Dick Cheveley | Page 6

laugh at me if I
came back empty handed. The pond to which I was going, although
supplied by the same stream which fed the ornamental piece of water in
the neighbourhood of the Hall, was at a distance from it, and was
accessible without having to pass through the grounds. It was
surrounded by trees, and one side of the bank was thickly fringed by
sedges which extended a considerable way into the water. It served as a
preserve for ducks and wild fowl of various descriptions, and was
inhabited also by a number of swans, who floated gracefully over its
calm surface. As they were accustomed to depend upon their own
exertions for a subsistence, they generally kept at a distance from
strangers, and I had never been interrupted by them when fishing. I
made my way to a spot where I knew that the water was deep, and
where I had frequently been successful in fishing. It was a green bank,
which jutted out into a point, with bushes on one side, but perfectly free
on the other. I quickly got my rod together, and my hook baited with a
red wriggling worm. I did not consider that the worm wriggled because
it did not like to be put on the hook, but if I had been asked I should
have said that it was rather pleased than otherwise at having so
important a duty to perform as catching fish for my pleasure. I had a
new float, white above and green below, which I thought looked very
pretty as I threw my line out on the water. Up it popped at once, there
being plenty of lead. Before long it began to move, gliding slowly over
the surface, then faster and faster. I eagerly held my rod ready to strike
as soon as it went down; now it moved on one side, now on the other. I

knew that there was a fish coquetting with the bait, trying perhaps to
suck off the worm without letting the hook run into its jaws. Before
long down went the float, and I gave my rod a scientific jerk against the
direction in which the float was last moving, when to my intense
satisfaction I felt that I had hooked a fish, but whether a large or a small
one I could not at first tell. I wound up my line until I had got it of a
manageable length, then drew it in gradually towards the bank. I soon
discovered that I had hooked a fine tench. It was so astonished at
finding itself dragged through the water, without any exertion of its fins,
that it scarcely struggled at all, and I quickly hauled it up on the bank.
It was three-quarters of a pound at least, one of the largest I had ever
caught. It was soon unhooked and placed safely in my basket. As I
wanted several more I put on a fresh worm, and again threw my line
into the water.
Some people say there is no pleasure in float-fishing, but for me it
always had a strange fascination, that would not have been the case, if I
could have seen through the water, for I believe the interest depends
upon not knowing what size or sort of fish has got hold of the hook,
when the float first begins to move, and then glides about as I have
described, until it suddenly disappears beneath the surface. I caught
four or five fine tench in little more than twice as many minutes. I don't
know why they took a fancy to bite so freely that fine bright morning.
Generally they take the hook best of a dull, muggy day, with a light
drizzling rain, provided the weather is warm. After I had caught those
four fish, I waited for fully ten minutes more without getting another
bite; at last, I came to the conclusion that only those four fish had come
to that part of the pond. There was another place a little further on, free
of trees and bushes, where I could throw my line without the risk of its
being caught in the bushes above my head; I had not, however,
generally gone there. Tall sedges lined the shore, and water-lilies
floated on the greater part of the surface and its immediate
neighbourhood. It was also somewhat difficult to get at, owing to the
dense brushwood which covered the ground close to it. I waited five
minutes more, and then slinging my basket behind my back, I made my
way to the spot I have described. After catching my line two or three
times in the bushes, and spending some time in clearing it, I reached

the bank and unslinging my basket quickly, once more