Chapter - 17, Three Men in a Boat Summary Class 9 Three Men in a Boat

The area near Streatley and Goring is known to be Fishing Centre where the friends stayed for two days for fishing because the river abounds in various types of fishes like eels, dace, pike, roach etc.

The writer explains the fishermen’s psychology and the stories about their skills. He tried to become a good fisherman, but an experienced fisherman advised him not to try that as he did not have enough imagination to become a Thames angler. He was advised that a good fis:ierman must have the ability to tell lies and that too without an iota of shame.

The writer and George stopped at a riverside inn where there was a huge trout in a dusty old glass case which was fixed very high above the chimney piece. The trout was eighteen pounds and six ounces—said a man. It was found 16 years ago just below the bridge with a minnow. Thereafter many people came in the pub — a middle aged individual, a local carrier and a landlord. All these people claimed that they had caught the biggest fish and each time the size of the fish became bigger and bigger. But the landlord laughed at the claims of the other persons and said that he had caught the fish when young. He was a truant and when the news of his catching the fish spread, it rescued him from being beaten.

The trout was really the most astonishing, George had never seen. So being excited, he climbed up on the back of a chair to get a view of it. The chair slipped but George firmly held the trout case to save himself But the trout-case fell down with a crash where George and the chair also fell on the trout-case. The trout was shattered and strewn into several pieces. The trout was made of plaster-of-paris.