Some people do. They never catch them. I never knew anybody catch anything, up the Thames, except minnows and dead cats, but that has nothing to do, of course, with fishing! The local fisherman's guide doesn't say a word about catching anything. All it says is the place is "a good station for fishing;" and, from what I have seen of the district, I am quite prepared to bear out this statement.

There is no spot in the world where you can get more fishing, or where you can fish for a longer period. Some fishermen come here and fish for a day, and others stop and fish for a month. You can hang on and fish for a year, if you want to: it will be all the same.

The Angler's Guide to the Thames says that "jack and perch are also to be had about here («Путеводитель рыболова по Темзе» говорит, что «щучку и окуня тоже можно поймать здесь»; jack — молодая щука, щучка)," but there the Angler's Guide is wrong (но тут «Путеводитель рыболова» ошибается). Jack and perch may be about there (могут водиться здесь). Indeed, I know for a fact that they are (действительно, я точно знаю, что они водятся). You can see them there in shoals, when you are out for a walk along the banks (вы можете увидеть их на мелководье, когда гуляете по берегу): they come and stand half out of the water with their mouths open for biscuits (они подплывают и высовываются наполовину из воды, открывая рты /желая получить/ печенье). And, if you go for a bathe, they crowd round (а когда идете купаться, они теснятся вокруг), and get in your way, and irritate you (и мешают вам, и раздражают вас). But they are not to be "had" by a bit of worm on the end of a hook, nor anything like it — not they (но их не поймать на кусочек червяка на конце крючка или на что-нибудь подобное — ну уж нет)!

I am not a good fisherman myself (сам я неважный рыболов). I devoted a considerable amount of attention to the subject at one time (я посвящал значительную часть внимания этому делу одно время), and was getting on, as I thought, fairly well (и делал успехи в нем, как полагал, довольно неплохие); but the old hands told me that I should never be any real good at it, and advised me to give it up (но старые рыбаки сказали мне, что я никогда не стану действительно хорош в этом занятии, и посоветовали мне бросить его). They said that I was an extremely neat thrower (они сказали, что я чрезвычайно искусный метатель = замечательно закидываю удочку; neat — чистый, аккуратный; искусный, ловкий), and that I seemed to have plenty of gumption for the thing, and quite enough constitutional laziness (что, кажется, я обладаю большой сообразительностью для этого дела и у меня вдоволь врожденной лености). But they were sure I should never make anything of a fisherman (но они были уверены, что я никогда не стану рыболовом). I had not got sufficient imagination (у меня не было достаточно воображения).

extremely [k'stri:ml] sufficient [s'fnt]

The Angler's Guide to the Thames says that "jack and perch are also to be had about here," but there the Angler's Guide is wrong. Jack and perch may be about there. Indeed, I know for a fact that they are. You can see them there in shoals, when you are out for a walk along the banks: they come and stand half out of the water with their mouths open for biscuits. And, if you go for a bathe, they crowd round, and get in your way, and irritate you. But they are not to be "had" by a bit of worm on the end of a hook, nor anything like it — not they!