Stray notes on fishing and natural history

Front matter

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

New YorK STATE COLLEGES OF AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

AT

Preface

Tue following Notes were, with but few exceptions, written originally without any view to publication, being merely jottings of matters from time to time occurring to my notice, recollections of which I wished to preserve for my own amusement. When it was afterwards suggested to me that some leisure hours might be employed in rendering them presentable to others, I thought it better—while it was certainly easier—to leave them generally as they had grown up under my hand, rather than to attempt a more connected arrangement, or even to reduce them to anything like order. This I trust will be considered a sufficient excuse for the abrupt and desultory form in which they are now offered to the Public. b vi PREFACE.

So far as they relate to Fishing, those connected with practical details are almost entirely the result of my own experience, and I may therefore hope that they will prove not altogether useless to brother-fishermen, while such as are not exclusively technical may perhaps possess a more general interest.

With regard to those connected with Natural History I feel that an apology is needed —especially in this eminently scientific age— for my presumption in venturing to deal with the subject so superficially. There is, indeed, nothing in these Notes which can commend them to the man of science, they being merely records of every-day matters, which, though simple in themselves, have nevertheless yielded me so much interest and pleasure, that they may, it is hoped, even second-hand, be capable of affording some amusement to others.

The combination of the two subjects is one which may be thought to require some explanation.

By those who take no interest in Fieldsports, Hunting, Shooting and Fishing will

PREFACE. Vil be, naturally enough, classed together in the same category (without any regard to their bearing on other subjects) as simply representing the pursuit of so many descriptions of animals; and the connexion of all three with the study of Natural History will be probably considered as equally remote and indirect.

Now, as to the two former, they may to a certain extent be right; an attempt to join either Hunting or Shooting with Natural History—as Fishing is joined in the following Notes—might perhaps be fairly open to exception, as a union of two subjects not of themselves sufficiently connected.

But Fishing, to my mind, occupies in that respect an entirely different position from the other two, the affinity between it and the study of Natural History being so close and distinct, as to warrant their being thus coupled together, I submit, without the slightest violence to either.

As, however, the distinction to be drawn between the three sports would probably not

b2 viii PREFACE.

immediately suggest itself to those who take no interest in them (and I am anxious, as a Fisherman, to establish it, and to vindicate the appropriateness of my Title) I will briefly mention the points of difference which seem to me thus far to separate them.

Far be it from me in doing this to extol Fishing at the expense of Hunting or Shooting; I am much too fond of and grateful to them to have the least inclination to do SO, even if it suited my purpose. It is merely to accident that Fishing is indebted for the auxiliary charm of this fellowship with Natural History: that Hunting and Shooting are in great measure destitute of it is not their fault but their misfortune.

In the first place, exactly as both season, and the circumstances under which their several pursuits are conducted tend to frustrate any attempt on the part of those who hunt or shoot! to cultivate the study of Natural

1 Jt seems strange that whilst the language affords two words (“ Angler,” and “ Fisherman”) descriptive of the man who fishes, we should be driven to paraphrases for want of corresponding words with regard to Hunting and Shooting.

PREFACE. ix

History; in the same proportion do they not only lead the Angler up to it, but actually almost force it upon him.

The former (for whose purposes a very limited knowledge of Natural History is generally sufficient, and whose sports are attended with a degree of noise and bustle, at once disturbing some objects which might otherwise attract their notice, and incompatible with a careful examination of others) take the field when the leaf is withering, and

As to the former, “Hunter” and “Huntsman,” though both originally bearing that signification, have now lost it, the word “ Hunter” being (in England) now generally transferred from the man to the horse, whilst “Huntsman” is exclusively applied to the person who manages the hounds. As to the latter (Shooting) we are, if possible, still worse off, for “Shooter” can scarcely be considered to have been ever commonly adopted, “Shooting-man” is utterly inadmissible, and “Shot,” if it ever conveys a similar meaning, certainly fails to do so without a qualifying adjective.

The French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages have, it may be remarked, no advantage over us in this respect. In each there is a word to designate the fisherman (“ Pécheur,” “ Fischer,’ “ Pescatore,” and “ Pescador”), yet. when they come to Hunting and Shooting they are obliged to take refuge in generalities, combining the words “chasser”—“jagen’”— “cacciare”—“cazar,” &c., with others expressive of the particular sport.

x PREFACE.

the Swallows are already congregating for their southern flight; and retire from it (with rare exceptions) before they have again heralded the spring, or the earth has reawakened from her long winter-sleep. Such, it must be admitted, is not the season, nor are such the circumstances which can in any great degree tend to promote a love for, or conduce to, the study of Natural History.

But how different is the Angler’s case! Not only is an accurate knowledge of some branches of Natural History essential to him who would excel in his art, but all the circumstances attending it—the genial character of the season which peculiarly calls him forth —the beauty of the scenery into which he is naturally led, with all its sweet accompaniments,

“Rivers to whose shallow falls Melodious birds sing madrigals ;’— the soothing and thought-awakening influence

of the water itself, ‘‘ Nature’s store-house, in

which she locks up her wonders!”—the num- 2 Tzaak Walton.

PREFACE. xi berless and varied forms of animal and vegetable life, which can hardly fail to arrest his attention and excite his interest, many of them, by reason of the silence and quiet necessary for his sport, being seen to especial advantage ; all these things combine not only to present the works of Nature before him in their most attractive form, but at the same time peculiarly dispose his mind to meditate on the impressions they can scarcely fail to make on it. The Book of Nature is in fact opened before his eyes—nay, obtruded on his notice —written in such distinct and inviting characters, that he must indeed be blind of eye, ‘and dull of apprehension, if he do not, to some extent at any rate, attain to a knowledge and a love of her language.

It is scarcely to be wondered then, that, springing from all these associations, there should insensibly arise in the Angler’s mind a cordial sympathy with and appreciation of the delights and wonders of Nature, such as I am persuaded no other class of men (taken collectively) possesses, xi PREFACE.

The accuracy of these conclusions, as between Hunting, Shooting, and Fishing, may be, perhaps not unfairly, tested by comparing the standard works on each, and thus forming an estimate of the regard in which Nature and the study of Natural History are held by their respective votaries.

To go through the whole list would be a tedious and a needless process; but let us take the best known work on each subject— say Beckford’s Thoughts on Hunting, Hawker’s Instructions to Young Sportsmen, and Walton’s Complete Angler. Now what is there in “Beckford” but Hunting,—what in “Hawker” but Shooting? But what a change is there when we come to dear old Izaak! How keen and pure is his appreciation and enjoyment of Nature for Nature’s self. There is scarcely a page in his whole book which does not breathe forth his earnest and devoted love for her. Do not his descriptions almost lead away his readers in spite of themselves from the avowed subject of his book, and incite them to become Anglers more for the sake

PREFACE. xiii of the accessories which he paints so graphically and invitingly—his “honey-suckle hedges”—his “airy creatures'”—his “silver streams”—than for the actual fishing ? I verily believe he has done as much to promote a genial and healthy love of Nature as any man who ever lived.

That Fishing has, by thus leading up to the study of Natural History, acquired a prescriptive right to be associated with it—as I have taken leave to do in the subsequent Notes—is a question which no angler would probably dispute.

" Yarrell says, that few have expressed their admiration of the Nightingale’s song in more fervent or more natural terms than “honest Izaak Walton, who loved birds almost as well as he loved fish,”—quoting from him that graphic eulogy of the bird :—“ But the Nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make mankind to think that miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted up above earth, and say, ‘Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music upon earth””—British Birds, 1. 319.

Chapter II

Spin slowly—Strike Jack sharply—<Artificial baits for Jack—Jack caught with dead bait not in motion— “ Kill-devils’—on the Wandle—in Devonshire—in Salt-water — Spoon-baits — India-rubber balls for floating off live-bait — Double live-bait tackle— “Gag” and “ Executioner” for Jack—Live-ground-baiting .. ‘ 3 ‘ z é 3 5 . 18

Chapter III

How to catch Carp—Tame Carp—Carp basking—Grasshopper bait—Carp, Eels, and Aischylus—Fish-ponds near Brussels—Great Carp caught in them—General management of fish there—Growth of fish promoted by change of water—Effect on Jack—on Roach— Noises made by Carp at night—Spawning of Carp— Their spawn devoured by Water-birds and fish— Dace caught with Spinning-bait—Carp with live Minnow—Eel with fly—Perch with fly . . . 33

Chapter IV

In selection of Flies, colour, not form—Old rule, “ Light, fly for darkness,” &c. rather to be reversed— Fastening for Casting-line—Ditto for Bob-flies— Make-shift Gaff—Cut-and-thrust Rod-spear—Simple Clearing-line—Fastening for loose Reel—Fish slowly with fly—Straight line—Hair casting-lines— Tailing fly with “Gentle”—Fishing near Geneva— Versoix— Eau de Lyon—Lines on Versoix—In xx CONTENTS.

Chapter V. Page

Rarer Birds visilors to the Isle of Wight—Spoon-bill— Red-necked Phalarope—Bittern—Gannet— White-fronted (Laughing) Goose—Black Redstart—Common Ditto—Hoopoe—Snow Bunting—Cirl Bunting —Brambling — Merlin— Hobby—Grossbeak— Wryneck—-Grasshopper Warbler—Stone Curlew—Dotterel—Ring Dotterel and Ox-bird—Grey Plover— Golden Plover—Protest against killing rare Birds . 203

Chapter VI

Tameness of Animals on Sundays— Anecdotes as to Horses—Spaniel—Pomeranian Dog—Note of Peewit— Grass scarified by Rooks—Bareness at base of Rook’s bill—Infants—Young Asses—Young Elephants—Lofty flight of Moorhens at night—Landrail—Quail—Woodcock—carries young from place to place—Snipe—fquirrels—Nuts and Nutshells on Down—Star on Hare’s forehead—Sparrows congregating in hard weather. i : ‘ : . 212

Chapter VII

Singular effect of Storm—Great discharge of Sap from Trees—Growth of Cedar of Lebanon—of other Trecs—Changes in Pond-weeds—Soil collected at mouths of Worm-holes—Maggots from Sea-weed— Disease among Partridges—Boy and Wasps— Midges—Birds on Scotch Sea-lochs—Herons in Loch Duich—Mortality among Sea-birds—Skeletons of Weasels in Ricks—Rats . i 3 ; . 224

Chapter VIII

Determination of Sparrow-hawk—Boldness and voracity of Stoat—Jays—bait for—Flocks of Magpies—Jays, Magpies,’ &c. subject to fits—Raven—Cats—Barn-owls—Kestrels—Foxes . . . . . .« 241

NOTE.

Pike choked by living Carp. 3 i F i . 256

PART I.

fishing.

FISHING.

Chapter I

Directions for Spinning—Rod—for Trout—for Jack—Covering for Button—Rings—Line—Trace—Shot—Flights of Hooks—Baiting—Gimp—Treble Gut—Single ditto— Care as to Tackle—‘ Hand-coiling” Line—A couple of hints—Colour of Landing-handle.

I HAVE experienced so much difficulty in de-

termining what is (to my mind) the best form of tackle for spinning, that I make no apology for submitting to those who are fond of this very pleasant mode of fishing the results at which I have arrived. And I do so without hesitation : not that I have the slightest intention of asserting my style of tackle to be perfect, (for most old fishermen have their own peculiar wrinkles, many of which might probably be adopted with advantage, in addition to, if not in lieu of, my own,) but simply because, having in vain consulted the ordinary books on fishing for the information I required, I should have been very

B2

4 DIRECTIONS FOR SPINNING—ROD. [PART I.

glad some years ago to obtain that which I now offer as the result of actual experience; and, believing that the want has not yet been supplied, I think it not improbable that others may still be in the same case.

Your spinning-rod (for Trout) should not be shorter than twelve and a half, nor exceed sixteen feet in length. For boat-work, and indeed when fishing from the shore, if the water is sufficiently deep along the side next you, and the bank clear, one of about thirteen feet will generally be found to answer every purpose: but for use off weirs, or. from the bank where the water runs shallow near the shore, or is grown up with reeds, it is generally advisable to have a somewhat longer one.

Cane is the best material for the whole of the rod except the top, for which, in my opinion, nothing beats simple hickory. A wood called “green-heart”’ has been a good deal praised lately as a material for tops, but I fancy it is, though sometimes very tough and elastic, apt to run faulty, and therefore not always to be depended on. One great advantage of cane is its lightness, a quality which, having due regard to strength, can hardly be too much insisted on; for a con-

CH.1.] SPINNING-ROD—FOR TROUT—FOR JACK. 5 tinuous day’s spinning, when you are out of practice, is back-aching work even with a light rod, much more so with a heavy one.

A trout-spinning-rod can generally be converted into one applicable to Jack, by substituting a short stiff top for the longer one, or (if extraheavy baits be used) for the two upper joints required for lighter and finer work. Where however very heavy baits are exclusively employed— the fashion in some places, though I by no means recommend it for general adoption—it will be found a matter of economy to have a stouter rod built for the purpose, as the undue strain to which a light rod would be thus subjected would soon ruin it, however good it might be.

A rod if well made, and of good materials, will with care last a long while. I myself have a cane one which was made for me about seventeen years ago by Bowness (late Chevalier) of Bell Yard, (whose materials and workmanship I have always found extremely good,) which has been in pretty constant use ever since, and—barring a joint which was accidentally broken, and has been renewed— seems scarcely to have suffered from the work it has done,

Over the button at the bottom of the rod

6 COVERING FOR BUTTON—ROD-RINGS. [PART 1.

should be strained and fastened a piece of washleather,—or, what is perhaps better, thin India-rubber—which will be found of great service and comfort in preventing the rod from slipping, as it is otherwise sometimes inclined to do, when you are throwing under difficulties.

By all means have your rod-rings sufficiently large. They should of course be fixed upright. Very good ones may be made of thick brass wire, hammered sufficiently to be quite hard without being brittle. That next the hand should be formed by giving the wire a complete turn, and bringing the ends down from above over the rod, thus (Fig. 1): leading them afterwards a little way along the butt, to admit of their being whipped on. The line will be thus prevented from getting hung up round the ring, which it will otherwise

CH. 1] TOP-RING—LINE. 7 infallibly do sometimes. For that at the end of the rod I think there is nothing so good as a hollowedged ring, of brass or German-silver, enclosed in strong brass wire, as shewn in Fig. 2:—the principal advantage of this plan is, that as the ring can be turned round in the wire, there is no fear of the line wearing a furrow in it, as will be found to be the case after a time, when it is a fixture. Some time ago I mentioned this kind of ring to a London fishing-tackle maker, when he said he thought he could get the thing nicely done in agate. Rather fancying the material, from the idea that the line would run pleasantly through it, I requested him to have one made for meas asample. He accordingly did so, when, on inquiring the price, which I ought to have done before, I found it was five shillings! Those of German-silver cost about sixpence a-piece.

It is extremely difficult to get a really good spinning-line for Trout; yet at the same time nothing is more essential to the comfort and the success of the fisherman. The three things which constitute a good line are fineness, softness, and absence of any disposition to “kink.”

8 LINE—COLOUR—-MATERIAL—LENGTH. [PART I.

Colour should also be looked to, but it is a minor consideration. Of all faults that of “kinking” is the most fatal to sport and temper. Ifa kinking line does not make a man swear, I don’t know what will. The best lines are made of silk, or mostly silk. As good as any that I have seen were made by Mr Edward Lees, Golden Salmon, Nottingham, price a penny a yard. The line should be dressed occasionally, and that, not by being merely dipped, as London tackle-makers are apt to do it, but by having the composition well rubbed in with the hand. The Thames fishermen, who spin much, are good hands at this. I should recommend any one ordering a new spinning-line, not to have it shorter than a hundred yards. It is not often that so much is required, but it may be occasionally found extremely useful to have a reserve on the reel, as for instance in the case of hooking a large fish from a weir, when you may have to go a long way round before you can bring him down stream to land him; or again your hooks may get foul under the camp-sheeting, when you may save your tackle by going round and getting a pull on it from the opposite direction. At the close, or more frequently at the commencement of a season, you will find it necessary, if your

CH. I.] TRACE—LENGTH FOR--SERVICEABLE TYPE OF. 9 line has done much work, to sacrifice some yards of it, which can be more easily spared from a long than a shorter line. When a favourite line has thus become reduced to about sixty or seventy yards, I generally lengthen the end next the reel by splicing and carefully whipping on an additional piece, by which means I still have my old line to throw with, and plenty to fall back upon in case of need. You may thus utilize an old line until the knot comes within the cast. With great care, indeed, the splice may be so nicely made as scarcely to interrupt the passage of the line through the rings, even in casting.

As a length for the trace I have generally found from six to seven feet quite sufficient. A longer one is apt to get in the way; a shorter one brings the line too near the hooks. As to its form, I have come to the conclusion that the following is, for general purposes, as serviceable and convenient a type (admitting, of course, of variation according to circumstances) as any that can be adopted. Above the shot have three lengths of gut (Fig.3, A), with a swivel between each, as also a swivel and small loop between the lowermost one and the shot. These should be perforate, and made up, separate from the traces, in flights of (say)

TRACE FOR SPINNING.

Fig. 3.

[PART. I.

CH. I.] FORMATION OF TRACE—SHOT. 11 fifteen, twelve, ten, seven, and five respectively (Fig. 3, B), the centremost shots in each flight being larger than the others, which should gradually diminish in size on either side of them. Of these the largest should not be larger than small peas, nor the smallest run below about No. 2; they being thus arranged and sized in order to get the required weight with the least possible disturbance to the water. They should be threaded on treble gut, (not gimp, which is apt to wear,) and a small loop should be left on each side of the flight, so that it can be exchanged at pleasure for a heavier or lighter one, according to the size of the bait, and the state of the water. When, in heavy water, it is necessary to fish with more than about fifteen shot, it is better to have them in two flights separated by about two lengths of gut, to which they should in that case (an exceptional one) be permanently affixed without loops. Below the shot there should be again three lengths of gut (Fig. 3, C), besides the one next the hooks. Between the two upper of these lengths there should be a swivel, and a swivel and loop above and below the three,—the upper loop just sufficiently’ large to pass the shot through easily,—the lower one large enough to admit of the bait and hooks being

12 SWIVELS—FLIGHTS OF HOOKS—BAITING. [PART I.

passed through it. The number of swivels used will thus amount to six. A smaller number will doubtless often answer the purpose, but that I have mentioned will ensure the bait spinning well, if properly put on, and save your gut from becoming at all twisted. In trailing, when the bait is kept spinning a long while continuously, and the line is not, by being frequently taken out of the water, (as in the ordinary mode of spinning,) relieved from any undue twist to which it may be subjected, it is almost essential to have as many.

As to flights of hooks, I am content with four, or three, trebles (according to the size of the bait), and a lip-hook, which latter should be tied upon a minute loop, so small as only just to enable it to run up and down the gut. In baiting, it is kept in its place by taking a couple of turns round it with the gut. A single hook, reversed, just below the penultimate treble, tends to keep the tail of the bait in its place. A large bait should always be secured to the hooks by a piece of thread tied round it, just behind, or over, the dorsal fin; otherwise it will soon be dragged from them by its own weight.

A very slight crook in the tail is sufficient to make a bait spin well, especially a large one. In

CH. I.] AS TO BAITING—GIMP. 13 fact it should be less and less crooked in proportion to its size. If a bait will not spin well, or “wabbles,” two to one it is too much crooked. A double crook or bend in a bait is also absolutely fatal to its spinning properly.

A Bleak should be put on so as to form one continuous curve from head to tail. In all others the tail alone should be curved, and the rest of the body left perfectly straight. This is the theory of Edward Andrews, a fisherman at Maidenhead, who is certainly the greatest “artiste” in putting on a bait that I ever saw.

Further written instructions on the subject I will not attempt, for the most elaborate would fail to teach the knack of putting on a bait properly, it being one which can be acquired only by practice, and which, perhaps as much as any connected with the gentle art, requires nicety and judgment in its execution.

When fishing water which contains Jack as well as Trout, you should always have by you a few flights of somewhat larger hooks tied on gimp. It is not at all an unfrequent occurrence to lose a set of gut tackle to a Jack, and to recover it by catching him next throw with a gimp set. Indeed, if the gimp be fine, I have generally found that

14 GUT—CARE AS TO TACKLE. [PART I.

it scarcely alarms Trout more than gut, if it do so at all. The very fine gimp should however be always tested before it is used, as the silk within it is apt to be faulty and give. The same remark indeed applies to all kinds of tackle, be it line, single gut, treble gut, or gimp. Remember that when a break occurs it is generally to the best fish. Treble gut is scarcely to be more relied on than single ; the fact being that all the weak bad gut is worked up, and looks well enough so. As an instance,—whilst spinning on the Garry, I got my hooks fast the other side of a deep black pool, and, not caring to swim for it, deliberately pulled till something broke. My trace being of single gut, the shot fastened on treble gut, and having gimp next the hooks, I was curious to see which the something would be. It was the treble gut, possibly worn by the rubbing of the shot.

In this, as in all other kinds of fishing, it is impossible, consistently with the requisite amount of strength, to have your tackle too fine: perhaps in no other is it so essential to have the two qualities combined. There are few tackle-makers in London who know much about this branch of their art. Gould, of 268, Oxford-street, (whom I have also pleasure in recommending as a careful

CH. 1.] ““ HAND-COILING” LINE. 15 and painstaking workman,) has probably a more practical knowledge of it than most, being a good fisherman himself: but spinning-tackle is of all the most difficult to get properly made, and no one, who does not make his own, can be too particular in seeing that his instructions are exactly carried out.

There is a plan for managing the line whilst spinning, at which the Thames fishermen are great adepts, and which cannot be too highly commended, by which, instead of being dropped at the feet in the usual way, as it is drawn in after a cast, it is collected in the hollow of the hand, whence it again runs out freely at the next. It is effected by first taking the line between the middle of the fore-finger and the thumb, then turning the hand over, and catching the line above it with the little finger, round which it is for the instant looped, and then turning the hand again, so as to bring the fore-finger and thumb again to bear upon the line. This process is somewhat difficult to describe, and still more so to execute rapidly, as is necessary where there is not much stream, or the water is shallow. The accomplishment is however a very valuable one, enabling the proficient, as it does, to fish comfortably under many circum-

16 HINTS—COLOUR OF LANDING-HANDLE. [PART I.

stances when he could not otherwise do 80; as, for instance, in a high wind, in long grass, or off a weir, as well as to carry his line from one part of the water to another in readiness for a cast, instead of dragging it trailing behind him, at the risk of it’s getting hung up, and collecting all manner of rubbish in it’s course.

With regard to the general management of the rod and line, when spinning, I will only give two hints, which may be useful. AJl the rest must be learnt by practice. One is to avoid, as much as possible, in the act of throwing, anything approaching to a jerk; the other, after throwing, to let the point of the rod follow the batt until it reaches the water.

The Landing-handle, whether Gaff or Net be used, should always be of a dark colour, if not black. Should the net also be well tanned, it will not only last longer, but be more serviceable while it lasts. It is quite curious how much more readily fish are alarmed by a light-coloured landingstick (cane for instance) than a dark one. Many minutes, which can be ill-spared when the fish are in the humour for taking, are often saved by the use of the latter. A Gaff affixed to a small darkcoloured handle will, if skilfully applied, often

CH. I.] COLOUR OF LANDING-HANDLE. 17 whip out a fish, before he is aware of his danger : whereas, should he have been once roused to a sense of it, by being brought face to face with a light-coloured one, and particularly if an unsuccessful attempt have been made to land him with it, he often turns unpleasantly fractious, and requires a good deal of persuasion, before he can be again prevailed on to come within reach. And it must not be forgotten, that those struggles of his with a short line are infinitely more dangerous than any that he can make with a long one.

Chapter II

Spin slowly—Strike Jack sharply—Artificial baits for Jack —Jack caught with dead bait not in motion—* Kill-devils” —on the Wandle—in Devonshire—in Salt-water—Spoon-baits—India-rubber balls for floating off live-bait—Double live-bait tackle—“Gag” and “Executioner” for Jack— Live-ground-batting.

F you have fine tackle and a good bait, I am persuaded you can scarcely spin too slowly. In working over a shallow you will find, that by raising the point of your rod you will generally be enabled to keep the bait off the bottom, without in any great degree, and, if you have not much line out, without at all accelerating the speed at which you are fishing. When spinning with an artificial bait the pace may perhaps be greater, as otherwise the fish may detect the imposition. As to slow spinning, the following circumstance would tend to prove my theory :—I was spinning, from a punt, down the reach of the Thames just above Maidenhead, where the stream is not particularly rapid, and not more than four or five feet deep,