stores of +fish in the lake. +</P> + +<P> +Scugog is not a show place, but it is beautiful in its quiet way; the +surroundings are quite English, and Port Perry is a pleasant type of +the small, prosperous Canadian town where nobody perhaps is very rich +and nobody very poor. The aforesaid island in the centre makes the +lake appear quite narrow, and, indeed, its length of fourteen miles is +double its widest breadth with island included. And it is one of a +chain of Ontarian waterways so vast that, had we been so minded and +properly prepared, we might have passed through close upon 200 miles of +lakes and connecting channels. Two hours of incessant hauling in of +weed bunches, and no sign of a run of any other kind, were enough; you +could not be always admiring the green slopes and woodlands of maple +and pine; discussions of local topography cannot be indefinitely +prolonged. +</P> + +<P> +Thank the gods my good shipmate and travelling companion A. was cheery +to the backbone, as, in truth, a good-looking fellow of fourteen stone, +and with nothing to do but travel about the world and enjoy himself, +ought to be. Being no angler, it was all the same to him whether fish +sulked or frolicked; his patience was as inexhaustible as his +amiability, and when my questioning of Ben about fish and fishing +ceased by force of self-exhaustion, A. would quietly cut in with +reminiscences of his recent run out to Colorado, former campings in the +Rockies, adventures in Japan and all parts of Europe, and personal +acquaintance with the States and the Dominion. The trouble that dear +A. saved me in looking after baggage and tickets, the reliance I felt +in his fighting weight and well set-up body, the placid smile with +which he took life whatever it might be, were invaluable to me; and, +though he accepted the ill-luck of our forenoon as only what he +expected, as being, indeed, the ordinary outcome of most fishing +expeditions, my chief desire was that he should have the bliss of +landing a good fish. For myself I was not hopeful, and we went +fishless ashore in the hot sun at mid-day, glad to release ourselves +from the cramped positions in which we had been enduring the +discomforts of that wretched skiff. +</P> + +<P> +In the afternoon we went out again. What would I not have given for a +boat really fit for the work—a steady, square-sterned craft, on the +floor of which one might have stood firm, casting right and left, and +able to take every advantage of those weeds which now made trailing a +positive nuisance? Ben's theory was that twelve yards of line were +enough for his style of business; that though a fish might be +temporarily scared aside by the passage of the cockle-shell, it would +be just about restored to quiet when the spoon came along, and more +likely to dash at it than with a greater length of line. Of course, I +stuck to our English ways, and kept my phantom engaged at a distance, +when possible, of never less than thirty yards. In course of time +Ben's objections and protests were once for all silenced; he gave me up +as an opinionated ass, whom it was waste of time to trouble about any +more. +</P> + +<P> +"Smack, smack," at last—a momentary sensation at the rod-top. How the +fish could have struck at my phantom, doubled up the soleskin body, +without, however, touching a single hook of the deadly trio of +triangles, was as much a marvel as ever it has been from the beginning. +In the course of half an hour I had three such abortive runs at the +phantom, and one small fellow of 1 1/2 lb., lightly hooked, bounded +into the air and fell back free. Under these circumstances there was +little thought of discomfort. Who cared for cramp now? The fish were +assuredly on the move, and that one 'lunge of my modest desire was not +so remote a possibility as it had been in the forenoon. The chances of +friend A. were of course held by Master Ben to be the best of the two, +and, in truth, why not? For reasons hinted at above it would have +delighted me if it was left for him to prove how unnecessary were all +the finer precautions of scientific sport. Such things have happened +in salt water, and, it may be, in fresh. +</P> + +<P> +Musingly, as the canoe was proceeding midway between island and +mainland, I was thinking of examples of the caprices of piscatorial +fortune and of the positive instances when art and skill had been +practically put to shame by the rudest methods. From the reverie, and +a crouching position on the low seat of the miserable canoe, I was +roused as by an electric shock. The rod was jerked downwards almost to +the water, the winch flew, and the line, run out at express speed, cut +into my forefinger. A., facing me, saw from my expression that +something had happened, and, with the instinct of a sportsman, began to +pull in his sash-cord and coil it neatly out of the scene of action. +</P> + +<P> +"I have him," I said by way of assurance, and Ben realised that the +whirring scream of the winch was not a mere private rehearsal. Growing +excited he began to give me directions how to behave under the +circumstances, taking it for granted that the rod and line would fulfil +all his prophecies of disaster and failure. By the backing of small +line, which was now for the first time being rushed off the reel, I +knew that my game had in the preliminary dash not stopped under eighty +yards, and it seemed therefore as if the great fish that plunged on the +surface away in the wake, and leaped 5 ft. or 6 ft. into the air, could +have no connection whatever with us. I had seen that kind of thing +before, however, with salmon and sea trout, and tingled with joy at the +evidence I presently had that the tumble back into the lake had not +parted me from my game. Ben noticed as quickly as I did that the line +presently slacked, and called Heaven to witness that the darned fish +was off, and that he had been predicting such a result all along; the +fact was the 'lunge was racing in towards us. I am one of those +anglers who hate being pestered by advice when playing a fish, and +never pretend to choose my words to the interrupter. +</P> + +<P> +Moreover, Ben had continued pulling, so that, besides the wind behind +us and the weight of the fish, whatever it was, against me, I had the +way of the boat to assist the enemy; furthermore, he announced his +intention of pulling ashore, as he was in the habit of doing with the +hand-line operation, and the nearest land was not a yard less than a +mile off. Then I opened my mouth and spake with my tongue, and Ben, +finding that I could shout bad language as well as he, proved himself +after all a fine fellow amenable to orders, and a veritable sport when +once he comprehended that here was a fish that must be humoured and not +lugged in by brute force. He not only ceased rowing, but quickly +tumbled to the trick in other respects. He backed water, and, shortly, +was most intelligently taking care that the canoe should follow the +fish. We all knew it was worth catching, and from its appearance +during its flashing somersault in the air I had estimated it at about +15 lb. +</P> + +<P> +It was a new experience to play a lively fish of respectable +dimensions, sitting low and cramped, and fearing to move, in a +cockle-shell canoe. If one could have stood up square and fair to the +fight the course would have been clear; it would have been something to +have knelt, but there was no opportunity for even that modest sort of +compromise. And the fish did fight most gamely; certainly, too, with +the odds immensely in its favour. Wrist, arms, shoulders, back, and +legs of the angler were strained and pained by the efforts necessary to +keep the taut line free of the boat, but A. ducked his head deftly once +when the fish shot to the left of me at right angles, and lay low until +I had it back in line of communication again. Twice the fish tried the +expediency of running in towards me, and alarming Ben with the slack +line, delighting him in proportionate degree when the winching-in found +all taut and safe. So far as we could make out afterwards the fight +with my 'lunge lasted half an hour, and it was fighting, too, all the +while in the gamest fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Little by little the line was shortened, and the battle, so far as the +rod and line went, was virtually won. Aching by this time in every +limb, I welcomed the yellow-brown back when it came to the surface a +few yards from the canoe. But here was another difficulty. How was +the fish to be got into the boat? I could see now that it was +certainly twenty pounds, and A. confessed that he had never used the +gaff. Ben was out of the question, having his oars to look after, and +even if he had been free the position would not allow me to bring the +fish up to him. The gaff was strong and big, and it was furnished with +a rank barb, generally a detestable implement in my estimation. +</P> + +<P> +Yet it proved our salvation. The gaff handle, I should state, was +tapered the wrong way—that is to say, it was smaller at the end where +it should have afforded some sort of grip to the hand. A. slipped the +barbed affair into the body with great adroitness, but he had no +experience of the strength of such customers, and at the mighty plunge +it made the gaff slipped out of his hands, and I had my fish (with the +added weight of wood and steel) once more on my conscience. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the tension on the line had not been relaxed. A. remained +cool; Ben ordered him to seize my line. "I'll knock him out of the +boat if he does," was the shout of another of the party, with a dulcet +aside, "Lay hold of the gaff, old chap; we'll have him yet." And we +did have him; A. leaned over, grasped the stick, hoisted the fish, +kicking furiously, out of the water, and deposited it amongst our feet, +where, in the confined space, there was for awhile an amusing +confusion. Ben had a "priest" under his thwart, and by and by I found +a chance for a straight smite at the back of the neck. The 'lunge +received his <I>coup de grâce</I>, and we cooled down to sum up. Truth to +tell, the three of us had for the last five minutes been as excited as +schoolboys; the odds had been so much against us that the tussle was +not what is termed a "gilt-edged security" until the fish lay still in +the bottom of the canoe. He had been well hooked far down the throat +by one triangle; the phantom with the other two came out of its own +accord at the application of the priest, and the double gut of the +triangle that remained inside was cut through. +</P> + +<P> +Ben was profuse in his apologies for attempting to interfere and for +making light of my rod and line, and frankly explained that he had +never seen the like before in 'lunge fishing. The absent triangle lost +me two fish in succession, and we went ashore to repair the damages and +to weigh the fish. It was absolutely empty, was 4 ft. long, yet it +only weighed 24 1/2 lb. For the length it was the narrowest fish I had +ever seen. The head was 11 3/4 in. long from outer edge of gill cover +to tip of lower snout. Ben showed it in triumph as we walked in +procession from the landing-stage to the hotel, and when it became +known that it had been caught on a small rod and trout line there was a +popular sensation in the nice little town of Port Perry. +</P> + +<P> +Men left their horses and buggies, workpeople threw down their tools +and hurried to the scene, mothers caught their children in their arms +and held them up to see. Later in the afternoon I killed another +'lunge of about 6 lb., and that too had an empty stomach. A party of +American visitors returned at night with four or five of similar size, +and every fish presented the same emaciated appearance. There was not +a vestige of food in their stomachs. Had my good one been feeding well +for a few days previously he would have been many pounds heavier. As +it was, I ought to have preserved the skin and brought it home as a +specimen, so long and gaunt was it, so different from our deep-bodied +English pike, to which it otherwise bore, of course, a close family +resemblance. This conclusion I arrived at by the aid of a suggestion +from A. when it was too late; and some day I must try and catch a still +finer specimen. +</P> + +<P> +Captain Campbell, of the Lake Ontario (Beaver Line), informs me that he +once brought over in a whisky cask the head of a maskinongé from the +St. Lawrence that was said to weigh 140 lb., and it would really seem +that these fish do occasionally run to weights far into the fifties and +sixties. I never heard of anyone trying for 'lunge with live baits, or +spinning with dead fish and the flights such as we use at home for +pike. The use of the big spoon is universal. And I may add that a +month later (say October) those fish would not have been quite so much +like herrings in their insides. +</P> + +<P> +Green bass and speckled trout are Canadian names, signifying the +large-mouthed variety of the black bass for the one part, and our old +friend fontinalis for the other. It will be remembered that under the +circumstances of brief opportunity and far-distant waters which I have +duly explained, my expectations were modest, and hope would have been +satisfied with a simple sample each of the black bass, immortalised by +Dr. Henshall, and the maskinonge of the lakes. How I caught my first +'lunge has been already told, and the story was, like the fish itself, +a pretty long one. I may confess at once, with deep regret, that I +have no excuse for length as to black bass, since I did not get even +one. I had been warned that only in the early part of the season—the +month of June—is there any chance with the fly in lakes, and very +little in the rivers. They were, however, to be obtained by bait +fishing, and on the day when I killed the 'lunge Ben took me out in the +evening equipped with the correct tackle for bass. It consisted of a +single piece of bamboo, about 15 ft. long, a strong line a few inches +longer, a bung as float, and a hook with 2-in. shank, and gape of about +3/4 in. You will remember this kind of rig-out, only with hook of +moderate size, as often used by Midland yokels in bream fishing. It is +delightfully primitive. Heavily leaded, you swing out the line to its +full extent, and, hooking a fish, haul him in without the assistance of +such a superfluous luxury as a winch. There was a kind of bait-can in +the bow of the canoe, but I asked no questions, contenting myself with +trailing with a 2-in. phantom. +</P> + +<P> +The fishing ground was along the water-grasses and reeds that extended +hundreds of yards from the shore into the lake, and very shallow it +was. The wind had completely died away, and the sun by six o'clock was +well down in the west. Ben by and by told me to wind up, and urged the +canoe into the heart of the weeds, in and in, until we were apparently +in the midst of a verdant field of high coarse grass. Here he threw +out the killick and unwound the line from his fishing pole. Then from +the bait-can he took out a half-grown frog and impaled it upon the huge +hook, which I now perceived was of the size and blue colour of the eel +hooks of our boyhood. Looking around as he made his preparations I +began to understand things. There was a uniform depth of 3 ft., and +here and there were clearances—small pools, free of vegetation, and of +varying dimensions. They might have an area of a couple or a couple of +dozen yards. The frog was swished out into these open spaces, and if a +bass was there, well and good. The fish was not allowed more than five +minutes to make up his mind, and if nothing happened the bait was +withdrawn and hurled elsewhere. If the bass mean feeding they let you +know it pretty quickly, and in this simple way a fisherman often, in a +couple of hours, gets a quarter of a hundredweight or so of them, +ranging from 2 lb. to 5 lb. +</P> + +<P> +But after a quarter of an hour with the frog, Ben pronounced the +absolute uselessness of remaining any longer. While he was operating I +had fixed up my most useful portmanteau-rod with its fly-fishing tops, +and with a sea-trout collar, and a small, silver-bodied salmon fly cast +over the open spaces. This was no more successful than the frog, and +we, as a matter of fact, caught nothing at all that evening. These +green bass take the bait voraciously ("like so-and-so bull-dogs," Ben +assured me) when they are sporting, and haunt these reedy coppices in +incredible numbers. As with the 'lunge so with the bass. I should say +that with proper appliances and some approach to a skilful method, the +arm, on a favourable day, would ache with the slaughter. One of the +canoes next morning at breakfast time brought in a couple of these fish +of about a pound weight. They were dark green in colour, fitted up +with a big mouth and a spiny dorsal fin, and had all the burly +proportions of a perch, minus the hog-shaped shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +That same day two Port Perry gentlemen, keen and good anglers both, +left their homes and businesses to drive me and friend A. in a pair +horse buggy some nine miles across country to a fishing house belonging +to a club of which they were members. Indeed, they were part +proprietors, for more and more in Canada every bit of water that is +worth the acquisition is taken up for preservation. The club consists +principally of professional and business men from Toronto, and the +doctors are a large proportion. For the sake of a couple of ponds, and +the facilities for damming others out of a picturesque valley, these +sportsmen had formed themselves into a company, and bought up some +hundreds of acres of land. Their house was a wooden one-storied +building in the middle of a fine orchard and garden, and outside the +front veranda, where you sat in squatter chairs to smoke the pipe of +peace away from the noise of civilisation, there stood a discarded punt +converted into a bed of gloriously blooming petunias. It was an ideal +spot for week-end outings. The pond nearest the clubhouse had once +served the business of a mill long abandoned, and it was full of sunken +logs and of fontinalis—always spoken of in Canada as speckled trout, +and the same, of course, as the "brook trout" of the States. They were +said never to rise to a fly, and they are fished for with live minnows +or worms, with float tackle. There was a lower lake less encumbered +with snags and submerged timber, made by the club by building a +workmanlike dam at the lower end of the property, and the clear little +stream which once worked the mill keeps it clear and sweet, after, on +the way down the valley, between the two ponds, doing good service at +the club hatchery hidden in a lovely thicket of sylvan wildness, and +looked after for their brother members by the intelligent farmer, who +with his mother and wife takes charge of the clubhouse and fishery. +The fun we all had at eventide, sitting in the punts and catching or +missing the trout that dragged our floats under, was certainly +uproarious, and I am ashamed, now that I am writing in cold blood, to +say that I enjoyed it as much as any of the party. +</P> + +<P> +But this was a bad example to friend A., who, as I have previously +stated, was "no fisherman." He blandly smiled as I begged him to +understand that it was nothing short of high treason to catch such +lovely trout with anything other than artificial fly. Just then his +float went off like a flash almost close to the punt, and as he fought +his fish with bended rod he murmured that, meanwhile, minnow or worm +was quite good enough for him. The way in which a fifth member of the +party, a youth who had brought us a bucket of minnows (so-called), +hurled out half-pounders high in the air, and sent them spinning behind +him, was provocative of screams of laughter. In the morning I was +anxious to try this lower lake with the fly rod, though warned by the +farmer that it was of little use. For the good of A.'s piscatorial +soul I, nevertheless, insisted, and the capture of two quarter-pounders +with a red palmer, and several short rises, rewarded my efforts in his +interests. If he has not received my counsel, and laid it to heart, it +will not be because he did not have ocular demonstration of the virtues +of fly-fishing. I was not surprised to hear that these club fish were +not free risers at the fly, for both ponds were swarming with half-inch +and one-inch fry, as tempting as our own minnows, and the trout simply +lived in an atmosphere of them. Our Canadian brother anglers here, as +elsewhere, are of the real good stamp, sportsmen to the core, +pisciculturists, botanists, naturalists, racy conversationalists, and +big-hearted to a man. Please fortune I shall shake hands with them +another day. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HASTY VISITS TO AMERICA +</H3> + +<P> +The untravelled English angler has, pardonably enough, vague notions as +to the sport to be had with the rod of a mere visitor in the United +States. He fancies generally that he has only to come, see, and +conquer; and this is partly because he confuses Canada with the country +south of the great chain of lakes. No doubt there is an abundant +variety of angling in the States; but here, as at home, you must go far +afield. Do not forget that even the best American streams are as +easily fished out as our own. Pending the completion of the Exhibition +at Chicago, I had been gathering, from reliable sources, some facts +that may be of use to those readers who are always craving knowledge in +the columns of the fishing papers; and I endeavoured to discover what +the casual visitor, finding himself at the best-known cities, may +expect without travelling too far from his base of operations. The +result of my inquiries, however, is at best only an outline sketch, and +it may be that time has brought changes. +</P> + +<P> +Let us suppose that you are in New York. At the termination of the +voyage, when you were not engaged in admiring the pretty residences on +the wooded slopes of Staten Island, you would look occasionally to the +right upon Long Island, one of the lungs of New York, though the city +has in itself so clear an atmosphere that people are able to build +marble houses with impunity. Still, in the heat of summer the +citizens—and small blame to them—make it a rule of flying nearer the +ocean, and Long Island is one of their handiest and most appreciated +resorts. There are upon it many trout preserves; "ponds" they are +called, but we should give them the higher title of lakes with a clear +conscience. They are generally maintained by clubs of wealthy members, +and each has its comfortable house. +</P> + +<P> +The earliest trout fishing to be found in this country is here. April +1 is the opening day, and the season opened well, though a snap of +rough weather during the last fortnight interfered with sport. There +are numbers of lady anglers, members of the Long Island colony, and two +of them to my knowledge made capital baskets during the Easter week. A +New Yorker gets through his business in the city before luncheon, and +then, in a couple of hours, he is at the Long Island clubhouse getting +into his fishing suit. Fly-fishing only is practised, and the fish are +principally fontinalis. Unless otherwise stated, this species is +always intended in any reference to trout. +</P> + +<P> +Our brother anglers here are, as a rule, keen sportsmen and honest men, +meaning that they are glad whenever they can assist another in securing +the recreation which makes fishermen kin all the world over. My chief +trouble was that I could make no manner of use of a tantalising list of +kindly invitations to cast a fly in Long Island. Then there is another +and smaller island at a greater distance, Martha's Vineyard, beloved of +old whalers, where there are well stocked trout streams; but it goes +quite without saying that all the water near New York City is +preserved. Outside, in New York State, the trout fishing opens on +April 15, and the favourite country is in the Adirondacks, where the +wood-built veranda'd clubhouses are pitched here and there over a vast +tract of woods, beside lakes and streams. To reach the Adirondacks you +have a fifteen hours' journey by rail, and waggon tracks over hilly, +and not macadamised roads, that will account for from two to fifteen +hours more, according to the retreat chosen. You are here quite out of +the world, and for the nearest fishing grounds you may leave New York +by the evening train to-day, and be at work at even-tide to-morrow. +</P> + +<P> +From Boston, the quiet city of studious men and women, who regard their +old town still as the "hub of the universe," there are endless +possibilities, more or less inland. Connecticut, Vermont, and +mountainous New Hampshire, abound in charming minor streams and +picturesque scenery. The delights of this New England fishing and +camping have been faithfully immortalised in that incomparable prose +idyll "I Go a Fishing," by Prime. Maine, however, is the United States +angler's paradise. This involves at least a twenty-four hours' journey +by rail and steamer, if you would reach the famous lake region of that +sporting state. The trout run large, and I have seen the skin of a +handsome 9-lb. fontinalis killed there with the fly. There are +declared to be even bigger fish than this; but 4-lb. and 5-lb. fish are +considered really good specimens. The average is not lower than 2 lb., +and 3-lb. fish may be taken as "good." The flies used are never +smaller than our sea-trout size, and they are more often larger; but +the best anglers catalogue you as a lubber if you wield anything +heavier than a boy's rod. I have looked over some fly books in active +service, and when some day I find myself in that log-house in the Maine +woods which I have in my notebook, I will back my selected half-dozen +of our English, Irish, and Scotch sea-trout and lake flies against the +best of the Orvis favourites. +</P> + +<P> +Philadelphia, which, from my all too passing and superficial view of +it, has the most English-looking suburbs of any city I have seen, does +not count for much with the angler. There are some streams in +Pennsylvania which yield plenty of small trout, and if you know the +proper places, at the head waters and elsewhere, the Delaware and +Susquehannah rivers, which, in crossing them, I was assured contained +no game fish at all, have very fair black bass streams, while there are +what we should rank as burn trout in most of the tributaries tumbling +down through the woods and the mountains and hills. As for salmon, I +may here remark that I could only hear of one pool in the United States +where Salmo salar can be caught. There are heaps of salmon on the +Pacific slope, but they are not salar, and not sportive in the rivers +to the fly. This pool is the watery fretwork of a dam where the tidal +portion of a fifty-mile length of river is ended, and the salmon are +therefore caught in brackish water always with the fly. Seventy were +taken there the previous year. +</P> + +<P> +Washington—the city still of magnificent distances, though it is +gradually filling in the blanks, and is looked forward to as the coming +city of the leisure and pleasure classes, who shall live unpolluted by +the rank snobbery of New York fashion, the chicanery of Wall Street, +and the genius of the almighty dollar, which rules in other +cities—Washington, I regret to find, is no better for the angler than +Philadelphia. But you get bass fishing in the historic Potomac, and +small trout in the hill country of Maryland and Virginia. +</P> + +<P> +On the face of it, Chicago, with its surroundings of prairie and lake, +would not tempt the angler. Yet it is in this respect most fortunately +placed, and I made the acquaintance of many anglers of the right sort, +and enthusiastic enough for anything. It is a marvellous city, of +really magical growth and extent, and the energy of the people is +appalling. But it is nonsense to call it magnificent in anything but +its enterprise and the size of its buildings towering to the sky, and +not beautiful. Moreover, it is smoky. Hence the anglers are numerous; +they have many incentives to flee from it. The lake yields no angling +for the skilled rod. The boys and loafers get, however, plenty of +1/2-lb. perch. The nearest respectable sport for the fly or minnow man +is with black bass, in the smaller lakes and connecting rivers within +two or three hours' railway journey; and there are six or eight other +percoid forms such as striped, calico, and rock bass, and several of +the sunfishes, all of which take a fly. The game is not of high repute +all the same, and they are somewhat slightingly spoken of as "only pan +fish." But they run from 1/2 lb. to 3 lb., and rise voraciously. The +next best sport with black bass, which is the game fish most sworn by +in this district, is in Northern Illinois and Indiana, fifty miles and +more by train from Chicago. Farther afield still are the streams and +lakes of Wisconsin, which may be brought into a day's work by starting +early. In Northern Wisconsin there are trout in the streams, and +muskalonge galore in the lakes. Altogether it is a very fly-fishing +state, and heavy creels can be made from the streams falling into Lake +Superior. The Michigan and Montana streams enjoy the distinction of +holding the indigenous grayling, which take the fly freely, and have +their enthusiastic admirers, who protect and cherish them. They are, +however, decreasing in numbers and their establishment in other states +was still problematical. A 2-lb. Michigan grayling is the maximum, so +far as the experience of native observers can fix it. A pound is an +honest sample for the creel. +</P> + +<P> +The black bass, as I have said, are prime favourites in the angling +resorts of the interior. They spawn any time, according to locality, +between April and July; but there is a brief spell of smart fishing +before they get on the shallows. This happens during what is called +the "spring run"; that is to say, when they are moving from the deep +waters of their winter quarters (some think that they hibernate) to the +sandy shallows (if they can get sand) of the streams and lakes. Before +this, however, the pike-fishers have been having sport, if the waters +allow it, in March. The winters here are often open, that of which I +saw something, with a snow tempest of three days, being the exceptional +season of ten years at least. Sometimes the enthusiasts are piking +even in February, getting fish from 2 lb. to 20 lb., which Dr. +Henshall, the well-known author and naturalist, pronounces true Esox +lucius. This is the fish we often read of as the pickerel, and it is +taken with a local minnow some 3 in. long, or one of the spoons, of +which America is the cradle. +</P> + +<P> +The black bass, it may be premised, has been transplanted to many +states where it did not previously occur, and has taken most kindly to +the waters of middle and eastern states, where the croakers predicted +it would and could never thrive. The fly-fishers prefer wading, and +use a fly large as a small salmon pattern, gut of Mayfly strength, line +of corresponding size, and the light ten-feet built-up cane rods, which +were first brought into general action in this country. The custom is +either to cast across, with a tendency downwards, and to work the fly +slightly as it swings round, or to cast down and work back. Three or +two flies are used. Minnow fishers are in a minority, and fly-fishing +is reckoned the correct method by the angler. Dr. Henshall had had so +many "records" that he could not remember offhand his best with fly; +but his heaviest bag—and he did not confess it with any pride—was, +spinning with the minnow, seventy black bass, averaging 2 lb., in a +day. The biggest fish are in the lakes; but a 4-lb. specimen is large +anywhere, save in the Gulf States, where all fish seem to reach +abnormal dimensions. June and July are the best months for sport in +these North-Western States; August, as in England, is a depressing +month for the angler; but fishing becomes merry in September and +October, and is pursued with zest in the cool evenings, at which time +the gorgeous tints of the American fall are deepening. Altogether the +autumn fishing is the most enjoyable; for, while the conditions just +indicated are to be considered, the water has become thoroughly +settled, and there are no fears of flood and disturbance. After +spawning, the bass is quickly in condition; as a matter of fact, it is +seldom out of it. +</P> + +<P> +There was some rare fun one day with a brace of alligators sent by +express from Florida. They were the patriarchs of a considerable +consignment, and arrived pretty miserable five days back in wooden +boxes. They were put into a lagoon in the open grounds. Then we had +bitter wintry gales with snow flurries, and a blizzard which, had the +season been earlier and the ground frozen, would have given us a foot +of snow. Anyhow, it made the temperature of the lagoon a very +unsuitable figure for the alligators, and they had to be looked +promptly after. They were driven at length into a bay with poles, and +pretty furious they were, lashing round with their tails and snapping +viciously. As these fellows were 10 ft. long, the men told off to the +duty had to proceed warily, and after an hour's exciting sport +succeeded in lassoing them one after the other round the neck, yanking +them ashore, and bustling them into wooden cases made expressly for +their accommodation. They were at once taken to the warm interior of +the horticultural building, and I saw them spending their Sabbath in +some degree of comfort in the tepid water of the basin, without even +guessing that in the old country it was Shakespeare's day. +</P> + +<P> +Some of the queer fish swimming about in the big aquarium tanks +naturally drew my attention. Carriers from Florida and elsewhere were +arriving every day with new specimens, and I could see, in a quarter of +an hour's stroll round the circular annexe, more live fish than I had +ever seen in three of the largest aquariums known in England, had they +been combined into one. There were some large fellows, something like +pollack, cruising around, and these are called buffaloes. Insinuating +their slow course through the crowd were fresh-water gar-fish with long +spike noses. The catfish, with its greasy chubby body, portmanteau +mouth, and prominent wattles, were precisely like those we used to +catch (and eat sometimes) in Australia. Carp were present in numbers, +including the mirror and leather varieties, but carp culture was not so +fashionable as it was in the States. My eyes were gladdened with a +grand lot of tench, in the primest colouring of bright bronze; they +were raised from some of our British Stock. A whole tank was filled +with two-year-old fontinalis; another with young lake trout, handsome +12-in. examples at two years old, and not easy at a glance to +distinguish from fontinalis. Then came a tank of young sturgeon; and, +in a general assembly next door, were a few wall-eyed pike; this is +really a pike-perch, differing in the markings, however, from the +zander of Central Europe. +</P> + +<P> +A most droll-looking customer is the paddle fish. With body suggesting +a compromise between sturgeon and catfish, he has a long, perfectly +straight duck bill, and so seems to be always shoving ahead of him a +good broad paper knife nine or ten inches long. This weapon is used +for digging up the bed of the river, but if it could be insinuated out +of the water into a drowsy angler's leg it would probably make him sit +up. As the paddle is as long as the fish the creature presents a +really farcical appearance. The species runs to a hundredweight, I +believe, in the Mississippi. +</P> + +<P> +There was a river form that seemed particularly anxious to come to the +front that is called the sea trout, from its rough-and-ready +resemblance to that species, but its real name is the weak-fish—a sad +come-down for any creature. There was a puffed-out beast, with velvet +jacket, zebra markings, and turquoise eye, which was a perfect monster +of ugliness, but I did not catch its name. Its head was as much a +caricature as a pantomime mask. +</P> + +<P> +On another page I mentioned the killing of a fontinalis trout of over 9 +lb., and I begged the captor to tell me the story of his prize. "Why, +certainly," said Mr. Osgood; "I caught that fish with the rod, and the +place was a typical anglers' paradise. You'll experience that for +yourself when you keep that promise you have made me. You see, when I +made my first cast—— Oh! I beg your pardon. Begin at the beginning +must I? I understand; you want to give your English brother +anglers—and my brother anglers too, I suppose?—an idea of what a +fishing expedition is like out here, do you? Then I begin first at New +York. +</P> + +<P> +"You take the evening boat at 5.30 for Boston, fare four dollars. +There is beautiful sleeping accommodation, the Sound is smooth water +all the time, and you get to Boston at half-past seven next morning. +Better get your breakfast on board before you land, and then take the +8.30 Boston and Maine line train, reaching Portland at noon. Then you +switch on to the Grand Trunk system for Bryant's Pond, reached at 4.20. +Here you take the stage coach with a team of six horses, runners and +fliers all. The road is pretty hilly, however, and your twenty-mile +drive brings you to Andover for early supper, having on the road +crossed—coach team, and everything—a wide river (the Androsciggin) by +a float, hauled over by a rope. You stay at Andover for the night, and +next morning continue the journey in a birchboard waggon with a pair of +horses. This is a delightful drive through winding woods along the +side of a hill, crossing numbers of small streams. +</P> + +<P> +"Eventually you enter the Narrows, from which you emerge into +Mollechuncamunk, a small Indian name that takes practice to pronounce. +It is necessary to mention it nevertheless, because, in the river +between it and Mooseluckmegunquic, you find the largest trout. Indian +name too? Why cert'nly. It tells its own story pretty well also, but +no Indian chief gets any moose, or calls for his gun there, any more. +Now then we are on the spot. It is in this stream, between the two +lakes, in a pool 500 ft. and 400 ft. below the dam, that the trick was +done. +</P> + +<P> +"The pool is magnificent, alive and streaming all over, and varying +from 2 ft. to 20 ft. You can see the trout in the clear water lying on +the bottom in any number; lovely fish, ranging from 1/2 lb. to 7 lb. or +8 lb. About 200 ft. from the shore, and practically facing this pool, +is our wood-built hotel, one and half stories, with wide veranda +covered with woodbine, green lawn, and flower beds in front, blooming +with geraniums and pansies. This is the anglers' camp, and the +happiest hours of my life have been spent there. We have twenty-seven +rooms, and they are all lined with native pine, and varnished and kept +as clean as a tea saucer. The roar of that pool is so musical that if +it ever stops you cannot sleep. The people of the house are excellent +people, good sportsmen, and men and women alike just devote themselves +to making the angling boys happy and comfortable. You pay your two +dollars a day for board and lodging, and live like fighting +cocks—plenty of fruit and vegetables, and any variety of butcher's +meat and side dishes. You can fish from the shore if you like, but a +boat is best. You can hire one for two dollars a week, and if you want +a competent guide to manage it, that will cost you two and a half +dollars a day, for labour is not cheap here, and these guides are most +skilful and experienced. If you have them you have forty miles of lake +to fish, as well as the dam pool. However, let us suppose you go out +in your own boat. One peculiarity of the pool is, that wherever you +anchor you will have a down-stream wind, and that is what you want +here. Out with your 40-lb. weight, and there you are at anchor. +</P> + +<P> +"And now we come to September 18 last year. It was Sunday, a day upon +which I seldom fish. At the bottom of the pool, however, a large trout +had been seen rising, and lots of men had been trying for it. So I +went out at the most favourable hour—five in the afternoon, with my +10-ft. Kosmie rod, weighing exactly 6 1/4 ounces. I like myself to +fish with a single fly, and I anchored my boat about 30 ft. from the +head of the outfall sluice. The fly was the B. Pond, so called because +it is a favourite on a lake of that name, and, as you will see, it was +a 2 per cent. Sproat hook. These big fish have a habit of showing on +the top, and I had marked where it rolled. It had been in the same +place for quite a week, and we all knew about it, and had even decided +that it was a female fish, as, indeed, it turned out to be. So we got +to speak of her as the Queen of the Pool; and it was because I had been +challenged to catch her by the score of fellows who had been trying for +her that I went out on this particular day. I took boat an hour before +I intended to fish, and dropped quietly down, bit by bit, at intervals, +to the spot I had marked in my eye. It was not far from the head of +the sluice, and, therefore, a most critical position. I had worn the +B. Pond stuck in my hat for days, so that it should be quite dry. I +only allowed myself line 2 ft. longer than my rod. After a few flicks +with my left hand I delivered a business cast with my right, and in an +instant she came up with a roll, and I struck and hooked. +</P> + +<P> +"There was no need to shout. The Queen of the Pool leaped two feet out +of water and then made straight for the sluice. This was the dilemma I +had feared all along, and my plan of action had been well thought out +beforehand. I raised and held firm my rod, and let the fish and it +settle the whole business on a tight line. She often brought the top +curving right down to the water, but I never departed from my plan. I +kept the rod at an angle of about forty-five degrees throughout, and +risked all the consequences. The men from the bank, of course, shouted +'Give her line,' but I knew what my rod could do, and knew that all the +rigging was to be trusted. +</P> + +<P> +"This went on for an hour and five minutes. Sometimes the fish made +for the boat, sometimes for the sluice, and the rod was never still, +but she had to give in. At last another boat came and fastened to +mine, and the guide in it after three unsuccessful shots dipped her out +in the net. I need not tell of the excitement there was when we got +ashore. The fish was there and then weighed and measured, and there +and then entered on the records. Weight 9 lb. 2 oz., length 27 1/2 +in., girth 17 in. She was a most handsome fontinalis, and we counted +ninety-three vermilion spots on one of her sides." +</P> + +<P> +After this story from an experienced angler, whose word is never +doubted, I was very anxious to see that small rod. The fish, as +described, was before my eyes; I handled the fly (what at least was +left of it), and can describe it. B. Pond was really a fair-sized +salmon fly—turkey wing, orange body, and claret hackles, with the gold +tip of the Professor. The collar was of picked medium gut stained +black, many of the American anglers contending that this is the colour +least obtrusive to fish. The line was strong, but not large. The rod +was just as small as described, and certainly a masterpiece of work. +</P> + +<BR> +<HR WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center"> +<BR> + +<P> +On returning to New York, after my visit to Chicago, and delightful day +at Niagara Falls, it was not until I arrived at Albany that I saw +anything in the shape of scenery which could be compared to England; +and very sorry was I not to be able to go across the river and ramble +about the town, that seemed to be environed with pleasant meadows and +abundant foliage—the type of scenery one loves in the old country. +</P> + +<P> +The run down the Hudson river, even in the railway train, was a +continued delight; for the scenery, where it is not magnificent, is +always picturesque. In the summer there is a service of steamers from +New York to Albany, up and down; but just as I was too soon for the +fishing, so was I too soon for the summer excursions. The knowledge +that the boats would begin to run in three or four days' time was no +consolation to me. Had it been otherwise I should have left the train +at Albany and taken the Hudson steamer. Still, I had 150 miles of ever +varying scenery, with the noble Hudson on my right hand nearly the +entire distance. You soon get accustomed to the great white buildings, +that at first remind one of a covered ship-building yard, but which you +soon discover are the ice-houses in which is stored the cooling +material for the cunning summer drinks which the American loves. By +and by mountain masses appear in the distance, and the broad meadow +land narrows, until you are confronted by bold headlands rising often +uprightly from the water. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, the Catskill Mountains are the <I>pièce de résistance</I> of this +trip, and amongst the places where one would like to stop is Fishkill, +a few miles below Poughkeepsie, the points of beauty being the city of +Newburgh, over the water, and the widening of the river known as +Newburgh Bay. Then come the fine Highlands of the Hudson, with massive +granite precipices, and Storm King towering boldly 1,529 ft. above the +level. West Point succeeds; and there is more beautiful scenery at +Peekskill. After the State prison of Sing Sing we run past the Sleepy +Hollow country, with associations of Knickerbocker, Rip Van Winkle, and +the romantic Dutch citizens of old New Amsterdam. The Palisades +(twenty miles of lofty, rugged natural wall) are a fine finish to the +run. +</P> + +<P> +There seemed to be enough nets and fishing apparatus along the Hudson +to depopulate the stream, but there is some very good angling of a +common sort to be obtained there. Striped bass, white perch, pickerel, +sun-fish, frost-fish, and catfish are amongst the game, and trout are +to be found in many of the tributary brooks. The New Yorkers, I found, +also fish the Mohawk, where there are plenty of pike, pickerel, and +perch, pike being most abundant. The baits are crabs, crickets, and +minnows. Expensive as many things were in America, boats, at any rate +on waters of this kind, could be had much cheaper than in England, 50 +to 75 cents per day being a usual charge. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Osgood, the slayer of the big fontinalis, had been round the +country, and I found him amongst his fishing tackle in New York, +showing rods and flies to an admiring trio of anglers, who, with the +near approach of June, were making ready their outfit. I spoke in +terms of bitter disappointment at my fate in having to leave the +country without even seeing a trout stream. I had three days to spare +before the boat sailed, and when Mr. Osgood was free he began to think +what could be done. The result was that he took me over and introduced +me to Mr. Harris, the editor of the <I>American Angler</I>, an illustrated +magazine of fish, fishing, and fish culture, issued monthly. When he +learned my troubles he made a suggestion, which suggestion being jumped +at by me, he sat him down, with the business-like promptitude by which +our Trans-atlantic cousins save a good deal of time in the course of +the day, wrote a letter, and the thing was done. The letter was an +injunction to someone to take care of me and show me the best that was +to be seen. Mr. Osgood kindly allowed his business to slide for a day +or so, and in an hour we were crossing to New Jersey, and were soon on +board a train bound for Rockland County. The scenery here also was +quite English, of the pleasantest pastoral type; for we were passing +through highly cultivated farms, in conditions of agriculture that had +not yet brought the owner and cultivator of the soil under such a cloud +of dismal distress as we had experienced at home. A buggy was waiting +for us at the station, and we had a couple of miles' drive, finished by +turning out of the high road and galloping down a sandy track, across a +rustic bridge, and through a charming plantation. +</P> + +<P> +On a knoll, surrounded by thickets just showing leaf, stood a neat +wooden structure with a veranda running around it. A couple of setters +and a pointer in a kennel welcomed us by frantic barking, but for the +time that was the only sign or sound of life. We were in a sylvan +solitude, and somewhere near was heard the musical flow of water +through the tangled copse. The good lady who had charge of the +clubhouse eventually came forward and read the letter which made me +free of the house. It was not, however, till dusk that her husband, +the bailiff, appeared, and we therefore had no opportunity, as we had +hoped to do, of any evening fishing, but we had a hearty dinner, +beautifully cooked and prepared in one of the cosiest sportsman's +retreats I have ever entered. The woodwork of the interior was +beautifully finished and polished; the furnishing was just enough for +comfort; and the bracing air and wafted murmurs that came to us, as we +smoked our pipes on the veranda, were most grateful. Mr. Harris had +kindly put into my hands a copy of his <I>American Angler</I>, describing +the birth of the club, which may be taken to be a representative +angling club for city gentlemen in America. It was called the +Quaspeake Club, and the house was pitched close to the Demorest brook. +This was the water the music of which we had heard, and from our +elevated position on the veranda we could see it; a little to the west, +and down below, it broke into a miniature cascade and was then lost +among the low-lying alders which hid the course of the stream. This +clubhouse was about ninety minutes by rail from New York; and in the +season the members escaped from the city by the four o'clock train, got +a couple of hours' trout fishing before night, and were back to +business again by nine o'clock next morning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A DEVASTATED ARCADIA +</H3> + +<P> +Thirteen years ago it was my happiness to spend two or three days at an +angler's paradise, a veritable Arcadia then, in one of the districts +the earliest to be ploughed red by the hoofs of a lawless and brutal +invader in the recent war. In the course of a short month this +fruitful land of peace and plenty, ready for the ingathering of a +bounteous harvest, was devastated by the unspeakable savagery of a +soldiery whose name will henceforth be a byword amongst all civilised +peoples. It must surely be so, for the records of murders, robberies, +and outrages unspeakable suffered without warning, without provocation +by a prosperous and inoffensive people, will be a textbook of +inhumanity and wrong for generations to come. +</P> + +<P> +The passing of wounded Belgian soldiers in English streets sadly +reminded us of what had happened in their unhappy country; of cities, +towns, and villages looted and left in ashes; and of the devil let +loose in Arcady. Only to think of it! In the summer of 1914 you +might, as it were to-night, dine in London, travel luxuriously by the +Harwich express, cross the North Sea, survey promising scenes of +industry and agriculture from the railway carriage, glance at Brussels +and Namur on the way, see the Mayflies dancing over a lovely trout +stream, have driven over miles of sweet woodland road, gone out in the +boat and caught your first fish, and slept in the absolute repose of a +charming rural retreat. Just in such a fashion did my old friend Sir +W. Treloar and I in a bygone June gain the Chalet du Lac, on the skirts +of the Belgian Ardennes, to enjoy the hospitality of our English host, +Mr. F. Walton, of lincustrian fame. All this was suddenly cut off from +the outer world and overrun by barbarian hordes, who feared not God, +neither regarded the rights of man. The Arcady had become a stricken +land of desolation. It is close on twenty years since we visited that +beautiful spot, but the memory of it abides. Here are impressions set +down at the time: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Soon after leaving Namur the train passes through beautiful forest +scenery. You are nearing the Ardennes, and for miles you follow the +course of a typical trout stream, ever rushing and gliding from cool +woods to greet you. There were on that seventh day of June Mayflies in +the air, but the glaring sun and clear water revealed no sign of a +rising trout in any of the pools that came under observation. +Something after five o'clock of the afternoon on this particular +week-end outing the railway was done with, and right pleasant was the +change to an open carriage and the shaded five miles woodland drive to +the Chalet du Lac, built by my host on a lake of some fifty acres. The +supports of the veranda were, in fact, piles driven into the bed of the +lake, and the house was not only charmingly situated, but, having been +designed by its owner, a practical man of great artistic taste, was +charming in itself. The eye in every direction rested upon and roamed +over splendid masses of forest trees; they flourished down to the +water's edge and fell away and around in receding tiers, becoming grand +dark masses of pine on the distant horizon of mountain range. So +absolutely out of the world was this tranquil spot that I saw a deer +come out of the thicket and drink of the lake while I was playing a +fish." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +With my memory of that holiday quickened by the news from Belgium, I +called upon Mr. Walton in Berkeley Square to learn what had happened to +his delightful fishing quarters. He was in his eighty-first year then, +but hale and hearty, and on the look-out for some trout water that +should replace what he feared was now a ruined home. He had had no +word from Les Epioux since the war, but we knew that the enemy had been +all around. The chalet is but a quarter of a mile off the main route +from Sedan to Libramont, which is the junction station for Brussels. +It being an altogether undefended district, the enemy would be at ease +there, and perhaps have taken toll of the deer and fish which might be +secured by some of the sneak methods of warfare at which they were +adepts. The pictures and books of the chalet would be portable loot to +anyone who valued them more than clocks and cooking utensils, but the +books would certainly reveal a hated Englishman as the owner, and on +the whole we really could not expect to find the chalet above ground, +unless some admiring enemy had earmarked it as his private property, on +the chance of Belgium becoming a German province. +</P> + +<P> +All that Mr. Walton had gathered from the war news was that there had +been a cavalry engagement at or near Florenville, five miles distant. +There was just the chance that the invaders had to be hustled off on +the quick march before discovering those lakes, for about that phase of +the operations the tide of battle was setting hotly to the west, and, +as we know, according to the enemy's time-table, there was to be in a +week or so a grand victorious entry into Paris, previous to a glorious +descent upon English shores. There was a chance, therefore, that the +Chalet du Lac remained serenely whole by the lakeside. I tried to +cheer Mr. Walton by these surmises, but he shook his head, remarking, +"I am afraid I shall never see my dear little chalet again, or, if so, +everything dreadfully mutilated." So we turned the conversation, and I +beguiled him into telling me once more the history of his connection +with the Epioux lakes. Being a good, all-round sportsman, having been +raised on a Yorkshire country estate, where there was abundant work for +both rod and gun, he made, of course, the <I>Field</I> his weekly study, and +found the advertisement columns as interesting to read as any other. +</P> + +<P> +There, when settled in the world of London, he saw the fishing +advertised as an eligible resort, where you might get your angling for +a few shillings per day. He went over, and found that the lakes were +occupied by two English pisciculturists, and that the water was in a +measure stocked. Mr. Walton was so pleased with his fishing, +especially in the upper lake, that he at once took a fancy to the +place, and arranged for due warning should the tenancy become vacant, +as seemed to be likely before long. In about eighteen months the +result was that the lease was secured. +</P> + +<P> +Materials were sent from England by Mr. Walton, and the chalet built as +described above. There was one German name at any rate mentioned by +him with affectionate regard, namely, the late Herr Jaffé, who was +called in to assist in stocking. This was thoroughly done. Rainbow +trout were in the fashion then, and 300 pounds worth of them were +promptly introduced. They took most kindly to the water, and as they +were 6,000 strong to begin with, the fishing soon became good indeed. +That it was so when the alderman and I visited the chalet, quotation +from the article already tapped for present use may testify: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"The sport was so good that the details would become monotonous. I say +nothing about the baskets made by the two friends who also fished, save +that my host and myself were, at the end, close within touch of one +another's totals. We went afloat after breakfast and fished till +luncheon; went out again when the sun was declining, fishing from about +seven till nine. As I have stated, my first evening (which was +particularly interesting, because there I was at the other end of +Belgium catching fish at the hour corresponding with that of the +previous day when I was taking my seat in the Great Eastern express for +Harwich at Liverpool Street) accounted for twelve trout; the next day's +bag was forty-eight (twenty-six in the forenoon and twenty-two in the +evening); the following day's was fifty (twenty-two in the forenoon, +twenty-eight in the evening); and on the last day, which was rough as +to wind till the afternoon, my record was fourteen in the forenoon and +thirty-one in the evening quiet. +</P> + +<P> +"My host had a good deal of correspondence to attend to, and I was +often out alone, but his gillie reported that he had placed in the +great floating well moored off the veranda 273 fish, the produce of our +two rods during the period specified. These figures must not be +accepted as evidence of greedy fishing or anything of that kind, nor +are they written down in boastfulness. They are given simply because +they record the story of the stocking, and because the sport, which, on +the face of it, looks not unlike slaughter, was part of the necessary +work of keeping down the head of fish in the lake. 'Kill as many as +you can; there are far too many,' was the sort of order one need never +hesitate to obey. The majority of these rainbow trout were apparently +in the condition best described as well-mended. The biggest fish I +took was a golden-brown fario of 1 1/4 lb., probably an old inhabitant; +and there were pounders amongst the few fontinalis taken. +</P> + +<P> +"The point to which I trust to have brought the reader is that here was +a lake which in the matter of sport may be regarded as an angler's +paradise, and I may add that the success I enjoyed is the common +experience. The young ladies often caught their two dozen trout in a +two or three hours' paddle on a lovely sheet of water set in glorious +surroundings of forest in which the wild boar lurks and the deer hides. +Nobody was sent empty away. Just as a change from the chalk streams or +other rivers at home, a day or two of such boat fishing is a real +restful treat. Every loch fisher knows what I mean, and we need not +talk about skill. In my boat during this visit I had one day the +company of the worthy city knight who had caught his first trout on the +day of my arrival. His worship genially allowed me to lecture him as +to the simple rules for casting a fly, and when he would swish a +three-quarter pound fish aloft in the air as if it were an ounce perch, +to use language for which he would have fined me at the Mansion House. +After losing two rainbows in this wild work he got well into the +practice of casting and playing, and so, quite in workmanlike style, he +caught seven good fish, besides breakages." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In later years there was a considerable change in the character of the +fishing. The rainbows from Herr Jaffé had been installed something +over two years when they and we foregathered in this pleasant manner, +and the fish caught would average as near 3/4 lb. as one could guess. +As time went on it was evident that they did not flourish in the style +usual to Salmo irideus. Mr. Walton was puzzled, and, in truth, so was +Herr Jaffé. Amongst the stock planted in the principal lake there must +have been an odd fontinalis or two, and by and by these brilliant fish +were taken, of 1-lb. and 1 1/2-lb. size, freely rising at a fly. In a +word, the fontinalis seemed in a brief space to take possession and the +rainbows to decrease correspondingly. The first specimen Mr. Walton +caught he put back as a rarity, but in a year or so they were not by +any means strangers to be coddled. On the contrary they bred well, as +indeed did the rainbows. The latter, however, after five or six years +gradually deteriorated, while the fontinalis flourished and held their +own for a while. Latterly they, too, had gone the way of all +fontinalis, had become scarcer and scarcer, and it was a rare thing to +catch one where they formerly abounded. +</P> + +<P> +The story of Mr. Walton's tenancy of sixteen years is thus an +interesting chapter in fish culture. That must be my excuse for +apparently labouring this matter of stocking, more especially as there +is still a curious development to unfold. It should be stated that the +lake with which we are now concerned had, previous to the introduction +of rainbows, been emptied and restocked, leaving probably a few of the +original brown trout behind. Mr. Walton thought that there were some +Loch Levens, and that these in recent years asserted themselves, and, +as he put it, "came to their own." But he went on to add that a few +years ago he had put some minnows into the lake by the chalet, and that +they had multiplied like the Hebrews of old till they literally +swarmed. As a natural consequence the trout had become bad risers, and +the growing scarcity of natural flies suggested that the minnows, by +preying upon larvae, have had a share in this decline. The trout +meanwhile had grown big and fat, as they naturally would do, fellows of +3 lb. and upwards being not uncommon. Mr. Walton fished with nothing +but the fly, and had specimens of 3 lb. to 5 lb. so taken traced on +cardboard and adorning the chalet walls, if haply they escaped the +marauders. +</P> + +<P> +At his last visit, which was in the June of the fateful 1914, he killed +ten trout, which weighed exactly 10 lb., in two hours, but this was not +a common experience. His best chance of creeling one of the +three-pounder type was with a long line, longer patience, and a dry +fly. The sport with small lake flies, which was the usual method, was +amongst singularly beautiful brown trout of 1 lb. average. All, +therefore, was not yet lost, and the fishing, even in the lake which +had to the extent I have explained suffered a certain deterioration, +would be what many of us might, without sin, covet. When the angling +was in its prime 1,500 trout was the bag expected and generally +realised in a season, and, caught on small lake flies, such a number +assuredly signifies much satisfaction. The minnows, frogs, +miscellaneous Crustacea, and other foodstuffs in the lake then began to +institute a standing veto against such a degree of pleasure. But the +fishing of the upper lake, where we found our most joyous sport and +surroundings in 1901, seemed to be as good as ever, save that the trout +had fallen to a half-pound average. +</P> + +<P> +One must conclude as one began by wondering what happened at Epioux. +The château, in the distance, might, after all, have filled the eye of +the enemy so effectually that the pretty little chalet was overlooked. +They tell you in the district that Prince Napoleon fled there for +safety after he had shot Victor Noir, and that some of the cannon for +Waterloo were cast in its immediate neighbourhood. +</P> + +<P> +This chapter would have ended with the previous paragraph but for a +scrap of characteristic news in the <I>Daily Chronicle</I>. Many of the +reports of brutalities and wanton outrage in war time should be +received with distrust, but Mr. Naylor, who telegraphed this story from +Paris was an old journalistic comrade whom many a special-correspondent +expedition enables me to know as thoroughly reliable. He wrote: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"At Montdidier there is a great organisation which has for its object +the breeding of the best kinds of fish with which to stock French +rivers and lakes. As soon as the Germans came to Montdidier they +proceeded to blow up the banks of the fish-breeding ponds with +dynamite, and cover the streams with petroleum in order to kill all the +fish in them. They succeeded in destroying millions of immature trout +and other fish, and ruining completely a remunerative and useful +industry. The same spirit which drives such barbarians to blow up a +fish-breeding pond impels them to drop bombs on open towns, which do no +harm whatever to those who are fighting against them, but only kill +inoffensive women and children." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There are many good German anglers; the world of angling and fish +culture owes much to their scientists. But I think there must have +been a "wrong 'un" at Montdidier. That pouring of petroleum of malice +aforethought into the water must have been the "culture" of one who +knew precisely what he was doing. And the moral is this: The cause +that transforms a disciple of Izaak Walton into a fiend must assuredly +be accursed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 23343-h.txt or 23343-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/3/3/4/23343">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/4/23343</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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