Page:Punch Vol 148.djvu/579

In tackling a trout that has evaded capture for a large number of years, the first thing to do is to find out what methods of fishing he has been brought up to, and then use care to avoid all of them. In such a case the fisherman's only chance is to fish all wrong. Accordingly the first thing I did when I engaged Edward, the famous Fraddingford trout, at the Two Vergers Hotel (they used to hire him out at a special extra charge of one shilling for the day) was to creep to the bank above his hole and try to fetch him a crack with the landing handle. As it happened, he observed me, and I missed him. I had no intention of maiming him, but it was important to do everything possible to lead Edward to suppose I had no intention of trying to catch him, and I knew that to attempt to slog him with the landing handle would put him off his guard.

Much more than this was however necessary. I tied a handkerchief to my rod so that Edward should think I was out flag-flapping with the boy scouts; and I sat on the edge and splashed my feet in the water, while from time to time I tore a sod from the bank and pitched it in. I saw a dog, and called him up and threw him in on top of Edward, and made him swim about a bit and bark, and in fact I did all I could think of to raise in Edward a false sense of security. In this I was successful; Edward was completely misled. So I caught him.

The flies I caught Edward with were five in number. "Five" because five were a great deal too many according to Edward's ideas; and not more than five because I was afraid of infringing the rule printed on his tickets, which said that he was only to be taken "by fair fishing with the artificial fly." It is difficult to say which fly caught Edward the most; each played a useful part in getting a purchase on him and so tangling the cast about him that his chance was hopeless; but my own favourite was the Green Wag-tail. I do not, however, overlook the part played by the hook. The fact that the hook is the most essential component of an artificial fly seems to be entirely ignored by most writers on fishing. A nice sharp hook is of course of first importance, but only experience can teach what patterns of hook a trout favours most under different conditions of light and temperature. Much knowledge, however, may be acquired by studying the old hooks which are to be found embedded in nearly all fish taken from popular waters.

While I am on the subject of trout-flies I should like to call attention to a fly which I have observed in hairdressers' shops on warm afternoons in the late summer. I have named this fly the Tickler, and in my opinion it would form a particularly deadly lure and should never be absent from any well-lined fly-book, for I am convinced that no trout would allow a fly of such pertinacity to remain at large.

In concluding this account of how I caught Edward, I should like to ask if any of your readers can tell me whether it is in any way possible to stuff a fish and eat it too. I may say that I am very fond of a nice fat fish, no one more so, and I feel besides that as a sportsman it is my duty to eat the fish I catch and admire its flavour. It comes hard, when one catches a big fish and wants him stuffed, to have to forgo the hearty meal of which the thought has nerved one's purpose throughout & long day.