THE TROUT THAT WEEDS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—Your reviewer in his notice of Sir Edward Grey's charming book on "Fly-Fishing," in the Spectator of May 13th, refers to the author's suggestion, that trout lay hold of weeds in order to increase their power of resistance, as being "very interesting." It is certainly interesting, but so startling a theory seems to demand more comment than this. All those who fish in our South Country chalk-streams have suffered from the trout "weeding," a device which is successful to an almost uncanny extent, and which is un- doubtedly the chief cause of the very small proportion which the trout landed bears to the trout hooked in these rivers.
My experience is that anglers are only too ready to assume that these chalk-stream trout possess an amount of intelligence sufficient to qualify its owner fora seat in the House of Commons; but really this theory of Sir Edward Grey surpasses anything I have yet heard in this way. The boldness of the suggestion becomes more apparent if a dog is substituted for a trout.
Imagine a dog—even one of those abnormally intelligent animals whose acquaintance we make, Sir, in your columns— imagine a dog deliberately and with forethought laying hold of, say, the area railings so as to resist being dragged back- wards. Can any one say honestly that he could believe this thing? And yet a dog is somewhat higher in the scale of in- telligence than a fish. All anglers owe a debt of gratitude to Sir Edward Grey for his true and delicate descriptions of the haunts they love—descriptions which seem to breathe the very atmosphere of the scenes depicted, and not less for the strong common-sense and entire absence of " cocksureness ' (qualities not invariably conspicuous in books on angling) in his hints and directions to fly-fishers. All the rest of the book, save only this wonderful theory, I accept with faith and gratitude ; but I fear that the resistance offered by the weeded trout must still remain one of the many mysteries which form no small part of the charms of angling.—I am, Sir, ctc., 19 Hyde Park Gate, S. W., May 13th. ARTHI7E CLAY.
Previous page
