On a Saturday in May, 1803, three days after Britain once again declared war on Napoleon's France, the ingenious Mr D. Bacon Esq. went fishing on the River Otter. This report of his catch was squeezed between loyal, martial notices in the following Thursday's Exeter Flying Post, :
"A Salmon, weighing 18lb. was killed in the river Otter by D Bacon Esq. with a small trout fly; after playing the fish twenty minutes, and making many attempts to land it, the fish always making to a hole in the bank, by the assistance of a boy he pulled off his boot and placed it in the hole, so that the fish forced itself into the boot and was there taken."
I don't see why the small trout-fly deserves a mention. Mr D. Bacon Esq. caught the salmon in his boot for goodness sake! And I'd like to know more about what that boy did. Did he just pull off Mr Bacon's boot or was he up to his waist in the river shoving it into a hole? I suspect he deserves more credit than he is here allowed.
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