* * #
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 PAPERS BY MEMBERS OF THE MANCHESTER 
 ANGLERS' ASSOCIATION. 
 
 THIRD SERIES. 
 
 QHancfJeefer: 
 ABEL HEYWOOD AND SON, 56 AND 58, OLDHAM STREET. 
 
 Bonfcon : 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., LTD., 
 
 STATIONERS' HALL COURT. 
 
 1894.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Fifteen years ago the Manchester Anglers' Associa- 
 tion entrusted to me the pleasant task of editing the 
 first series of " Anglers' Evenings." They have now a 
 second time honoured me with the same commission as 
 regards this, the third series, and, as on the former 
 occasion, I have been requested to vicariously make 
 the preliminary bow to that wider circle of brothers 
 of the angle to whom the volume is offered. 
 
 After such an interval, a tendency to somewhat 
 dreamy retrospection is not unnatural. The book 
 itself suggests retrospection. Some of the contributors 
 to the first series have contributed also to the present 
 series, but at least one is conspicuously absent. The 
 dear old Colonel who led the way with his exhor- 
 tation to us to "let patience have her perfect work," 
 sleeps well at Irton, beside the salmon river he loved. 
 
 Things have progressed since 1879. In the first 
 volume only one Manchester fisher the writer on 
 Norway described experiences beyond the limits of 
 Great Britain and the Isle of Man, though many 
 wrote of Scotland. There is much of Scotland in the 
 present volume the Scotch are ever with us but the 
 
 9J8S30
 
 IV. 
 
 range has been extended to Ireland, Canada, and 
 New Zealand. May it not be that the members of 
 the Association have discovered the true method of 
 establishing the " union of hearts " and " Imperial 
 Federation ?" The first volume was recognised as 
 being in its very nature a protest against river 
 pollution and wanton destruction of natural beauty in 
 the district from which it emanated ; the Manchester 
 Ship Canal has since been constructed, a " Joint 
 Committee" is actively engaged in repressing the 
 defilement of the Mersey and Irwell and their tribu- 
 taries, and sea-gulls are said to be nesting at Old 
 Traffbrd. Nor have the Manchester Anglers failed to 
 advance. In wild and lonely Ribblesdale they have 
 taken charge of miles of romantic water ; there, like 
 Caliban, they make dams for fish, and have not only 
 built a fish-hatchery to replenish the river, but have 
 established golf links. Lastly, even the fish appear 
 to have moved with the times, for nearly every writer 
 in the present volume, he of Norway not excepted, 
 dwells on the superior education of the finny tribe of 
 to-day. 
 
 There is one recollection not to be erased from 
 the minds of the Manchester Anglers who look 
 back on the tremulous anxieties and pleasures of 
 that first appearance before the public fifteen years 
 ago, and that is, the recollection of the appreciative 
 reception given to their un-professional venture. The 
 volume met with no ungenial critic amongst the 
 many who deigned to notice it save one, and he
 
 V. 
 
 was evidently a dissecting ichthyologist rather than 
 a fisherman. Theophile Gautier said that a man 
 only turns critic when he has discovered that he 
 cannot be a poet, and Lord Beaconsfield elaborated 
 this remark into a well-known phrase to the effect 
 that the critics are persons who have failed in litera- 
 ture and art The experience of the Manchester 
 Anglers does not confirm the dictum of either of 
 these authorities. Their critics hitherto have obviously 
 been men accustomed to the music of the reel and 
 able to fill their creels. 
 
 It is permissible to express a hope that the critics 
 of the present volume will not be inferior fishermen 
 to the critics of fifteen years ago, and that the book 
 may receive as kindly a greeting as was accorded 
 then. 
 
 The contributors to this volume have not con- 
 sciously any very ambitious aims; like virtue, they 
 find their reward in the pleasure of being. They 
 seek to promote the true spirit of their craft less by 
 preaching than by recording. Yet it may well be 
 that the future historian, whether New Zealander or 
 Perfected Anarchist, will give this volume a leading 
 position amongst the progressive works of the present 
 age. True, it does not attempt to compete with the 
 contemporary novel with a purpose ; for though 
 traces of passion may be found in its pages, anglers 
 are not, as a rule, perplexed by spiritual uncertainties 
 and Gallic heart-yearnings; such troubles they have 
 left behind with the measles. But who that peruses
 
 VI. 
 
 these pages and learns that while one fisher, who 
 loves the Derbyshire waters formerly fished by Walton 
 and Cotton, prefers "small takes of good fish" to 
 " larger numbers of smaller fish " and is satisfied with 
 an average of i lb., another looks on 2 Ibs. as only 
 a respectable average, and a third condescendingly 
 refers to 2 Ibs. as " a nice little fish " will fail to 
 perceive the relation between angling and economics ? 
 All that is needed for the solution of the economic 
 problems of the time is an enterprising and, withal, 
 cheerful and contented spirit, and this is the outcome 
 of the angler's art 
 
 While the book has been passing through the press it 
 has had to be recorded of one of its contributors the 
 author of the paper on " Trout Fishing in Otago, New 
 Zealand," 
 
 "Thou thy worldly task hast done, 
 Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages. 
 
 Mr. John Ord Mackenzie, who was born at Comrie 
 in Perthshire, in 1831, died at Palmerston, New Zealand, 
 in December, 1893. For nearly forty years a merchant 
 in Manchester, he was also a noted fisherman, and 
 before leaving England on his retirement from business 
 he took the Silver Cross Championship of Scotland for 
 trout fishing in Loch Leven. He appears to have made 
 a home for himself in the hearts of his neighbours in the 
 Britain of the South Pacific, as he had previously done 
 in those of his friends and fellow anglers in the old 
 country. The reel is now silent, and Loch Leven, the 
 Kibble, the Shag, and the Waitaki will know him no
 
 Vll. 
 
 more. But he lives as a "gentle angler" in the memories 
 of those who knew him, alike in Manchester and in 
 
 distant Palmerston. 
 
 F. J. F 
 Manchester, 
 
 March 28^, 1894.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES 
 
 BY T. T. W. 
 
 S on a balmy day in the merry springtime " I 
 lay a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge," 
 a happy vision came to me. A dimpling lake, 
 embosomed amid the everlasting hills, and gemmed 
 with many an emerald isle ; a drifting boat ; a floating 
 line of floss ; fairy-like May-flies spring to lovely life 
 from the womb of the waters, and trout are springing 
 too, and ah ! blessed, indeed, is the gift of memory 
 again, in imagination, I am dapping on an Irish 
 lake. 
 
 Thus it comes to pass that I have chosen the title 
 of this paper. My object is to try and give such 
 accurate information that any angler, who determines to 
 take what may be, to him, a new departure in angling,
 
 2 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 may start fair, properly equipped and furnished, guarded 
 against blunders into which I stumbled, and instructed 
 in the best methods which a five or six years' experience 
 has taught me. 
 
 First find your lake ; for all Irish lakes are not 
 adapted to this form of sport. What you want is a May- 
 fly lake. Now of two lakes lying almost side by side, 
 one may be the May-fly's haunt, whilst on the other a May- 
 fly is never seen. I do not think that anybody can say 
 why this is, but so it is. Nature's secrets are not easily 
 penetrated. I know two salmon rivers which fall into 
 the sea within a very few miles of each other, running 
 through much the same country, subject to much the 
 same influences ; the one fishes well in March, and the 
 other not till June. Why? It is easy, however, to find 
 out which are May-fly lakes ; and you will probably be 
 influenced in your choice of water by readiness of access, 
 by prospect of sport, and by possibilities of accommoda- 
 tion. The latter is a difficulty. Hotels are often distant 
 from the scene of action, are not always good, and are 
 generally expensive. For the fisherman who is prepared 
 to rough it a bit the best plan is to get if he can 
 accommodation in some farm-house near the lake. 
 Cooking is, as a rule, pretty rough, but hunger is a rare 
 good sauce, and one can always improve matters by 
 taking stores. A round of Derby beef and a ham make a 
 sufficiently good stand-by. 
 
 There is a fishing song in Cotton's poems (quoted in 
 extenso as a note in some editions of The Complete Angler) 
 beginning :
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 3 
 
 " Away to the brook, 
 
 All your tackle outlook, 
 Here's a day that is worth a year's wishing ; 
 
 See that all things be right, 
 
 For 'twould be a spight 
 To want tools when a man jjoes a fishing." 
 
 We will follow this good advice and deal first with the 
 tools that a man wants when he goes a dapping. First, 
 as to rods, I consider three the fewest you can do 
 with : one for casting the artificial fly, 14 feet ; one for 
 trolling (better two), for often there are long distances to 
 row, and there is always a chance of picking up some- 
 thing, and one for dapping (better two). This should 
 be 16 or 17 feet long at least, and light, for it has to be 
 held for hours at a stretch ; but it should be fairly 
 stiff and powerful, for big fish have to be dealt 
 with, and it is always well to kill .quickly. Any- 
 thing does for a reel line that will run and not kink 
 or break ; and it is well to have from 40 to 50 yards, for 
 a big fish will rip off a lot, and there is always the 
 possibility of a monster. Besides, you can reel up more 
 quickly if the barrel of the reel is well covered. 
 To the end of the line must be joined, so that 
 there is no doubt of its running, a length of floss silk. 
 This should be from 15 to 20 yards long, so as to leave 
 some on the reel when your line is at fullest extent, 
 otherwise the heavy reel-line keeps pulling the light 
 floss into the most annoying festoons. Your floss should 
 be knotted every few inches, or it catches in everything, 
 and quickly frays. Indeed, though I like floss best myself. 
 some fishermen find it such a nuisance, requiring so much
 
 4 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 care, that they use only a light line, similar to those used 
 . by Nottingham roach fishers. To this is attached a short 
 length of gut, say 3 to 4 feet. You cannot be too 
 particular in your choice of gut ; it must not be very 
 thick, but it must be round, clear, and strong, and the 
 knots must be well tied. Your net must be large. To 
 get a big trout into a small net is a difficult and 
 dangerous proceeding. Have it furnished with a long 
 handle of bamboo or some sort of light wood, and if it be 
 fitted with a sort of boat-hook arrangement, you will 
 often find it a convenience. As you are to sit for 
 hours at a time, and day by day, it is well to provide 
 yourself with a cushion. And as, when it rains in 
 Ireland, it rains, and an open boat affords but slight 
 protection, you must be well macintoshed. The best 
 plan is to have a thick waterproof petticoat, such as 
 Cording supplies, to strap round the waist and reach 
 to the boots. This, with a macintosh jacket, is first- 
 rate for boat fishing. A hat with a good brim that 
 will turn down is important, for the glare is very 
 trying sometimes. The best thing for carrying your fish 
 is a big flag basket, such as carpenters use ; get the 
 biggest size. If you have some tongues and buckles 
 attached you will find it a useful receptacle for boots, 
 waders, and such like. You must also provide yourself 
 with a basket for carrying the May-fly, technically 
 known as " Daps." This can be procured from any 
 tackle dealer. Have your spare tackle conveniently 
 arranged in a box which can lie on the thwart beside 
 you.
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 5 
 
 I think I can now allow you to step into your boat. 
 For t/uit you will have to take what the lake affords. 
 The first boat I had on Loch Erne had been built in the 
 time of the Crimean War, and leaked all round, in spite 
 of its being " puttied " up with mortar. Some ferns were 
 growing freely in it, which are now alive and flourishing 
 in a Buckinghamshire garden. It was the only one I 
 could get, and it really did very well ; fishers must be 
 contented. A much more important consideration is the 
 boatman. Make a great effort to secure one who is 
 willing and keen, and knows the lake well. Much 
 depends on that, until you learn it for yourself. I should 
 not mind his not being a fisherman himself, in fact, I 
 should prefer it. If he is, he will want to fish, and I 
 should recommend you to give him the opportunity only 
 occasionally. It is all against the best method, which 
 I will presently explain. 
 
 Well, it is, say, the 1st of June, and the first few May- 
 flies are beginning to rise. I do not think that trout 
 have long memories. They seem to have to learn how 
 dainty a morsel, and how feeding, a fine fat May-fly is, and 
 they have to learn it afresh every year. Anyhow, they 
 always begin in a tentative fashion, and never get fairly 
 on to it until it has been on the water some days. This, 
 then, is the time for artificial flies, and one generally has 
 some very pleasant days before dapping sets fairly in. 
 One does not get the biggest fish in this way, but, 
 certainly, I enjoy it best. I never killed a bigger fish 
 than 5 Jibs, on the artificial May-fly. I like the 
 flies tied hackle fashion, partridge feather dyed to the
 
 6 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 colour of the fly, and you are lucky if you can 
 find a yellow dye that will not wash white very quickly. 
 The usual Irish drake, as tied by local men, is winged, 
 and, as a rule, on gut that would hold a porpoise. Do 
 not trouble to fish deeps. Fish where you can see the 
 bottom, and always cover a rise promptly. To that end, 
 keep your man at the oars, so that he can put you 
 quickly to one. And if you get a man an Irish 
 boatman whose notion of covering a rise is not to put 
 the boat on it, you have a rare jewel ; so prize him 
 accordingly. It is not worth while to go twice over the 
 same drift, nor to follow another boat. The passage of 
 a boat seems to send the fish off the shallows into deep 
 water. You will find you kill three fish or more on the 
 first dropper the " hand " fly they call it to one 
 on the tail, and five or six times more than on the 
 middle. That has been my invariable experience. I 
 generally use three drakes, but sometimes try an olive 
 on the middle or tail. Keep your hand -fly on the trickle, 
 and, as far as you can, travelling down wind. You 
 will find it necessary to cast well into the wind to do 
 this ; it is harder work, but it pays. 
 
 Not much about dapping yet, you will say. True, but 
 you will find the first few days of the dapping season 
 very pleasantly spent without dapping. You see it is in 
 Ireland, and that makes all the difference. But now the 
 trout are beginning to take the drake in earnest. A 
 nice strong wind is blowing from south or south-west, 
 creating a good, though soft wave, a great desideratum. 
 You have provided a sufficient supply of daps by the simple
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 7 
 
 process of picking them off the shore and bushes, and 
 you proceed to bait your hook. One would think this a 
 simple proceeding ; and so it is, but controversy rages 
 long and loud about it. Nearly every man has his own 
 way of putting the flies on, and each way is the very best. 
 One will have four or five ; another only one. Some 
 put on two, one hooked in right side, one in left ; some- 
 back to back ; there are half-a-score of ways. I do not 
 think the trout are particular. I know of a case where an 
 i ilbs. trout was taken with a dap composed of eight 
 drakes ! It must have been an error of judgment on the 
 part of the trout ; he doubtless mistook it for a wasp's 
 nest, though what he should want with that I hardly know. 
 The following is my way, and I need not tell you that it 
 is the very best. I place the point of the hook between 
 the shoulders, bring it out underneath, and slide the fly 
 up the shank a little way. I then treat a second fly 
 in precisely the same way, and gently press them 
 together. Then snip or pinch off the body of the top 
 fly. Viewed from underneath, it looks pretty much like 
 one drake, but there is more to catch the wind, and more 
 to help it to ride featly on the water. Your dap being 
 arranged in this or some other of the best ways, you view 
 the lake, and you will probably find it streaked with lines 
 of foam, running pretty well parallel, and fairly equi- 
 distant. When the trout arc feeding they generally rise 
 in these streaks, where naturally the May-fly get entangled 
 in the foam. They feed up wind, and often at a great 
 pace. As a rule deeps are to be avoided, though when the 
 trout are well on the dap you may kill fish even there.
 
 8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 You will, then, choose a streak of foam where you can 
 just see the bottom, say not deeper than 10 or 12 feet, 
 and begin your drift. You let your line, which is some- 
 thing longer than your rod, fly away on the wind, and 
 gently drop the dap into the water as far off as your 
 length of line permits. The reason why I like floss is 
 -that it holds the wind better, and so bellies out beyond 
 the dap ; thus it acts as a kind of sail, drawing the dap 
 in a natural manner down wind. A thin line does 
 not catch the wind in the same way, and though it 
 allows the dap to get fully extended, yet it seems 
 to have a tendency to hold it back against the wind. 
 A fine point, I daresay, and perhaps the gain is not 
 sufficient to compensate for the extra trouble entailed by 
 floss. 
 
 Take care that your dap does not get sodden and 
 spoilt by the waves. In stormy weather it is impossible 
 to prevent this, but it does not matter much then. Trout 
 will often take a well-soaked dap under water with as 
 much avidity as though it were sailing on the top. 
 
 The local way of dapping presents a very curious 
 sight. There are, as a rule, three men in a boat, all 
 sitting cross-wise of the thwarts, all with their elbows on 
 their knees, all with their shoulders well up to their ears, 
 all crouching forward at the same inclination, each with 
 a long rod held out at an angle of 45, the eyes of all 
 fixed steadily on the dap as it touches the water and 
 then flutters in the air to settle again on this side or that. 
 In death-like silence they drift on and ever on until they 
 are lost in space. Sometimes you see ten or a dozen
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 9 
 
 boats together. Multiply the above picture by ten or 
 twelve, and you will realise the quaintness of the effect. 
 You may be in one of the said boats, yet will it never 
 occur to you that you are looking ludicrous only the 
 others. A better and more sporting method by far is 
 not to fish in drifts, but row to rises. To this end you 
 must have your boat to yourself and keep your man at 
 the oars, ready at once to put you to a rise on either hand 
 as you drift along. If this is promptly and properly 
 done, as a rule you take that fish. If fish are not in the 
 humour, then your boatman can fish a bit. It is well 
 that his rod should be shorter than your own, for he will 
 have to use it with one hand while he manages the boat 
 with the other. If he should hook a fish, change rods at 
 once, and kill it yourself. But when a real rise is on, 
 have him at the oars, and make him put you to the big 
 ones. 
 
 When fish are not rising, dapping is most monotonous ; 
 worse by far than watching a bob-float, for you must 
 manage your dap, while a float will manage itself. 
 The great art of dapping lies in the striking. It 
 looks easy enough, but beginners lose fish after fish. As 
 a rule they strike too soon, and then not in the right 
 way. A big fish is leisurely in his movements. He 
 turns his side and his shoulders and his heavy head like 
 the sluggard in the song ; though, by the way, a heavy- 
 headed trout is not exactly what one desires. More- 
 over, he (the fish, not the sluggard), is feeding towards you, 
 and your boat is drifting towards him. If you strike too 
 soon you take the fly from him ; if you wait, and then
 
 io ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 do not strike hard enough, you do not pick up the slack, 
 and only prick him at the best. If you strike a bit too 
 hard, and he should be a heavy fish, you will break to a 
 moral. It is a good rule to treat these heavy trout like 
 salmon, and not strike until you feel them. The word 
 strike is misleading. The action should not be that of 
 striking, it should be a steady, firm, decisive pull on 
 the fish. Thus you gather up your slack, and draw 
 your steel into him without anything in the shape of a 
 jerk. The main thing is to give plenty of time ; but this, 
 like other rules, has its exceptions. It answers perfectly 
 when the fish are well on ; but sometimes they are not 
 feeding well, and there always comes the sad time when 
 the drake begins to pall upon them, and they are going 
 off. They rise, but they do not want the fly particularly, 
 and then it is hard to hook them. And often they will 
 rise with their mouths shut, and just roll over your dap 
 and slap it with their tails and drown it. So you must 
 ever be closely on the watch to detect the different sorts 
 of rises, and nothing but experience will teach you to 
 discriminate. 
 
 In the case of a drowned dap do not strike at 
 all, for oftentimes the trout will turn again and rend 
 it under water. But if you do not feel him in two 
 or three seconds you rnay replace your dap, which is 
 probably spoilt. Again, with splashy, flirty rises, I think 
 the best way is to strike as if with the artificial, 
 You will generally miss, but now and again you will 
 hit. Play him carefully, for he is sure to be lightly 
 hooked. If you wait with these, my experience is that
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. n 
 
 you never catch them. Having hooked' your fish, get 
 him round to the back of your boat as quickly as possible, 
 so that you drift from it and not on to it. Nothing is more 
 disconcerting and inconvenient than to get your fish 
 under the boat. I remember once, in a heavy wind, with 
 the boat travelling at a great rate, I rose a fish close to 
 it. I gave him a second or so and struck. Meanwhile 
 he had shot under the boat, and the boat had drifted 
 over him, so that when I struck he was well behind me, 
 and the consequence was that my top piece snapped 
 in two like a carrot. The wind wrapped the line 
 round the rod, and it would not run. I quickly 
 possessed myself of the broken top, and snapping the line 
 proceeded to play my fish with a rod reduced to about 
 two feet. It was a queer sensation, but, after much per- 
 turbation of spirit, I managed to bring him to the net. 
 He was nearly 3lbs., but fortunately was hooked in the 
 tongue, and the tackle was sound and stood a strain far 
 beyond what it was intended to bear. I rejoiced 
 exceedingly, especially as I was in the midst of a flotilla 
 of boats, whose occupants took much interest in the 
 struggle ; and serving out a three-finger grog to the crew, 
 I called upon him to rejoice with me. Again, I say, get 
 your fish killed quickly, especially if there is a rise on 
 loss of time is often fatal. And as to the actual killing, 
 a whack on the back of the neck, with a club like a 
 policeman's baton, irreverently termed "the parson," 
 does it directly, as it ought to be done. It is difficult to 
 hold a 5 or 61b. fish in your hands and knock his head 
 against a thwart. You are pretty sure either to bark your
 
 12 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 knuckles or merely hit the fish on the snout, and a 
 stretcher is too long to be handy. Another neat and 
 instantly effective way is to run your penknife or a brad- 
 awl into the back bone immediately at the back of the 
 neck. 
 
 When you have come to the end of your drift, and 
 fish are rising, scoot back as fast as you can ; but if they 
 are doing little or nothing, out with a minnow on either 
 side, row back very leisurely, and fish deep. I have 
 found a small red phantom, say three inches long, kill best. 
 / always trail my dap, letting out twenty or thirty yards 
 of line, and I have very often picked up a fish in this 
 way. One loses two out of three though, for one is 
 travelling too slowly for the pace to strike them, and too 
 quickly to let them hook themselves. This is not 
 dapping, but it makes you feel virtuous, as one who is 
 not wasting his time has a right to feel. 
 
 Dapping is pleasant enough when the weather is right 
 and fish moving, but it is not all nuts and wine. Bad 
 weather comes, when boats cannot venture out, and hot, 
 bright days with the water like a mirror, when there is 
 nothing for it but to lie on one's back in the boat, or 
 lounge with a novel on an island, smoke more than is 
 good for one, and finish the whiskey. When one's 
 holiday is short it is not pleasant to say Perdidi diem. It 
 requires all one's philosophy to meet such vexations with 
 an equal mind. I had two consecutive days once, one 
 excellently good, the other hopeless. I was philosophical 
 enough to utilise some of my spare time on the second 
 day in inditing
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 13 
 
 THE SONG OF THE DAPSTER. 
 
 Obverse. 
 
 O. the dapster's life is a lovely life, 
 
 As he rocks on the rolling wave ; 
 
 When a southerly wind 
 
 lilows freshly and kind, 
 
 And fishes feed freely and brave ; 
 
 As he puts on his dap, 
 
 He cares not a rap 
 
 For politics, party, or trade ; 
 
 And at night o'er his glass, 
 
 To his pal or his lass, 
 
 He will crack of the havoc he's made. 
 
 Reverse. 
 
 O, the dapster's life is a loathly life, 
 
 As he floats on the stilly mere ; 
 
 When the drake flies high 
 
 In a cloudless sky, 
 
 The water as crystal clear, 
 
 When there's never an air 
 
 His floss to stir, 
 
 As flat to the rod it's stuck ; 
 
 O, it must be confessed 
 
 That one so oppressed 
 
 Is to blame if he don't D his luck. 
 
 You may imagine how sorely I was exercised \\hen 
 I was forced to employ such a naughty, but capital letter. 
 But even under such untoward conditions as these, the 
 really gluttonous angler can have sport of a sort, if he be 
 prepared to descend to circles of piscine society lower 
 than that in which moves the aristocratic salmo fario. On 
 one such day I had landed in order to stretch my legs 
 by a bit of a walk. A native had just hauled his boat
 
 i 4 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 up hard by, and I entered into conversation with him. 
 He condoled with me on the hopelessness of the weather, 
 but promised me, of course, a speedy change and the 
 best of sport. He would not have been an Irishman it 
 he had done otherwise. I asked if he had done 
 anything. Yes, he had got a fair lot of eels, and going 
 to his boat he showed me a squirming, inextricable tangle 
 of slimy sinuosities, fifteen or twenty, I daresay, or more, 
 some of considerable size. I inquired how he had 
 managed to catch them. It appears, from his statement, 
 that the eel is partial to warmth ; that in such weather 
 as we were then suffering under they come into some- 
 what shallow water and expose themselves to the heat, 
 even as the ordinary Englishman stands with his back to 
 the fire with his coat tails well apart, but with the difference, 
 that the eel presents another part of his person to the 
 comforting warmth. He lies on his back with his silvery 
 belly turned up to the rays of the sun. The sportsman 
 (or assassin) crouches in the bow of a boat propelled with 
 the utmost gentleness, so as to avoid creating the 
 slightest ripple. He is armed with a long, straight stick, 
 to the end of which is whipped a large cod-hook. As he 
 glides stealthily along, he peers down into the water 
 immediately beneath him, and it appears that the 
 basking eel is easily seen lying at the bottom like " a 
 white shtick." The gaff is then slid gently into the 
 water, and the wretched eel clicked with the cod hook. 
 I fancy this is not so easy to do as it sounds, as the boat 
 is moving, and depths vary, and the skin of the eel is 
 tough and slippery. It must require considerable adroit-
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 15 
 
 ness and much practice to make a sure stroke. My old 
 friend was evidently a past- master. 
 
 If you disdain such a poacher-like proceeding, you can 
 turn your attention to perch. In the lake which I know 
 best there are plenty, and they grow to a great size. 
 The local way of fishing is simplicity itself. A length 
 of strong gut, a hook, a worm, and half a soda water 
 cork, and there you are. You fish in very shallow water, 
 with not more than a foot to eighteen inches or so 
 between float and hook. In addition to the above 
 requisites, a shoal or two of perch are necessary. 
 Perhaps I should be more accurate if, instead of shallow 
 water, I recommend you to fish in shoal water. You 
 may sometimes if you have the luck to drop on the 
 right place catch them freely. With strong tackle one 
 stands on no ceremony with them they don't expect 
 it but just throw them into the boat. No fish 
 seems to resent capture more than the perch. As 
 you yoick out a pounder, and he comes hurtling 
 through the air with his red fins distended and a-quiver, 
 his back up, his eyes starting, mouth agape, the 
 whole fish has an air of amazement and indignant 
 protest almost human, and wholly comical. Every 
 one knows that perch roam about in shoals, seek- 
 ing what they may devour. In these shoals the 
 fish are of assorted sizes. I do not think one ever sees 
 big and little ones mixed. If, after catching a few small 
 ones, you get a big one, you may be sure that one shoal 
 has passed on and another taken its place. The big 
 fellows hold themselves haughtily aloof from the smaller
 
 16 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 fry ; they seem to observe an attitude of supercilious 
 tolerance such as the third year man assumes towards 
 the verdant fresher. This being so, the studious fisher 
 of perch endeavours to fish always in that shoal where 
 the big fish are. A friend of mine accomplished this 
 apparently difficult feat in a very ingenious way. Find- 
 ing himself among big ones he marked the shoal thus 
 Between his float and reel line he introduced a few inches 
 of fine silk. The next bite he had he struck, and, of 
 course, broke, and away went the perch with the float. 
 Wherever that float was he knew the big ones were, and 
 by always fishing near it he had a wonderful catch 
 seventy perch weighing over 4olbs. in two hours ; 
 nothing over 2lbs. As an instance of the free biting 
 quality of the perch, I may remark that he caught the 
 standard-bearer himself three times. 
 
 It is good for man to be alone when he is dapping. 
 But on still, hot, hopeless days, or when you have been 
 driven by stress of weather to land, or to lie for hours in 
 the lee of some island, waiting for the gale to moderate, 
 you feel the want of a comrade, if only to quarrel with ; 
 and, failing one, you turn to your boatman. And it is 
 odds that you find him able to wile away these dree 
 times and afford you entertainment if not instruction. 
 If these men fish at all it is generally by rule of thumb, 
 fishing as they always have done and their fathers 
 before them, rarely exercising their powers of observa- 
 tion, or, if they do, observing the wrong thing, or 
 drawing the wrong deductions. One man I had " Wee 
 Johnnie" was a capital angler after a fashion. His
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 17 
 
 theory was that trout roamed about in shoals, or 
 " bunches." For, he said, if you catch one you often 
 catch two, or three, or more directly the true deduction 
 being that here you were crossing a shallow where the 
 depth was right. These are places to mark and to 
 remember, until you have a good working model of the 
 lake's bottom in your head. You may not learn much 
 from your boatman, but his queer sayings and exaggera- 
 tions, anecdotes and beliefs are sure to amuse you. If he 
 speaks of a big fish, he will probably call it " an ojous 
 fish," or a " holy terror." Once, while I was lying by, a 
 big fish rose some little distance out. " Did ye see him, 
 yer honour ; did ye see him now ? Holy jabers he was 
 as big as a dog ! he was as big as a big dog ! ! he was 
 as big as a big black dog!!!" A fine climax! If he 
 wants to tell you there is good fishing in such a river 
 or lake, he will say, " Is it fish now ? Sure the water's 
 shtiff wid 'em ;" or "Your honour's rod could stand 
 upright in the wather, and faith, it's truth I'm telling ye." 
 One good friend of mine, Paddy Quin by name, told 
 me of a monster pike he caught. After a prolonged 
 contest he got his gaff into it, but could not lift it into 
 the boat, as its weight brought the gunwale so low that 
 he was afraid of swamping, so he toted round to the 
 stern. " But faith, ycr honour, when I tried to lift him, 
 the boat fair tipped up wid me, and that's the holy 
 truth." So he lashed the gaff to a thole pin and towed 
 the monster home five miles when "by God's blessing, 
 I dragged him on to the beach." " What weight, 
 Paddy?" " Divil a know I know, but he was an ojous
 
 1 8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 baste." " Was that the biggest you ever saw, Paddy?" 
 No, he had seen, but not caught, a bigger. An Ennis- 
 killen man hooked a veritable monster of the deep one 
 day. He had fought him fair for some hours (or days, I 
 really forget), but it broke him at last. Some few days 
 after there arose a great storm, insomuch that this fish 
 was washed up dead upon the shore, and people went 
 from all parts to view him, Paddy among them. " What 
 weight, Paddy?" " Sorra a bit I know he was a 
 terror." "How big, Paddy?" "Sure I can't tell to a 
 fut or two, but a man could walk down his throat !" I 
 suppose my face must have betrayed some incredulity, 
 for at once he clinched the matter and silenced all 
 controversy by adding " wid his hat on !" 
 
 After some such statement of his I asked him once, 
 " Now Paddy, can you speak the truth ?" " Sure and 
 I can do that same," apparently implying that he 
 preferred fiction. One day one hopeless day of 
 blazing sun and brazen sky such a day as must have 
 inspired that poet who told of the fishes breaking out 
 into perspiration beneath the sun's perpendicular rays 
 I asked his opinion of the weather, and, I daresay, I 
 manifested a certain truculence of manner as who should 
 say " Prophesy unto me smooth things, or prepare to die 
 the death." Paddy was quite equal to the occasion. 
 He considered the problem gravely and then said, 
 " Indade, yer honour, and it is hard to spake the truth." 
 And to this day I do not know whether he meant 
 to say it was hard to tell what the weather would be ; 
 or whether the truth would have been unbearable; or
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 19 
 
 whether his usual habits made it difficult for him to utter 
 anything but the unveracious. 
 
 The poor boy got into trouble once and had to " do 
 his bit." It appears he had a difference of opinion with 
 another gentleman of his profession as to the right of 
 fishing on a certain piece of water. The controversy 
 waxed high and hot, and winged words flew from boat 
 to boat. At last Paddy's temper gave way, and finding 
 his adversary impervious to reason, he gaffed him in the 
 neck, hauled him out of his boat, and nearly drowned 
 him. Even in Ireland this was considered too forcible an 
 argument, so he had to go into temporary retirement. 
 This formed an epoch for him, and though he never 
 cared to refer directly to his abode in Her Majesty's 
 prison, he would often fix a date by " The year that I 
 gaffed O'Reilly;" or "About two years after O'Reilly 
 came out of his boat wid a gaff in him." 
 
 He was a firm believer in fairies "sure he'd seen 
 'em, and seein' was believin' " and had many tales to 
 tell of adventures with them. Before the Franco-German 
 war broke out, he had seen the whole matter fought out 
 by fairies on a certain hill side, and could have predicted 
 the issue. When I diffidently hinted that I understood 
 that poteen was an admirable medium through which to 
 view the tricks and manners of the good folks, he would 
 declare, with strong asseveration, that he was " black 
 fasting from everything but sin." Wild swans are, 
 according to Paddy, enchanted birds ; to kill one is to 
 bring certain disaster upon yourself or anyone who 
 becomes possessed of the body. If, in killing a fish, it
 
 20 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 bled much, it was a sure sign of a good fishing day, and 
 we should have great sport. 
 
 It seems to be a point of honour with this race never 
 to drink a nip of the "cratur " without a toast. "A tight 
 line to your honour;" "Well, here's good luck and 
 better;" "May he come," or such like. By the way, it 
 will be found that the Irish boatman's taste in the matter 
 of whiskey needs cultivation. I believe they prefer 
 poteen to the finest ten-year-old Glenlivat; if they know 
 it is illicit I am sure they do. 
 
 One lake which I have fished divides two counties, 
 and is dotted with islands innumerable, evidently 
 expressly designed by nature for the practice of illicit 
 distillation. Often have I seen at late hours the glow of 
 fire on one or other of these islands. Doubtless the 
 police and revenue officers see it too. But careful watch 
 is kept, and if the enemy attacks from the right shore 
 the distillers simply slip off to the left, where the police 
 may not follow. One day the schoolmistress of that 
 parish, who lodged with our landlord, was walking by the 
 edge of the lake close by the house. Suddenly the earth 
 appeared to open and swallow her up quick ; when she 
 had scrambled up, she looked for the cause of this catas- 
 trophe, and found that a large barrel of poteen, in its 
 fermenting stage, had been hidden there, sunk in the 
 ground, and covered with a sack, over which was strewn 
 the shingle of the shore, until the whole was hidden. 
 Mr. Kerr, our landlord, was alarmed, for, had it been 
 found there, on his land, the revenue officers would have 
 dropped on him. The funny thing was that he knew
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 21 
 
 quite well who the delinquent was, and sent to him 
 humbly requesting him to remove it off his land, which 
 the said delinquent was graciously pleased to do. I 
 suppose it would have been as much as his life was 
 worth to put the revenue officers upon it 
 
 I thought I should like to taste this stuff. Paddy 
 next day produced a bottle with much display of 
 mystery and many a warning wink. Of the two, I prefer 
 methylated spirits ! 
 
 But I have kept you under the lee of this island long 
 enough, and the lake is calmer now ; so let us be off. 
 How about daps ? It is a great nuisance to run short, so 
 always replenish when you can, and never throw away at 
 night any store you may have left ; they are not good 
 for much in the morning, but they do to make a start 
 with. Once I had arrived at the fishing ground which I 
 intended to exploit that day, and everything looked most 
 promising, but I had no daps. We landed to search for 
 some. Now, I am not a jealous fisherman one of those 
 who like to have all the fun to themselves ; so as I had 
 to do all the hard work all the fishing I thought "Wee 
 Johnnie "should have the fun of hunting for and stooping 
 incessantly to pick up the necessary ephemeras. 
 Moreover, mine would be the post of danger, for I 
 undertook to see that no one stole the boat. After a 
 prolonged absence Johnnie returned with empty basket, 
 and said he had searched everywhere, but "there's divil 
 a dap to be had." I told him to go at once and search 
 the other places, for he should see my face no more 
 unless the daps were with him. Then I lit another pipe
 
 22 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 and kept watch on the boat, but Johnny's phrase kept 
 jingling in my head, and presently shaped itself thus : 
 
 THE DAPSTER'S LAMENT. 
 
 The wind's from the southward, the sky overcast, 
 
 The fishes are feeding like mad ; 
 I'm early afloat, for this day is my last, 
 
 But divil a dap's to be had. 
 
 Charles Farlow purveyed me my tackle so fine, 
 
 And Hardy of Alnwick my gad ;* 
 America sends me a patented line, 
 
 But divil a dap's to be had. 
 
 My boat's clinker built the sculls are the best, 
 And Johnnie's a handy wee lad ; 
 
 My skill would suffice, were it put to the test- 
 But divil a dap's to be had. 
 
 My basket will hold, at the least, sixty pound, 
 
 There is whiskey to make the heart glad ; 
 A fisher was never more thoroughly found 
 
 But divil a dap's to be had. 
 
 Ah ! pity a man in so woeful a plight, 
 
 Shed a tear o'er a fortune so sad ; 
 Wind, weather and water, and everything right, 
 
 But divil a dap to be had. 
 
 This brought the luck, I think ; for wee Johnnie 
 turned up with a plentiful supply, and I killed 14 fish. 
 
 The dapper must think less of numbers than of 
 weight. My best day was 24 fish, weighing 47 Ibs., but 
 I have made bigger averages with fewer fish. One day 
 I killed six fish only, which weighed 20 Ibs. There was 
 one over 7 Ibs, another over 6 Ibs. I have killed in my 
 dapping experience three trout over 7 Ibs., and one which 
 
 * Scotch for rod.
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 23 
 
 turned the scale at 8 Ibs. and yet I am not happy, for I 
 have seen fish that these would make a bait for, as 
 Paddy said. I give here a record of a few takes by 
 certain friends of mine, which I guarantee to be 
 absolutely trustworthy as to numbers and weight : 
 
 Fish Ibs. 
 
 Four rods ... 42 ... 86 
 
 ... 25 ... 52 
 
 52 ... no 
 
 ... 33 ... 66|: 
 
 Grand total for 1 1 days in Jubilee year : 
 Three rods ... 397 ... 6oo/J 
 
 One rod ... 161 ... 269^ 
 
 Single rod, one day : 
 
 32 ... 51 
 
 16 ... 40* 
 
 7 ... 22 
 
 In 2\ hours one rod killed 13 fish, 31^ Ibs. One 
 friend of mine has killed 3 fish between 8 and 9 Ibs. 
 
 In the dapping season the lake almost invariably 
 settles to dead calm as the sun goes down. Then 
 the surface is seen to be covered with innumerable 
 sloughs from which the pretty May-fly has emerged, and 
 lots of spent drake float dead upon the water with out- 
 spread wings ; often a rise will come on, and you will 
 see them quietly engulfed in a most tantalizing manner. 
 A friend of mine has had sport even under these circum- 
 stances, fishing the spent drake (artificial) after the 
 Test fashion. It is difficult to do ; it wants the perfection 
 
 * 5 of these weighed only 5 Ibs in all.
 
 24 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 of casting, for you must be fine and far and light as 
 gossamer. But the striking is the crux with such fine 
 gut and such heavy trout. 
 
 We have pretty well played this day out, so let us 
 turn the boat's nose homeward. The quarters that 
 formed my home were most comfortable, the people 
 kindness and goodwill itself. The farmer who was our 
 landlord is a young man, well connected, well educated, 
 energetic, capable, and thriving, quite different from 
 what one expects an Irish farmer to be. I mention him 
 in order to relate a curious experience he had ; I believe 
 I was able to explain how it came about, and thus 
 destroyed a promising plant of superstition which was 
 already taking root. He was working in a field 
 immediately above his house on the hill side. The lake 
 below him was like a sheet of glass. As he looked upon 
 it he saw to his amazement and terror a railway train, 
 engine, carriages, and van all complete, slowly proceeding 
 down the middle of the lake. He rushed to his house 
 and called out his wife and servants, and some five or 
 six besides himself distinctly saw this curious portent. 
 Thinking, of course, that it was diablerie in some shape 
 or form, which ought to be put a stop to, he brought 
 out his gun to shoot it ! But his wife hung on his arm 
 and besought him not to venture upon such a deed of 
 derring-do, and presently the train vanished from their 
 sight. There is no doubt that this was seen ; there 
 were too many witnesses to admit of its being a mere 
 hallucination or a case of temporary insanity, or what 
 not. Mr. Kerr himself looked upon the incident with
 
 DAPPING ON THE IRISH LAKES. 25 
 
 much gravity ; not knowing whether it presaged ruin to 
 himself or only the end of the world. The idea pre- 
 vailed that it was certainly prophetic. Within a few 
 years the lake would be drained or otherwise dealt with, 
 and a railway line be laid along the bottom. 
 
 My explanation may be as mistaken as theirs. On 
 the opposite side of the lake there is a low range of hills, 
 and at the other side of them a railway. I imagine that 
 a train was passing along at this time (as I ascertained 
 was probable). By an effect of mirage, owing to 
 some peculiar atmospheric conditions, this train was 
 mirrored in the sky, upside down, as is usual in mirage. 
 Whether this could be seen or not would depend upon 
 the angle at which it was regarded. It certainly was 
 not seen by Mr. Kerr. But the absolutely calm bosom 
 of the lake reflected the mirage, and, in doing so, of 
 course, restored the train to its normal position. 
 Whether this is rational or not, I really do not know. 
 Anyhow, it sufficed to quiet my friend's alarm. I shall 
 be glad to hear if anyone can solve the mystery in a 
 more scientific fashion.
 
 THE FIRST LESSON: AN ANGLER'S 
 REMINISCENCE. 
 
 BY JOHN MOSCROP. 
 
 OSSIBLY some of you may remember John Just. 
 He was botanical lecturer at Pine Street 
 Medical School, Manchester, about the end of 
 the forties. He was a thorough-going fly-fisher, tied his 
 own flies, and selected his own horse-hair. This was, if 
 not a pre-gut era, yet an era in which hair was the rule. 
 I remember that he preferred the tail of a thorough- 
 bred colt. I need scarcely remark to this audience that 
 he was a right good fellow, loyal, gentle, and game to 
 the backbone, as all good anglers are. Among his many 
 accomplishments he was a fair mathematician, and of 
 such a persevering turn that he came two hours each 
 week to my father's house to try to drive binomials and 
 the calculus into my thick head. I think I was one of 
 his most distinguished failures. One evening his eye 
 alighted on a fishing rod in the corner of the room. 
 " Ho-ho ! Master John, and so you are a fisherman." I 
 pleaded guilty to catching perch on Saturday afternoons. 
 " Never caught a trout with fly, John ?" " Never." This 
 was said most emphatically, for in those days I looked
 
 AN ANGLER'S REMINISCENCE. 27 
 
 on fly-fishing for trout as something too awfully divine 
 to be hoped for. The outcome of this conversation was 
 that my dear old friend (and very proud am I to call him 
 such) obtained my father's consent, no doubt very gladly 
 given, to my spending the summer holidays with him. 
 
 Where was there a happier or a prouder lad than I as 
 I walked into Macintosh's shop in Piccadilly to be 
 measured for a pair of waders ? To this very day the 
 smell of naphtha is to me a delightful fragrance, so 
 powerful is the influence of old associations ; and I believe 
 that of all our senses the sense of smell is the most 
 powerful in presenting to the mind old associations. I 
 was fifteen or sixteen years of age ; it was my first trip 
 from home without my own people. My mother said, 
 " John must have a portmanteau of his own ;" it was 
 duly purchased and as duly stored by her own hands 
 with the many things necessary for a month's outing. 
 Mr. Just provided fishing materials ; a rod with rings all 
 the way down, and a reel. Till then my line had been 
 tied to the end of the rod. As I have said, his flies were 
 soundly made. They would be scouted by the average 
 angler of to-day as being too rough, and not an 
 imitation of the natural insect ; and yet, although they 
 differed much from the spick and span shop article of 
 the present time, my heart goes out to them yet. They 
 had to my eyes a look as if they meant business. Their 
 very roughness added to their value there was method 
 in it, as in a blot-in of Anderson Hague's and, again, 
 they were fished in north country streams, fished down- 
 stream as sunk flies, and for aught I know they may
 
 28 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 have been the truest imitation of the insect in its 
 transition from the larva stage. Anyhow, I will contend 
 that the rig-out, simple as it was, was not to be sneezed 
 at even when compared with these advanced days. 
 
 Our destination was in the neighbourhood of Lower 
 Bentham, the residence of a relative of Mr. Just's. It 
 was a typical old farm-house half hidden by a rookery, 
 stretching away into a grand cover of sixty or eighty 
 acres where I had permission to shoot jays, stock-doves 
 and rabbits, but no pheasants " Mind, no pheasants, 
 John." The recollection of the month spent there 
 makes me long to be young again. We were twenty 
 minutes' walk from the Wenning, a tributary of the 
 Lune, and my friend had the privilege from Pudsey 
 Dawson of fishing the Hornby water, from Tatham 
 Bridge downwards. Our route to the water was by 
 footpaths through the fields, and in crossing one I was 
 led off the track to see an old friend of Mr. Just's, who 
 lived in the corner of the field. I was quite curious, for 
 I could see no house. " Take care, or you'll be treading 
 on him or some one of his youngsters. Ah, there he is. 
 Allow me to introduce Master John Moscrop to " (here 
 he gave the botanical name of a scarce plant whose 
 habitat he had discovered years before) " I always look 
 up my old friend when I am this way to see how he is 
 getting along, and to assure myself that he has not fallen 
 among thieves. Only to a few would I give the 
 privilege of acquaintance with him in his own home, but 
 I know you are no Vandal." And then he stooped 
 down, and had a good look at the plant, and then trod
 
 AN ANGLER'S REMINISCENCE. 29 
 
 daintily about on account of the seedlings, with an 
 almost chivalrous reverence in his bearing. Oh, he was a 
 grand sample of God's highest work was " Old Just," as 
 we used to call him, and a fitting companion for either a 
 cultivated gentleman or the young school-lad I then was. 
 Well, we arrived in due course at the roadside inn, 
 by Tatham Bridge, where I donned my waders for the 
 first time, and rigged up my rod and flies. It was 
 decided that I should begin operations at the head of 
 the first stream, below the bridge. After a few instruc- 
 tions about casting, I was left to my own resources. 
 A few minutes only passed when there was an 
 unmistakable pull, a tight line, a wriggle, followed by a 
 fish flying over my head. Down went the rod on the 
 gravel bed, and I pounced on my first catch. My 
 enthusiasm was somewhat damped by my hearing from 
 the next pool " Nay, nay, that sort of thing won't do, 
 young man. Where would you have been if it had been 
 a trout?" "It is a trout, sir, and such a beauty, all the 
 colours of the rainbow on it ;" and I took it to him so 
 that he might see it with his own eyes, for I was very 
 proud of my trophy, and had many a gloat over it for 
 the next hour as it lay in my pannier. Alas ! for 
 human nature ! Before the week was out I caught 
 myself saying " Only a pcnk." I showed my friend the 
 victim of my prowess. 
 
 " Why, John, man, you've caught a salmon." 
 " But," said I, " it isn't such a very little one," for I 
 imagined he was poking fun at me just as if he had said 
 I had caught a whale.
 
 30 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 " I tell you it's a salmon, a young salmon ; if it had 
 had the luck 'to live a couple of years it would have 
 been a six or seven pound grilse ;" and then he pointed 
 out the distinguishing marks of the salmon penk (the 
 local name for parr). 
 
 " But, sir, how did you know at that distance that it 
 was not a trout?" 
 
 " Well, you'll find out one of these days that trout 
 have not learnt the trick of flying like a swallow, and 
 you'll discover at the same time why you have been at 
 the trouble of trailing that landing-net about all day 
 long." 
 
 And so I did about the third day. I had been care- 
 fully fishing the rough stream, paying particular attention, 
 as per instructions, to those places where there was a 
 good-sized boulder among the gravel, with a well-worn 
 hollow round its base, when there was a golden glint, a 
 break on the surface, a tremendous pull returned by me 
 with interest, in spite of instructions to be cool and 
 gentle. Cool and gentle, indeed ! A terrible but alas ! 
 only momentary struggle at the surface of the water (no 
 flying like a bird this time) ; and then all was quiet, my 
 rod straight, the snipe and yellow stretcher gone gone 
 to glory. The reaction was fearful. I was too old to 
 cry, too young to take refuge in a hearty big D, and 
 "better luck next time." I had not learnt that the 
 satisfaction of success is equalled by the despair of 
 disappointment, nor do I know that the knowledge of 
 that philosophy even to-day brings with it much solace. 
 You see it was so aggravating; it was my first trout,
 
 AN ANGLER'S REMINISCENCE. 31 
 
 and oh ! such a whopper ; it must have been pounds 
 and pounds. I don't know whether any gentleman 
 present has ever missed a " big un," but if he has done 
 such a thing I am sure I shall have his sympathy. 
 
 That was my first engagement with a lusty trout ; 
 short, decisive, and instructive. I had had my first 
 lesson from the best of teachers experience ; and it was 
 thoroughly learnt. It was a negative lesson it taught 
 me what not to do. The second lesson was positive. 
 One day, I heard a shout from Mr. Just. " Here, John, 
 quick !" Down went the rod, and I was off like a 
 greyhound. There he was with bent rod, closely 
 following the movements of a fish he had hooked. " Is 
 it a big one, sir?" " It's a mort," said he, "a fresh-run fish. 
 The beginning of July is early for Wenning. I did not 
 expect one so soon." I can now call to mind how closely 
 he kept in attendance, the reel only giving out line when 
 the ugly rushes were made, to be quickly recovered as 
 he followed up, and at the end of what appeared to me 
 hours, but was probably not more than ten or fifteen 
 minutes, he put the net under a silvery mort of two 
 pounds, no little feat for single hair. That practical 
 lesson of ten minutes was worth a library of books on 
 the subject. 
 
 It was a glorious month for me, full of intense 
 interest, pure enjoyment, fresh air, exercise, and charming 
 scenery, for Wenning is a model trout stream. I had a 
 good digestion and a clear conscience. I was in bed 
 about ten, and was not troubled with insomnia till six 
 o'clock the following morning. Before my return I was
 
 32 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 taught to tie my own flies, to make up my cast lines, 
 and was fairly initiated in the thousand and one little 
 dodges that go to make up the stock-in-trade of a 
 fisherman, as well as in the outside incidents that are 
 associated with the fisherman's sport. For instance, on 
 the mort day, on our return, we made a detour in order 
 to cross a certain pasture, for I learned that when the 
 morts are up, the mushrooms are not far off. The end 
 of the month left me a sworn life member of the craft, 
 and an untold and untellable debtor to the truest 
 gentleman I ever knew. I visited Wenning two or three 
 times afterwards in his company, but he went on his 
 long journey while I was yet in my teens, and I and 
 Wenning parted company. 
 
 In October, 1889, an old gentleman and a friend were 
 enjoying the privilege of trying for a salmon in the Lune. 
 The quarters were at Wennington, and, as usual, the 
 water was out of order, low and clear ; plenty of fish 
 showed themselves in the pools, but they were evidently 
 only coming out for a lark. Saturday was to be the 
 last day, and again, as usual, rain came ; not a 
 shower, but rain that kept it up ; and before dark 
 Lune was stirred, and looked like a salmon water for 
 Monday. Is it a wonder that the train did not take 
 away two disappointed anglers, but left a couple 
 of expectant ones who requisitioned the telegraph 
 instead of the train ? On the Sunday afternoon this 
 present "old party" might have been seen strolling along 
 the high road towards Tatham Bridge. He called at the 
 little roadside inn, which did not seem one bit altered
 
 AN ANGLERS REMINISCENCE. 33 
 
 during the forty years that had passed since last he saw 
 it. There was the identical oaken bench where I sat 
 when I donned my waders for the first time on that 
 memorable morning. I sat down on it again and my 
 memory was very busy. Where was the smooth-faced lad, 
 guileless, ingenuous, trustful, knowing no deceit and sus- 
 pecting none ? Were these the qualities to get through 
 this world with? Alas, there was very little of that lad left 
 I could even view him in my mind's eye as some one else. 
 I strolled on to the Bridge and looked on the stream. 
 The course of the water was changed very little. I could 
 pick out to within a yard or so the spot on the gravel bed 
 whereon that unfortunate penk pitched ; but the stream 
 was overgrown with trees ; I could scarcely have put a 
 fly on it now. I leaned over the parapet, and seemed to 
 see that young lad make his first catch. My thoughts 
 rambled along to my dear old friend, and his horse-hair, 
 his hackles, his cheery laugh ; and to my old father who 
 took me to Macintosh's, and to my mother and her 
 solicitude about the " things in the portmanteau." In 
 short, I had a reverie, not altogether sad indeed, not sad 
 at all but which left me with two tear-drops trickling 
 down.
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 
 
 . BY ABEL HEYWOOD, JUNR. 
 
 jWENTY years ago it was an undertaking to go 
 to Norway, and before making my first visit I 
 made my will, as was only proper. There was 
 a steamer from Hull then, a small one, to Bergen once a 
 fortnight I do not think the number of passengers 
 carried was more than forty, and the voyage took 
 up nearly three days. Now you may get to Bergen 
 three times, at least, per week from Hull and Newcastle, 
 in steamers carrying about 150 passengers, and making 
 the passage in about 36 hours. 
 
 Nowadays, when we land at Bergen, what changes 
 we see ! In the old days, Hotel Scandinavie, perched up 
 aloft, where it still stands, was the chief hotel of the 
 place, and there was, I think, only one other. Now 
 Scandinavie is nowhere in the race, but it is in a quiet 
 part of the town, close by the points from which the best 
 views of the place and the fjords can be got, and so, on 
 every one of my many visits, I have stuck to Scandinavie, 
 and I think I shall stick to it still, if I go again. It was 
 in Scandinavie that I ventured on the first Norwegian 
 words I ever spoke. " Et glas vand," I said when I sat 
 down, and lo ! a handy maiden brought me a glass of
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 35 
 
 water ; a thing natural enough, no doubt, but one which 
 made me think I had found a talisman, as indeed native 
 speech is in a foreign land. Since that day I have 
 added bit by bit to my stock of Norwegian, and now 
 the tongue has no terrors for me until I hear a native 
 speak it. 
 
 In the old days you must leave Bergen by steamer 
 or by carriole ; now you have a little railway which will 
 take you right into the heart of the country in four or 
 five hours, as far as you could travel before in two days. 
 But the two days were better than the railway ride, 
 for the journey could not be surpassed for beauty. At 
 Vossevangen, even in this old time, Fleischer was chief 
 of the hotel-keepers, with a house not a quarter the size 
 of his present magnificent establishment. Old Fleischer 
 himself was not half his present size either, and he had 
 not the air of business and care that now sits on his 
 broad shoulders. He could even go a-fishing, which, if 
 you will ask him, you will find he has not done for many 
 a long day, and he had much more time to talk and 
 laugh with his visitors than he has now. Then you 
 might have half a dozen men in the house at one time ; 
 now you may have forty or fifty, and as many ladies 
 more's the pity for I would rather have the old wild 
 Norway free from ladies than the new. 
 
 There were some disadvantages, though. For example, 
 you could get no food to speak of between Voss (where 
 even in the distant past you really could get something 
 to eat), and Gudvangen. At Tvvinde there was a bit of 
 a station where I do not think you could stay at all. At
 
 36 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Vinje, the next station, there were several hovels perched 
 up far and far above the present high road, so far that 
 modern travellers do not see or suspect the existence of 
 the old Vinje, and in these hovels the only beds were 
 boxes of straw, and the only food was what you brought. 
 Here it was, on my first visit, that I saw the old hag 
 who cooked for us, cleaning the cooking-spoon, pre- 
 paratory to putting it in the milk she was boiling for us, 
 by sticking it in her mouth and licking it. Now, in 
 place of that primitive simplicity, you have a fine airy, 
 pleasantly placed hotel, with nice clean little bed-rooms, 
 and nice clean little girls to wait on and attend to you. 
 But they don't let you go into the kitchen, and perhaps 
 it is as well so. 
 
 I have mentioned that the old place is perched far 
 above the new. This is a peculiarity common to the 
 whole route we are now travelling on. Just about the 
 time I made my first journey a reformation set in. The 
 roads used to go, as the lemmings are said to do, 
 straight ; if a hill was in the way the road went right 
 up it, and of course right down it, and on this account 
 only, one would hardly know the roads now to be 
 passing through the same country, everything is so level 
 and so easy. 
 
 By this road to Vinje runs a very, very beautiful 
 river, and twenty years ago it used to contain very 
 fair trout, which is not the case now. You may fish 
 at Vinje and catch trout by scores, but not one of 
 them will weigh three ounces. Why this is I cannot 
 say.
 
 NOR WA Y RE VISITED 37 
 
 Vinje to Stalheim is still as of old; but the old 
 Stalheim is gone. There was a bit of a place there, but 
 now there is a huge establishment as big as a barracks. 
 It is very nice, no doubt, but I am glad to have seen it 
 before the barracks came. You will have to dine here, or 
 say you won't ; then go on to Gudvangen, by the road 
 that can never change, and so reach the Sogne Fjord, or 
 at least the branch of it called Ncero Fjord. It will be 
 seen by those who know the country that I am skipping 
 along pretty fast, and not attempting to expatiate on 
 the beauties of the situation. But I am contrasting old 
 and new, and Ncerodal old, or Ncerodal new, is, thank 
 God, the same and for ever the same ever the most 
 stupendous and overwhelming landscape the eyes can 
 look upon. 
 
 Gudvangen reached. What changes ! What im- 
 provements ? No ; degradations. The place is full of 
 hotels and touts and people ; female tourists and male 
 tourists ; carrioles and carts, carriages and diligences, 
 and even bicycles. Oh, it is terrible ! There is a steamer 
 too every day now, sometimes twice a day, and in the 
 old time there was one once a fortnight sometimes, but not 
 always, and my friend and I had to row in a small boat 
 for half-a-day to get to the main fjord, and thus waylay 
 the steamer. Perhaps that's not a sign of grand old 
 days, and I won't argue that it is. But the fjord is not 
 less magnificent nor less mysterious when seen from the 
 level of the water from a little boat, than from a fast 
 steamer with a lot of frivolous women and vapid men 
 around you.
 
 38 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Just see the contrast here. Pass along that glorious 
 fjord now, a region of grandeur and beauty so over- 
 whelming that if you had eyes all over your head like a 
 butterfly, every one of those eyes would be filled with 
 wonder and amazement if you had any soul behind 
 them. And what do you see? Travellers, female and 
 male, pushing and " thrutching," or indulging in their 
 wearisome gossip ; reading Comic Cuts or some such stuff, 
 and positively dead and stupid as to where they are and 
 what is before them. They are even asking how long 
 they will be on the journey, while they ought to be on 
 their knees thanking God for the privilege of being 
 where they are. They might just as well be at Black- 
 pool ; and why, why did they ever leave that happy 
 pandemonium ? That's the Noero Fjord of to-day. Now 
 look back through my time's telescope, and what do 
 we see ? A little boat, as I have said, slowly, slowly 
 pulling its way along, now hugging the shore, now in the 
 midst of the waters ; every object passed at a leisurely 
 speed, so that we have time to make its acquaintance 
 and to love it. In sober earnest there is no comparison 
 between the two methods. And then look at the company ! 
 I have said what sort of companions you often find now ; 
 see what we had then. We had one passenger, and he 
 was our guest, but then our passenger was Bjornstjerne 
 Bjornson, and for those five or six hours we had him 
 all to ourselves. That we were not able to say much to 
 him doesn't matter. The influence of the poet and 
 novelist lives with one of us still, for I have read nearly 
 all his books, which I probably should never have done
 
 NORWAY REVISITED, 39 
 
 but for this meeting. And then we had the delightful 
 adventure at Fronningen which any one who likes may 
 read about in "Anglers' Evenings" in the first paper 
 ever read before the Manchester Anglers' Association, 
 always excepting the good Colonel's presidential address. 
 Notwithstanding all this, ive shall, next time we pass 
 along this fjord, no doubt travel by steamer ; I fancy 
 Mr. Ruskin goes home to Brantwood by rail. 
 
 Next we come to Laerdal ; not so much altered, for it 
 was always, within my recollection, an important place ; 
 but it is bigger, of course, and rejoices in a glass-fronted 
 hotel of really colossal size, where you will meet at 
 dinner seventy-five ladies and twenty-five gentlemen, all 
 dressed up in their utmost finery. 
 
 The road from Laerdal onward (there is no chance of 
 going wrong, for there is only one way) is only to some 
 extent as it was. It has the same ultimate tendency 
 as before, but it goes a different way about it. It used 
 to be up and down just like a switchback railway, but it is 
 now very fairly on the level, at least so far as the inland 
 rise will allow of its being. The road has certainly 
 changed, and it enables us to see that we have changed 
 somewhat too. There is more to be seen along the 
 road than there used to be ; that is, we can see more, 
 and the natural history of Norway may be taken in at 
 a glance in a few hours' drive along that Laerdal road. 
 One can see now how the whole land here has been 
 under ice ; it is as clear as that some of the land is now 
 under water. The signs of it are on every side. Here 
 we pass along by the foot of a huge moraine almost as
 
 40 ANGLERS' 'EVENINGS. 
 
 fresh as when it was formed; now we mount another; 
 now we see glacier-carried heaps on both sides of the 
 river, sometimes high above, sometimes at the water's 
 edge ; and the first day's drive up the valley of the 
 Laerdal will enable us to see how all this beautiful 
 Norway has come into existence. Dr. Nansen, in his 
 journey across Greenland, estimated that the ice-mantle 
 covering that land is occasionally thousands of feet 
 in thickness. If you have ever seen a glacier that 
 is in active work, the Buarbrce for instance, and observed 
 how, like a huge plough, it rips and delves up every- 
 thing except the solid rock that it comes in contact 
 with, how it scrapes and gouges even the rocks, you may 
 form some small idea of the work of a plough of this kind 
 whose cutting edges have a weight of a few thousands 
 of feet of ice above them. That is how the Norwegian 
 valleys have been scooped out, how the fjords have been 
 formed ; and if you climb to the top of the hills that 
 encompass you on either hand as you pass along the 
 valleys, you find how it is that wherever you go in 
 Norway you have waterfalls continually in view, some- 
 times three or four at a time. The great part of 
 southern Norway is a high table-land with deep grooves 
 scraped in it, and the fosses plunge down every here and 
 there, because the groove has cut the river's course. All 
 this you can see as plain as print as you drive up this 
 valley. 
 
 By-and-bye we come to Husum, a large and 
 important station now, but a very poor place when first 
 I slept in it. But before we reach the place, we pass
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 41 
 
 the spot on the river where my old friend and I first 
 threw line in a Norwegian stream. Shall I ever forget 
 it ? Every feature of that charming stretch of water is 
 photographed on my memory ; it is twenty years ago, 
 but is just as though it were yesterday. I don't think 
 that the fishing can be now what it was, and you will see 
 by-and-bye that I have, from my experience of other 
 places, some reason for this belief. At this particular 
 place I only had that one far-away evening's fishing 
 while the " skyds gut " waited for us, and laughed and 
 danced, as trout after trout came out of the water. I 
 have never had such a time as that first time, never such 
 weather, and never such fish. We must go on to 
 Husum, where we find a house that might hold fifty 
 people or so. Before, three of us filled all the beds. But 
 in the yard, as though pushed into the coiner, jammed 
 up against the rocks, there still stand two little out- 
 houses of the " stabbur " style that are unaltered, and 
 that show us the " Gammle Norge " my heart seems to 
 turn to. 
 
 It is not far from Husum to Borgund, and the road 
 is a great change from the old one a great improvement, 
 I am fain to confess. The old one, of course, went 
 straight up and dropped straight down ; the new follows 
 the course of the river, often under rock ledges hanging 
 far and far over you. What a torrent the river is ! 
 boiling and rushing and tearing, not a bit of smooth 
 water, but every drop urging along at express speed. 
 You can nowhere have a better view of a fine Norwegian 
 torrent than here. Now we come in sight of the Borgund
 
 42 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Old Church. Mysterious building ! But what changes 
 have come about ! That horribly ugly new church, 
 that hotel, and oh misery! a dozen men flogging the 
 stream. Ah, what a fishing we had that first time ! 
 Nobody else there probably never had been. How 
 well I remember fishing from close by that cottage 
 door, where just within my throw a great wide stream 
 entered a spreading pool, and the dimpling waters were 
 all within my reach. How, without stirring a foot, fish 
 after fish (those bright beauties which no one knows the 
 glory of who has not seen Norwegian trout) came to my 
 net ; more than once two at a time, until I had my 
 basket full. Ah ! that time is gone for ever, and last 
 year when I drove down to Borgund with another friend 
 to renew our old and delightful acquaintance, we found 
 every pool and every stream occupied ; and without a 
 trout without trying for one we drove back again 
 dejected and forlorn. 
 
 We are going further up the river to the little place 
 I met with on my first visit, and with which I have kept 
 up an acquaintance ever since. It is not so far from 
 Maristuen ; but before we get there, let me recall my 
 meeting with Ole Ericsen Eggum, that is to say, Ole 
 who lives at Eggum. I picked up Ole on the first visit, 
 and he stayed with me all day while I fished, telling me 
 where the river was best, and rejoicing every time I 
 got a trout. He declared he had never seen such a 
 fisher, which I dare say was true, for he had probably 
 never seen another. However, Ole and I became good 
 friends, and he was with me a second, and, I think, a
 
 NORWAY REV/SITED. 43 
 
 third day, when I had to leave him. He told me all his 
 history ; how he had been a sailor, been to California, 
 made a little money, had come back, and having his pick 
 of the girls in the village had married the prettiest of 
 them ; and I promised that if ever I returned I would try 
 to find him out. At last, fourteen or fifteen years after, I 
 found myself fishing below Eggum, in the very pool to 
 which Ole had introduced me. The boy who was 
 carrying my pannier was an Ole too. " Isn't that 
 Eggum," I asked, " and is Ole Ericsen here yet ?" 
 Yes, he was, said little Ole, should he go and find 
 him ? " Yes, do, and tell him an old friend wants to 
 see him." So off Ole ran, and I fished away. Presently 
 man and boy came down together, tramping through the 
 long grass, but I had forgotten Ole's face and he had 
 lost mine. The recalling of a few incidents of our 
 triumphs together made him remember everything, 
 however, and he said, " Ah, yes, and I will go up to 
 Breistolen again with you, if you will go." I had not so 
 many fish to give him as I used to have, though they 
 were not a bad lot either, and then we had to say good- 
 bye. " Well," he said, " if I never see you again, I hope 
 we shall meet in the good place." I have not seen him 
 since, and the poor fellow sickened soon after and has 
 left Eggum. 
 
 Now, let us get on to this place near Maristuen. I 
 had written to say we were coming, four of us, and that 
 we should arrive about midnight. I had written, too, to 
 our friend Jonas, to meet us at Lrerdal, and drive us part 
 of the way over, and all our appointments were kept,
 
 44 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 except that it was one o'clock before we landed, instead 
 of twelve. As we turned Jonas' corner we saw that the 
 valley was illuminated in our honour. There was a 
 candle in every window, and the house stood out like 
 a lighthouse in the twilight. Then when we drove up 
 to the door, what excitement ! How all the inhabitants 
 welcomed us; Sylla and Charybdis I was going to 
 say, but I mean Kari, Jertrude, Johanna, and Knut, 
 and all the "piges" of the place, and even the old man 
 himself! They expected us to begin with a feast at 
 that time of night, and were disappointed, I think, that 
 we had to decline their hospitality. Then we chose our 
 bed-rooms. But I am forgetting what this place near 
 Maristuen used to be. Well, I think it's better now, but it's 
 biggerand dearer though, goodness knows, cheap enough. 
 It used to be only that little house over the way, where 
 they managed, at a pinch, to make up five beds. Now, 
 at the same pinch, they might manage a dozen, I dare- 
 say; so it's not so big yet, though it is quite a fine white 
 building, which has blossomed out with a "svale"; this 
 is what they call the porch that runs from top to 
 bottom, which, having a coloured lamp hung in it, 
 and having stencilled ornaments on it to counterfeit 
 elaborate fretwork, is quite imposing in appearance. The 
 whole route from Laerdal to Christiania has blossomed in 
 the same way, every "svale" being evidently produced on 
 the same plan, and I should fancy that some enterprising 
 builder has put up the lot at an annual charge, for the 
 people could certainly not afford to lay down money for 
 such ornamentation.
 
 NORWAY RE VISITED. 45 
 
 Now, to describe the fishings of day after day for a 
 fortnight will entertain you no more than it would be 
 possible for me; let me then take one day, made up, 
 perhaps, of bits from several, and that shall summarise 
 the way in which we four Englanders spent our time. 
 
 The first to rise in the morning are B and 
 
 myself; we sleep in contiguous rooms, separated by 
 boards as thin as a hat-box, so that a whisper from one 
 chamber can be heard in the next. " Are you getting 
 
 up?" says B at six o'clock or half-past, or on wet 
 
 mornings at seven. " Yes, I've been reading and waiting 
 for you for an hour." So up both get, slip on tennis 
 shoes, take a towel and sponge, and without much 
 clothing on we go downstairs, cross the yard, turn in at 
 the gate into the field, pass the flad-brod bakery and the 
 wash-house, and there we are at our bath, a huge pool, 
 swirling in a quick torrent by the rocks on which we 
 stand. They are very convenient places these rocks no 
 end of little ledges to put the soap, sponge, etc., upon, 
 and they run nicely into the water, so that you can stand 
 up to the ankles or the knees ; or, if you prefer it, you 
 can take a header into the swirl and be just carried down 
 to the corner, where you must at once get out, or I will 
 not answer for the consequences. We always have this 
 
 bath, B and I, rain or fair, and as we come into the 
 
 house again, the chances are that we shall meet our 
 G.O.M. in a long macintosh and a hat, and he will make 
 a long round, across the bridge to the other side of 
 the pool where no prying eye shall discover him. 
 B and I arc soon dress*ed, and till breakfast is ready
 
 46 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 we sit, often in a glorious bath of sunshine, in the "svale," 
 trimming our flies, chaffing Knut, or addressing playful 
 remarks to Jertrude. Then the G.O.M. conies down, 
 smiling an untroubled smile, but I think he is not quite 
 so rough and unkempt as we are ; then comes Sylla with 
 " Veer saa god," and we march into the large uncarpeted 
 " Spise Sal " to breakfast. What an airy, delightful room 
 that is! Clean as a pin, and completely our property 
 while we are here. Indeed we may say we " bossed that 
 show " altogether for that fortnight. Enter at the front 
 door those are all our macintoshes and landing nets; 
 those things on the porch are our waders and socks and 
 things; there inside are our boots; in the drawing-room 
 our books and maps and papers are littering everything ; 
 in the " Spise Sal " our rods, which are never taken down, 
 are all lying on the floor ; and if any stranger should 
 happen to come into the house while we are there, Sylla 
 at once lets him see that we are proprietors, and he 
 alone is a visitor. 
 
 Now, what will the neat-handed Sylla give us for 
 breakfast to-day ? First coffee, real good coffee, such as 
 I, for one, never get at home ; then fried trout, as well 
 cooked by Kari as ever you had or could have them ; 
 then eggs and a bit of inferior bacon perhaps, and as 
 many kickshaws as you like in the way of sausages 
 of every hue and flavour, anchovies, sardines, cheese, 
 marmalade, and so on. For bread we have white bread, 
 rye bread and biscuits ; so we don't starve here. 
 
 Breakfast over, we order " lit mad " to take with us ; 
 our boys who are going to carry our creels and water-
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 47 
 
 proofs appear, and, after the necessary arrangements, we 
 sally forth. There are several courses open to us ; there 
 is up-water and down-water, left bank and right bank, 
 and nothing to choose between them. We generally go 
 
 in pairs for company, and on this particular day B 
 
 and I are going down on the opposite bank. I put in at 
 
 the top of the water and B goes a considerable 
 
 distance down. The top pool, in which we have our 
 morning bath, used to be a fine place for fish ; it isn't 
 now. I got one there this summer, and that's all, though 
 I fished it as far as it could be reached many a time. 
 Downward we go, through long grass for a time, and now 
 we are at a long swift run, three or four feet deep, but 
 too rapid to fish. Still, walking along, and casting as I 
 go, I raise one in the rapid water, but the force of the 
 stream is too great and he gets away. Then the water, 
 reduced to forty yards or so in width, makes over to my 
 side, and is deep at the edges, running under grassy 
 banks. Here, if I have luck, and we have not harried 
 the water too much, I shall get one or two. After a 
 hundred yards or so of this there comes a stream which 
 might serve for a day's fishing ; but there is a charm in 
 moving along, so that we do not, while we stay, bring 
 that stream to too much harm. I have got one fair fish, 
 which the G.O.M., who is on the other side a bit lower 
 down, has observed me engaged with, and by the time I 
 get nearer to him he calls out, " Is it a pound ?" " No ; 
 about three-quarters," I reply, but then in a moment, 
 "but this one is; or will be, if I get him." Then he 
 shouts something which I cannot hear, but at last I
 
 48 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 make out that he wants to know what he'll weigh if I 
 don't get him, to which I reply, " two pounds," and I am 
 sorry to say that that fish was a two-pounder. 
 
 A little lower down there is a huge round pool, as 
 blue as the sky, and as deep as the sea. There is an 
 eddy below me, where the water runs the wrong way, 
 and is deep under a steep bank ; there must be a fish 
 there ; yes, there he is ! away into that deep, deep pool 
 with my fly in his cheek. There is no chance for him ; 
 in due time he is in my net, and I have got my pounder. 
 
 Just below, we pass through a sort of stile, and 
 the river divides, part of it going straight on, but the 
 greater portion going off at right angles for one or two 
 hundred yards, and then turning, almost at right angles 
 again, into a course parallel with the stream by which 
 we are standing. It is just possible to wade over this 
 smaller stream to the island, and to your right you have 
 a fine long run, which, somehow, never produced me 
 anything ; but by the time it gets to the corner, before 
 taking the turn at right angles, there is some delightful 
 water which yielded two or three fine fish every time I 
 got to it. This place I kept a profound secret, but the 
 G.O.M. saw me there one day fast for about ten minutes 
 in a fish, which I did not get, and I was no longer 
 sole proprietor of the choicest bit of the river. 
 
 Returning to the left bank, we get a united stream 
 again, which by-and-bye spreads out into a deep glassy 
 water, where a ferry goes across it. There is not a puff 
 
 of wind, but here I come up with friend B , who is 
 
 positively fishing this clear but heavy water, where " you
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 49 
 
 sees the fish a-swimmin'" in plenty. " You just go down 
 there," he says, " and you'll get one sure enough," and 
 scarcely believing such a thing possible, I do go just 
 down to where there is a mere dimple, caused by a deep- 
 down stone. The flies fall over the smooth water, there is 
 a splash, and " sure enough " I have him. Get a ripple 
 on this place, as I got it one evening when I was coming 
 home to dinner, and you have fish and fishing indeed. 
 
 There are two or three houses on a glacier mound 
 just here, for the accommodation of which the ferry- 
 boat plies. We cannot keep by the river, but must 
 mount the mound, pass the houses and skip a few 
 hundred yards, coming down to another break in the 
 rocky bank, where we can reach the water and are sure 
 to get fish again. Then there is a higher hillock to 
 climb, a rocky, tree-covered one, below which are two 
 pools and streams that surpass belief for beauty and 
 power of yielding fish. The lower of them is difficult to 
 cast over on account of the trees which come close to the 
 water's edge, but it is just shallow enough to enable you 
 to wade along by sticking to the trees with your left hand 
 while you fish with your right, and it will go hard if you 
 do not, before you get to shoal water at the foot, take 
 half-a-dozen fish. Below this there is fishing for a couple 
 of miles or so, but I have only been down once ; it was a 
 bad day, and I only got a few trout, but there is some 
 splendid water. There is, though, more fishing than 
 can be got through in a day in the upper water. Dinner 
 is at seven, and it is five now, so quite time to turn. The 
 boy shouts out every time a fish goes into the pannier
 
 50 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 how many he has got : femten, sexten, and so on, and 
 by we get to " tyve " I feel at the pull of the basket and 
 thank my stars that I have a boy to carry it. He is 
 worth his shilling a day indeed. After a rest we go on 
 
 our way, taking a cast now and then, and at last B 
 
 comes in sight, and we have time to sit down and chat 
 before walking home together. Is there anything more 
 delightful in a day's work of this delightful sort than this 
 chat and this rest ? I do not think there is ; there are not 
 many of those pitying fools who "cannot stand such idle 
 work as fishing," who ever feel the joyful lassitude that 
 a day's hard work on the river, such as I have briefly des- 
 cribed, produces. And that crack on the leisurely walk 
 home; what could be pleasanter or happier? We shall be 
 obliged to take a cast or two as we pass the choicest 
 spots, and we shall add a fish or two to the baskets. 
 Now we are in sight of the house, now reach the grove 
 where the nesting field-fares attack us every time we 
 pass. Ole and Olaf are chattering and comparing notes 
 behind us, and so we go on, full of glee and health and 
 happiness. Now we cross the little bridge, and at last 
 stand in the courtyard true to time, at five or ten 
 minutes before seven. We are all there and greet 
 fraternally. Then comes the show up. " Give us four 
 dishes, please," and we each pile up a great dish 
 from our creels, and weigh in as well as we can. Then 
 comes the grand wash in the river before our waders are 
 removed, and at last we are ready for dinner just as the 
 bright, good-natured Sylla comes once more with her 
 " Veer saa god." They feed us very well : soup, boiled
 
 NORWAY REVISITED, 51 
 
 trout or salmon (the trout are best), meat of some kind, 
 sweets, always novel and interesting because unknown, 
 cheese, and the coffee to finish off. And all this taken 
 in the healthiest of situations, in the best of all good 
 company ! What could man wish for more? 
 
 In such fashion as the above the days pass by. 
 Sometimes it is up-water, sometimes down, then an 
 excursion to the mountain streams 2,000 feet above us, 
 then the lakes a few miles higher up stream, or, perhaps, 
 a bootless journey into the snowy mountains in the 
 south, where we are told the big ones are to be found. 
 The days of our holiday are soon spent and our fishing 
 is soon over. 
 
 One incident that happened to one of our friends 
 must be told, as it has an important bearing on the 
 difference between the present and the past in Norway. 
 One evening, when we met at dinner, the above-mentioned 
 gentleman told us that while he was fishing in the very 
 pool down the water which I have more than once 
 spoken of, an irate farmer set upon him, storming and 
 shouting, and apparently demanding money, and ended 
 by throwing stones at the visitor's line. This was im- 
 portant and sad news to hear, and next morning B 
 
 and I drove down to interview the farmer. We soon 
 found him, and under our skilful treatment he proved 
 himself not such an unreasonable man as we expected. 
 I poured out on him all the wealth of Norwegian I was 
 possessed of, Mr. B - helping by a timely " hear, 
 hear" (in the Norwegian tongue) as occasion required; 
 and Jacob was "overcame." What he advanced was
 
 52 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 this : That we trod down his grass, or, at any rate, our 
 gillies did, and that we were so skilful that we should 
 catch all the fish, and there would be none left for him. 
 Both these views we combated successfully, pointing 
 out that we were generally in the water, and that we 
 would look well after the boys; that as to catching all 
 the fish, that was impossible ; also, that we had come a 
 thousand miles to visit him, and deserved a bit ot 
 fishing; that we and other travellers were a benefit to 
 the whole district, and that if we were met by incivility 
 instead of kindness we should come no more ; that I had 
 been coming for twenty years, and had fished that place 
 without hindrance all that time; that Ole Ericsen had 
 himself brought me to it ; and that, finally, if he wanted 
 some fish he was welcome to them, for it was the fishing, 
 and not the fish, that we wanted. That fetched him ; he 
 cared nothing about Ole Ericsen, who was away now, 
 but he had never heard such eloquence before, and so 
 we might fish as much as we liked. Later in the day we 
 took him a nice dish of trout, and photographed his 
 house, his wife, his child, and himself, and he was 
 thoroughly pacified. 
 
 This event, I fear, marks an epoch in the history of 
 the tourist's Norway. The peasants are learning to look 
 on Englishmen as things to make money out of; the old 
 simplicity of the people is waning. 
 
 And now for the final comparison between old and 
 new. Well, the fishing was better the first time I saw 
 this river than it is now ; no doubt it will be worse still, 
 and before my sons are my age, they may read in.
 
 NORWAY REVISITED. 53 
 
 "Anglers' Evenings" ot angling feats quite unattainable 
 in their time. So we agreed, as we talked over the stone- 
 throwing incident after dinner that evening, sitting in the 
 " svale," while the ruddy glow in the sky grew deeper ; 
 but, as the G.O.M. said of me, I have had my whack out 
 of the river, whatever comes, and ought to be content. 
 So I am. I would not part with my recollections of 
 that valley and my love for it, for any price. Blessed 
 Norway ! If I live, and am able to do it, I hope that 
 year after year I may return to experience the delights 
 of its dancing waters; to feel the soul-inspiring influence 
 of its lovely landscape ; and to partake of the healthful 
 life of its honest, simple people.
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 
 
 BY STANLEY KNEALE. 
 
 fLTHOUGH I do not compare sea-fishing to 
 the more scientific pursuit of salmon, trout, or 
 grayling, yet it has charms quite its own ; the 
 bracing sea-breezes, the glorious sunrises and sunsets 
 throwing dark brown shadows of the rocks on the water ; 
 the waves glancing up and down, catching and reflecting 
 all the beautiful and gorgeous colouring of the sky, 
 the blue glare of mid-day, the quiet purple shadows of 
 late evening. And not only to the artist, but to the 
 sportsman, does sea-fishing make itself attractive. There 
 is the "glorious uncertainty." When luring the lusty 
 trout you expect to catch trout and generally do if they 
 are in the humour and you are an adept in the art of 
 deception but in sea-fishing, at least generally, you do 
 not know what you will catch ; it may be a codling, a 
 conger, a mighty halibut, or any one of the hundreds of 
 different species and varieties which inhabit the deep (or 
 mostly the shallow) ; it may be an ounce, or it may be a 
 fifty or sixty-pounder which makes it a question whether 
 you have caught the fish or the fish has caught you; 
 whether you go overboard or he comes on board. Not 
 only in the weight and size have you variety, but in the
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 55 
 
 methods of capture, whether with rod and fly, whiffing, 
 long-lining, bottom fishing, or even netting. One of the 
 most beautiful scenes pictured on my mind is a still, clear 
 moonlight night, the water just lapping the sides of the 
 boat ; in the distance the bright line of phosphorus marking 
 the ripple made by the nets as they were slowly wind- 
 lassed in (not the snorting steam windlass breaking the 
 calm of the scene, but the hand-worked capstan revolving 
 to some rhythmical air), and the glorious gleam and glitter 
 of the silver-scaled herring as the nets were taken into 
 the boat. This was not sport, but once seen it was never 
 to be forgotten ; and, after all, fish have to be caught to 
 feed the hungry man, and it would take a good many 
 anglers to fill a boat with them by rod and line as was 
 done by one sweep of the nets on that particular 
 evening. 
 
 In Ramsey Bay, where most of my sea-fishing ex- 
 perience was gained, if you want a big day, long line 
 fishing does it, especially in winter, when the cod is in its 
 prime. You want four or five lines of about eight 
 hundred hooks each, a smart stiff sailing-boat of about 
 twenty-five feet keel, not too high in the gunwale, so that 
 the lines may be taken in more easily, plenty of beam and 
 ballast, and three or four men who know what they are 
 doing; for, at that time of the year, you may see some 
 nasty weather between the start to Bahama Bank (the 
 best cod ground) about seven miles distant, and the return 
 to harbour. As the cod-boats there are not decked, or 
 only partially so, they require very careful handling; in 
 rough seas very often one man steers and three bale. It
 
 56 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 is marvellous how some of the regular fishermen manage 
 those boats ; going out in all kinds of weather, they 
 handle them with a skill which only comes from long 
 experience and knowledge of boats, tides, currents, and 
 winds. They are good companions, can spin long yarns 
 and tell good fish stories, and are always ready to 
 instruct an amateur. There is something very fresh and 
 exhilarating on a bright winter's morning in starting off 
 with a nice breeze, bounding from crest to crest of the 
 short curling waves, everything light and buoyant, 
 dancing in the sunlight, with your lips salt with the 
 showered spray from your boat's rude contact with 
 some large wave. 
 
 Arrived at the bank, down comes the sail, and mast 
 too, if there is much sea or ground swell on ; and over go 
 the lines, shooting across the tide, and buoyed at the 
 ends. Then comes two or three hours' waiting, which 
 can be filled in by pollack, bream or bass fishing, the 
 tide carrying out a lightly-leaded line and trace, to which 
 are attached flies, spinning-baits, or, best of all, sand-eels. 
 If the fish are in the humour, and the tide right, which 
 is the most important thing (neap tides are the best), you 
 may have some capital sport with pollack, although they 
 are not quite so large here as in other parts of the bay. 
 The bass and bream are scarcer and more uncertain. 
 Then comes the time for lifting the long lines; cod, 
 skate, flounders, plaice, halibut, red and grey gurnet, 
 congers, dog-fish, and many other kinds come tumbling 
 into the boat, but, of course, principally cod. Occasionally 
 a halibut or skate bigger than usual requires two or
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 57 
 
 three gaffs to bring him over the side. I have seen 
 halibut five or six feet long brought in by the cod boats. 
 Buckland mentions one caught in Ramsey Bay as 
 among the biggest captured round the coasts of the 
 British Isles. With two or three cwt. of fish in the 
 bottom ol the boat, the lines neatly coiled in the baskets, 
 off you start home again with a freshening breeze, and 
 generally a good bit of beating, as the prevailing winds 
 are off shore, westerly or sou'-westerly ; and, unless you 
 have a good suit of oils on, you will not have many 
 dry garments by the time you get back to the harbour. 
 
 But from a sportsman's point of view, by far the most 
 fascinating fishing is with rod and fly or spinning tackle, 
 for pollack, cod-fish, codling, and, occasionally, mackerel. 
 This sport was ably and charmingly described in the 
 first series of "Anglers' Evenings," in a paper entitled, 
 " Rod Fishing off the Isle of Man," where the whole art 
 of pollack fishing is so fully discussed that there remains 
 little to say. The most important thing is to get the 
 right tides, weather, and time. I have always found the 
 flood tide much the best, the fish coming in with it 
 closer to the rocks, except when the sea is rough. Then, 
 of course, they keep to the deeper water, are more 
 scattered, and have to be fished for with much heavier 
 leads. The best time for pollack fishing, as for most 
 sea-fishing, is in the early morning about sunrise, or in 
 the evening after sunset ; they come nearer to the surface 
 then and rise more readily to the fly. The autumn is the 
 best season, although in some years I have known them 
 to be very plentiful in May and June.
 
 58 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 As in any other kind of fishing, the finer the tackle 
 the better the sport. Single salmon gut is quite -strong 
 enough for your traces or flycasts ; you may lose some 
 flies or spinning tackle now and then (generally in the 
 weed) but in the long run it will repay you. The tackle 
 sold on the spot is made of twisted gut or gimp, and 
 would pull a whale out ; as a rule, the tackle used by the 
 boat fishermen is very clumsy, but of course they do not 
 use it with a rod, but simply a hand-line. They very 
 rarely fish for pollack, as it is not a good eating fish and 
 there is no market for it ; and they consider you are rather 
 idiotic to waste your time on the "kelleig," as they call 
 them, when you might be more profitably employed long 
 lining, bottom fishing, or mackerel fishing. Undoubtedly, 
 the heaviest fish are taken by trolling with the sand-eel 
 with a fairly heavy lead, say three or four ounces, so as 
 to sink the spinning sand-eel two or three fathoms below 
 the surface, according to the tides and time of day. The 
 fish always lie nearer the surface in the evening. 
 
 On a fine calm night, as you are rowed in and out ot 
 the little bays, overshadowed by the great towering 
 rocks looking dark and mysterious against the sunset 
 sky, with the quiet dip of the oars, or a disturbed 
 cormorant slipping into the water from his resting-place, 
 or now and then the splash of a fish as he rushes to 
 the surface in pursuit of some small fry, breaking the 
 quietness of the scene suddenly there is a tug and a 
 splash, followed by the delightful screech of the reel, as 
 away goes a good pollack to his home among the weed. 
 You follow, giving him all the butt you can to prevent
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 59 
 
 his going down their tendency is generally down ; they 
 scarcely ever rush to the surface, as salmon or trout 
 sometimes do when first hooked, but seem to know by 
 instinct that their safety lies in the long dark tangle, in 
 and out of which they endeavour to thread your line. 
 They often take eighty or ninety yards of line off your 
 reel, and you have to follow them with the boat. I 
 remember one day, after a long rush, following up in a 
 boat, winding in as I came along until I got right over 
 my fish with a big strain on all the time, as much as a 
 strong salmon gut would bear; but not an inch would it 
 budge ; however, patience hath its reward, and knowing 
 the sulking habits of my friends the pollack, I continued 
 to keep a steady strain on, fearing all the time that he 
 had fastened me in the long brown weed at the bottom. 
 After about ten minutes I felt a slight stir, and he came 
 to the surface quite played out; the gaff quickly trans- 
 ferred a good pollack of fifteen pounds into the boat. 
 It is a fish that caves in very quickly after the first 
 rush or two; very unlike the mackerel, which, for its 
 size, is the hardest fighting fish I know, either in salt or 
 fresh water. But if the fights in pollack fishing are not 
 very hard or long they are frequent. On a good day 
 you have not to be content with one fish, as in salmon 
 fishing, but can count them by the dozen. Then there is 
 the delightful pull home if the evening is chilly you 
 are only too pleased to take a turn at the oars ; if not, 
 comfortably settled in the stern, puffing away at your 
 favourite pipe, a goodly array of shimmering fish lying in 
 front of you, and, in the distance, the town and harbour
 
 60 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 lights guiding you home to a good supper to which you 
 feel you can do full justice, you begin to think there are 
 many less enjoyable sports than pollack fishing. Of 
 course there is another side to the picture, when, minus 
 fish, a stiff wind off shore and a choppy sea making it 
 rather difficult and dangerous work, you are glad to pull 
 into the friendly shelter of a headland, beach your boat 
 on one of the little gravelled bays, high and dry out of 
 the reach of the tide, and tramp home trying to dry your 
 soaked clothes in the five or six miles between you and 
 a good fire and refreshment for the inner man. 
 
 When fishing for pollack along the rocks you often 
 have some good fun by bringing a rook rifle and thinning 
 the cormorants which line the coast. Although in the 
 Isle of Man they are protected all the year round by the 
 " Sea Birds Protection Act," they are of no service to 
 the fishermen, as are the gannet and gull in guiding them 
 to the fishing grounds ; and in thinning them down you 
 are doing good service, especially to the river fishing. 
 On some of the Manx streams I believe they do more to 
 destroy the salmon and trout than all the fishermen and 
 poachers put together. In the spring I have seen dozens 
 of them right at the entrance of the harbour, when the 
 white trout (as they are called there) are about, destroy- 
 ing them wholesale. One cormorant can very quickly 
 dispose of two or three dozen of those small fish which 
 Mr. Day has pronounced to be young sewin. They 
 are a greedy bird, and to use an old expression, " their 
 eye is very often bigger than their belly," or rather throat, 
 as up the Sulby river one day I picked up a cormorant
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 61 
 
 choked with a four-pound salmon. These birds also go 
 up several miles inland to the fresh water, the trout and 
 samlets having little chance against them. 
 
 The biggest day's sea-fishing, in point of numbers, that 
 I ever had was a fine day in June, a good many summers 
 
 ago, in Ramsey Bay. L , who was not a rod 
 
 fisherman, but was very keen and always worked hard 
 and successfully with the hand lines, two cousins, myself, 
 and the boatman made up the crew of the Snaefel, a 
 small open schooner of about twenty-five feet keel ; a 
 very handy fishing boat, and much more convenient than 
 the larger, partly-decked, sailing boats you now get there 
 for hire. She was also a fast boat in her time, and many 
 are the races we have had going or returning from the 
 fishing ground with the lug-sail or cutter-rigged fishing 
 boats. On this particular afternoon we had not much 
 chance of trying her sailing powers, as it was almost a 
 dead calm. Starting about three, we drifted out to the 
 whiting ground, about a mile from the end of the pier, 
 where the whiting come right into the bay. They are 
 generally very numerous, although perhaps not so large 
 as those caught off Manghold Head, which is about five 
 miles from the harbour mouth, and, taking it all round, is 
 much the best ground for whiting and other bottom 
 fishing. As the tides run strong, and the water is deep, 
 you require heavy leads, about 3lbs., to keep your line on 
 the bottom. This evening we had not wind enough to 
 take us out there, and since it is no joke rowing two or 
 three tons of ballast along, we dropped our anchor in 
 about five fathoms of water, so clear that we could sec all
 
 62 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 the fish on the sandy bottom. Whiting, unlike the 
 pollack, are never found on a rocky bottom, and are 
 generally enticed inshore by the sand eels or other small 
 fry. To lower the sails and make ready the lines was the 
 work of a very short time. The whiting lines generally 
 used have a cross-bar of whalebone or stiff wire about 
 a foot above the lead, to the ends of which the hooks are 
 attached by a couple of feet of fine water cord. As the 
 hooks and snooding are coarse, we used to put on a large 
 trout hook, say No. 9, and a couple of strands of fairly 
 strong gut, the greater penetrating power of the fine- 
 wired hooks and invisibility of the gut telling a 
 tremendous tale at the end of a day's fishing. Having 
 our supply of fresh sand-eels on board, we cut them up 
 in small pieces and bait our hooks, taking care to leave 
 the point of the hook uncovered ; over go the lines, and 
 we begin in real earnest to pull in the fish. They were 
 so thick that we very often had a couple of whiting on 
 before the line reached the bottom. You generally find 
 the bottom with your lead, and fish about a foot or two 
 off, but this evening it did not seem to make much 
 difference where, or how, we fished up came the lines 
 with two fish on each time, until it really became hard 
 
 work lowering and drawing in. At last L , who 
 
 was very keen on a big catch, noticed that the boys' 
 lines were down twice as long as ours. The fact was 
 that they had got tired of bending over the gun wale pulling 
 fish in, so they let their lines remain on the bottom, 
 knowing that there were sure to be two fish on each 
 line ; after that L kept a sharp eye on them and
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 63 
 
 held them steadily at work. The bay was literally alive 
 with fish that evening; we caught whiting, cod, skate, 
 sand-soles, plaice, mackerel, red and grey gurnet, dog- 
 fish, and even herrings. It is a very rare thing for the 
 latter fish to be taken by line in Ramsey Bay ; however, 
 that evening we had about a dozen of them, and finished 
 up by catching a fine lobster on a hook which had got 
 entangled in its claws. 
 
 About eleven o'clock, after seven hours' fishing, the 
 bottom of the boat was so thick with fish that it rather 
 hampered our movements, and we thought it time to 
 start for home. Then began the business of counting 
 our spoils, and we found we had six hundred fish of one 
 kind and another. The local paper referred to the catch 
 afterwards as not the charge, but the death of the six 
 hundred. I think it was the record catch by hand-line 
 that season. 
 
 But, of course, there are blank days in sea-fishing as 
 well as in river-fishing. There are many agents at work 
 to make the day good or bad tides, winds, fish moving 
 in shoals over a very extended water, shoals of dog-fish 
 chasing and frightening them out of the usual fishing 
 grounds, and dozens of little things which make sport 
 uncertain. But if you are on the spot and have plenty 
 of fishing time, winter and summer, as was my good 
 fortune some ten or eleven years ago, you are bound to 
 find the right day sometimes and have big catches which 
 you remember, while the blank days are forgotten. 
 Lately, in my brief visits to the Island, I never seem to 
 get the big days I used to have, either on the river or on
 
 64 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 the sea. On the rivers, or rather streams, the trout are 
 getting great epicures, and much more particular about 
 the way the flies are presented to them, as they are more 
 fished for; but on the sea it is harder to account for. 
 I think the only solution is that you are not on the spot 
 at the right time, or it may be that the continual 
 scraping and disturbing of the breeding beds by steam 
 dredgers and other trawlers has something to do with 
 the scarcity of fish. Again, the beating and churning of 
 the sea by the largely increasing number of steamers 
 which pass in and through the bay, no doubt scares 
 them to other feeding grounds. 
 
 Mackerel fishing is best in the months of July, 
 August, and September. These fish vary very much in 
 size, and round the coasts of the Isle of Man are, as a 
 rule, much smaller than on the south coast of England 
 and Ireland. In Ramsey Bay they are fished for almost 
 entirely by whiffing or railling. One fisherman, sailing 
 and managing his boat and a couple of lines with heavy 
 leads of about 3^ Ibs.-, often gets thirty to forty dozen of 
 mackerel in a good morning's fishing ; but, as you may 
 imagine, it means very hard work, and non-professional 
 anglers are, as a rule, contented with a few dozen. The 
 biggest catch I ever had was twenty-five dozen. This 
 kind of fishing, although very much followed and enjoyed 
 by visitors, to me gets rather monotonous; the slow 
 sailing through the water at about four knots an hour, 
 and the constant heaving and drawing in of the line, 
 with a mackerel or simply your spinning bait at the end, 
 lacks the variety one gets, for instance, in bottom fishing.
 
 NOTES ON SEA FISHING. 65 
 
 The leads also are heavy, and the strain caused by the 
 lines being dragged through the water often makes it 
 difficult to decide whether one has a mackerel on or 
 not, especially with a lumpy sea, when the motion of the 
 boat gives the line sharp jerks very easily mistaken for 
 the tugging of a fish. I have tried numbers of different 
 kinds of spoon and spinning baits, but have found 
 nothing equal to the bait generally used over there a 
 thin strip of skin cut with a very sharp knife from the 
 under side of the mackerel. It is very bright, and if 
 properly cut and put on the hook three or four dozen 
 fish may be killed without changing the bait. 
 
 In pollack fishing in Ramsey Bay the mistake most 
 people make is in fishing along the rocks. They are of 
 course nearer at hand, and not so far from the harbour if 
 bad weather comes on, and occasionally give some fair 
 sport. But for a good evening's fishing, the weather 
 being favourable, you should go right round the 
 Manghold Head into Port Moar Bay, and fish along 
 the rocks and rocky shores there. It is about seven 
 or eight miles' pull from the harbour. The pollack 
 are much more numerous, and larger. The south of the 
 Island is a still better rod-fishing ground, the bottom being 
 principally rocky. A friend of mine, while staying at 
 Port Erin a couple of summers ago, killed from fifty to a 
 hundred pounds of pollack and bloggan each evening, 
 though the weather was not as fine as it might have 
 been. Boating is very dangerous there, on account of 
 the strong tides and currents, which frequently run five 
 or six knots an hour.
 
 66 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Taking the sea -fishing of the Island generally, I 
 believe it is much better than on other parts of the 
 English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish coasts, and I think 
 anyone who is going over there would never regret 
 taking a stiff rod of about sixteen feet, a reel with a 
 hundred or so yards of line, spinning tackle, flies, and a 
 good gaff. When living there I always used to land or 
 board my pollack with an implement made of a large 
 hoop of iron bound on to a boat-hook handle, the net 
 being the ordinary tarred fishing net. Though not so 
 portable as a gaff, I found it more effective, especially in 
 rough weather, when the fish seem to have a knack of 
 getting under the boat and sawing the line against the 
 bottom. With a long handle and big net you can scoop 
 them up some yards away from the boat before they have 
 a chance of getting under it. Of course the net must 
 be sound and strong, as with a fifteen or sixteen-pound 
 fish there is often a big strain on it. As the trout-fishing 
 in the summer months is indifferent, the streams generally 
 being small, low, and clear, worse sport may be found 
 than is yielded by a few evenings among the pollack or 
 other kinds of fish, and the beautiful rock scenery and 
 sunsets which are seen in such perfection from the water.
 
 A CANADIAN EXPERIENCE: 
 
 FISHING FOR THE 
 SMALL-MOUTHED GREEN BASS. 
 
 BY HAROLD ENGELBACH. 
 
 WOULD not give the proverbial brass farthing 
 for the heart of that fisherman who loves 
 solitary sport from a selfish point of view ; who 
 delights in enjoyment which he does not long that others 
 may share with him. Truly, there is enjoyment in 
 moments of solitude to the fisherman who explores 
 regions till then untrodden by the sportsman. Who 
 has experienced without joy the casting upon the 
 waters of a maiden stream? But does not the very 
 essence of the delight and enjoyment lie in the 
 pleasure of having gained an experience which can be 
 imparted to less favoured friends; in the thought that it 
 is his alone to open to his beloved fellow fishermen pros- 
 pects of new pleasures; to widen the area of their 
 happy hunting grounds ? Was there ever ambition so 
 unselfish ? 
 
 I propose relating the adventures of George and 
 myself in search of the "small-mouthed green bass," on
 
 68 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 the Grand River, which runs from Pushlynch Lake, in 
 Ontario, to Lake Erie: 
 
 " Where the wave as clear as dew, 
 Sleeps beneath the light canoe, 
 Which reflected there 
 Looks as if it hung in air." 
 
 Let me, then, at once take you with us to the river's side, 
 merely stopping on the way to tie our horses to some 
 trees on the outskirts of the bush; of which more 
 when our day's sport is over. Among our party was 
 
 Colonel M , of the Royal Canadian Artillery, our 
 
 host, at whose house in Guelph George and I were being 
 entertained by the Colonel and his hospitable wife. To 
 be with them enabled me to appreciate at their full 
 value the lines of Tom Moore : 
 
 " Ah 1 well may we hope when this short life is gone, 
 To meet in a world of more permanent bliss ; 
 
 For a smile or a shake of the hand hastening on 
 Is all we enjoy of each other in this." 
 
 Then there was the Colonel's friend, Mr. W , an 
 
 earnest sportsman. We found that we had common 
 friends in Ceylon and other parts of the globe, and that, 
 therefore, although we met for the first time, we were, by 
 reason of these "acquaintances in common" (George's 
 legal mind suggested this term), not strangers. George 
 and myself completed the party. On reaching the river 
 we found a rudely-made canoe hauled up on the muddy 
 
 bank. Our friend W carried on his shoulder two 
 
 paddles, and I was the bearer of a third. On our way 
 through the bush we had suddenly stopped guided 
 probably by instinct and W , carefully looking
 
 A CANADIAN EXPERIENCE. 69 
 
 round to be sure that no human eye but ours was on 
 him, had extricated these paddles from a hiding-place. 
 
 Our intention was to drop down stream and land two 
 of our party on the further bank, which, being fairly clear, 
 would afford the chance of a good cast, while the other 
 two would fish from the canoe. But we had hardly put 
 off from the shore before we realised that the chances 
 were strongly in favour of all four making close ac- 
 quaintance with the waters of the Grand River, and then 
 whether the right or left bank or the bottom would be 
 the destination of any one, or more, or all of us, the event 
 alone would determine. The only thing fairly certain 
 was that the canoe and paddles would survive, to float 
 down to Lake Erie, and then, after shooting the Falls of 
 Niagara and the Rapids, be swept round and round in the 
 whirlpool for countless ages. Under these circumstances 
 
 it was agreed that Mr. W and I should land, leaving 
 
 the Colonel and George to brave the stream in the 
 canoe. There was wisdom in this decision. Mr. W 
 had an injured hand, bound up, and I was the father of a 
 family. The Colonel was stout and calculated to float, and 
 George, being one of the " Devil's own," was sure to be 
 cared for. The arrangement was promptly carried out 
 at the expense of no little ingenuity in preventing the 
 landers from getting up to the middle in mud, and the 
 others from being upset into the river. 
 
 I must now ask you to follow my own fortunes. 
 Directed by Mr. W - I made my way as best I could 
 through the bush, always keeping as near the river as 
 possible, till light showed me that there was an outlet to
 
 70 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 the bank; then, making for it, I found myself in an 
 opening which gave me an opportunity of getting a cast. 
 After spending a couple of hours in this sort of work I 
 
 laid me down to rest, when friend W came up. 
 
 "What have you done? Anything, eh?" "Well, any 
 sport ? How many ?" " None," answered I. " Oh, one 
 
 wretched one," replied W , " but it's too early yet ; 
 
 wait till the sun begins to go down a bit. What say you 
 to a drop of real Irish ? It won't harm either of us, I think, 
 eh?" What similarity there is in the greeting words 
 among fishermen all the world over, I thought, and 
 what wonderful similarity in tastes, too ! We sat down 
 together, to give the sun a chance ot going down a bit, 
 and began to compare notes generally. My rod was a 
 twelve foot one. The cast was heavy ; I had three flies 
 I do not know their names. They were an inch and a 
 half long, with black body and hackle, and large white 
 wings with one scarlet stripe on each wing. They looked 
 for all the world like a bit cut out of a pair of Uncle 
 Sam's breeches, and about as unlike any fly I ever saw 
 as they could be. I thought of a paper in " Anglers' 
 Evenings," where it is maintained that something in like- 
 ness to nothing ever heard of in insect life is undoubtedly 
 taken by a trout to be a spider, and I wondered what 
 a bass might take a pair of Uncle Sam's pants for. One 
 thing only I knew so far the bass had not taken them 
 for anything. 
 
 We passed some time reclining on the bank, W 
 
 taking the opportunity to relate how at each particular 
 spot where we had been casting either he or a friend had
 
 A CANADIAN EXPERIENCE. 71 
 
 landed a four-pounder, each fish possessing a special 
 history of its own, arising out of the process of landing. 
 Of course on this water he had the advantage of me. 
 He knew I had never fished there before, and I had to 
 be silent. But was I no fisherman ? Had not I fished the 
 sweet waters of the Annamoe ? Was Lough Dan not in 
 my memory ? and the Ribble with those charming pools, 
 and the tarn, too ? How about venturing just 4 Ibs. 
 with \ Ib. added, and beating the 4 Ib. bass ? While we 
 thus conversed, instructing each other, a floppy splash on 
 the other side of the river called us to our feet. Yes, it 
 was indeed a rise, and a good one. Soon the river 
 seemed alive with fish they were rising up and down 
 stream and on both sides, except at that part of the 
 river where we stood ; there they confined themselves to 
 the other side, and took care to rise only beyond the 
 reach of our casting powers. These fish are, indeed, 
 like other fish, thought I. 
 
 At last, however, one more venturesome than the 
 others rose on my left, in the shadow thrown by an old 
 broken tree hanging over the water. He was within 
 reach, and, quick as lightning, my tail-fly dropped in the 
 very centre of the circle. As the fly lighted on the 
 water it was taken a splash, a wriggle then a dart to 
 the bottom and a sulk. It took me from five to seven 
 minutes to land him, and I had caught my first small- 
 mouthed green bass. He fought well, and from beginning 
 to end behaved like a thoroughly well-educated trout. 
 He turned two Ibs. on the scale. The colour, from which 
 he derives a portion of his name, was chiefly about the
 
 72 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 gills. These were almost emerald, the mouth a light 
 whitish green, the colour shading off to a brownish green 
 about the head, the scales of the body being somewhat 
 similar in colour to the back of the brown trout, but of a 
 duller hue. The dorsal fin was like that of a perch. 
 
 Already the shadows were beginning to lengthen, but 
 sport was on, and not till I had landed eight fish did I 
 reel up, regretting that in those regions twilight was 
 so short. Our friend W had, with a true fisher- 
 man's politeness, left the work to me, contenting himself 
 with landing one for form's sake. 
 
 We now made our way back to the spot where we 
 had parted from the Colonel and George in the canoe. 
 When at last they came paddling up the river they had 
 some difficulty in finding the landing-place. 
 
 " Grey the vault, 
 
 Pure, cloudless ether ; and the star of eve 
 Was wanting ; but inferior lights appeared 
 Faintly, too faint almost for sight 
 
 ere the boat attained 
 Her mooring place." 
 
 The inferior lights, on this occasion, were lucifer matches 
 which we burned to guide our friends to shore, for it was 
 now quite dark. They had fifteen fish, one of them 25^ 
 Ibs. That one had been taken with a natural fly, caught 
 by George to see what sort of fly to put up. The Colonel 
 put it on, and, dropping it by the side of the canoe, at 
 once hooked his best fish. Taking the paddles with us 
 we now began our journey home. To make your way 
 through a Canadian bush or swamp in the heart of the 
 backwoods would be no easy task to the uninitiated,
 
 A CANADIAN EXPERIENCE. 73 
 
 even by daylight; but in darkness to which "Darkest 
 Africa " would be light, only one thoroughly accustomed 
 to the work could venture. Keeping close together in 
 Indian file we followed the lead of our trusty guide, 
 replaced the paddles in their hiding place, and emerging 
 from the bush found ourselves where we had left our 
 horses, patiently waiting. Harnessing them as best 
 we could in the dark, we proceeded slowly through 
 
 the wood, the Colonel at the reins and friend W on 
 
 foot, leading. On gaining the outskirts of the wood we 
 came to a cottage, where we made a halt. We knocked, 
 and the door was opened by a little girl. " Mrs. May, 
 are you there?" called the Colonel. "Good evening, 
 
 Mrs. May," said W , as that lady came forward. 
 
 "Oh, sir, is it you? Well now, May and I was 
 wondering who it was was up there with them horses. 
 We seed the horses, yer know, and ' May,' says I, 'who's 
 them as is gone in the bush this night? They's got lost. 
 They's lost in the swamp.' Oh, dear, and it's you ; well, 
 well!" "Yes, Mrs. May, and here we are, not lost, but 
 dry, Mrs. May, dry ! Have you got some water ? " 
 " Why, to be sure we have. Here, child, bring a glass 
 of water." A glass of water was brought ; in the mean- 
 time a flask had been unearthed, and some of the 
 contents being mixed with the water, one of us refreshed. 
 " Here, child, bring another tumbler of water," said Mrs. 
 May. At this juncture Mr. May appeared upon the 
 scene. "Good evening, Mr. May," said the Colonel from 
 his seat on the box. Mr. May could not see him, and 
 merely growled out a responsive "Good evening." " Why,
 
 74 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 you don't know me," said the Colonel, " I'm Colonel 
 
 M . We're going to have some whiskey and water ; 
 
 won't you join us, Mr. May?" "Eh?" replied Mr. May, 
 " why, yes, of course I will. Here, child, don't you hear 
 the Colonel wants more water?" By this time Mr. May 
 was alive to the situation, and, seeing he was to be a 
 participator, resolved that his share of the feast should 
 be on a liberal scale. " What are you at ? What's 
 that ?" he cried, referring to a tumbler half full of water 
 which the child had in her hand. " Bring a pail, child ; 
 bring a pail, I tell you. Don't you see they're thirsty?" 
 A pail was brought, and all, including Mr. May, having 
 satisfied themselves, we started off for Guelph, not, how- 
 ever, before Mrs. May had again and again expressed 
 her thankfulness for our escape from the dangers of the 
 swamp, and her hope for our safe arrival home "this 
 terrible night." Mr. May now led the way till we 
 reached a gate which opened on to the high road. An 
 hour's drive and we were at the Colonel's house, to be 
 
 met by Mrs. M and the faithful Jack (the dog). An 
 
 enjoyable supper, a smoke, and a chat were then the 
 preludes to sleep and dreams, in which the "small- 
 mouthed green bass " were again caught in profusion, in 
 which Mrs. May got lost in the swamp, and Mr. May 
 harnessed the Colonel to the horses, and the horses 
 
 swam the river, while George caught Mr. W with a 
 
 natural fly, and the canoe floated over the Falls before I 
 could get out of it, and woke me up with a bump as it 
 reached the rapids. Bass fishing is apt to give you 
 nightmare ; at least, that is my experience.
 
 TROUT FISHING IN OTAGO, 
 NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 BY J. O. MACKENZIE. 
 
 |[N New Zealand the first thing that strikes the 
 angler, fresh from the home lakes and rivers, is 
 the large average size of the trout. Here half 
 pounders and even pounders are of small account, and 
 although in most of the smaller streams they are 
 plentiful enough, the capture of these small game is 
 looked upon as a waste of time and trouble. My first 
 trout was caught in this wise : I was on a visit to a Mr. 
 Kitchener, brother to the Suakin commandant, who owns 
 a station ten miles up the Shag River Valley ; the 
 river just skirts his garden. Seeing signs of trout about, 
 I put up my nine-foot rod, and, hitching on a fine cast 
 and one small spider, threw into some rough water where 
 the stream cascaded into a rocky pool. The river was 
 dead low, and clear as gin ; the time three p.m. in 
 December (June at home). On my second throw I had 
 a fellow fast, and, after some minutes' play, grassed a 
 fine-conditioned trout scaling an ounce or two over two 
 pounds. As the day was bright and very hot, I was 
 content, and hied me home with my capture, which, on
 
 76 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 sight, drew from my host the remark, "Ah! a nice little 
 fish." Thought I " If this is a little one, how about 
 the big 'uns?" 
 
 We have two classes of rivers in New Zealand, rain- 
 fed and snow-fed. The former, save when in flood, run 
 clear and resemble much our Scotch and Yorkshire trout 
 streams, some flowing placidly through cultivated valleys, 
 their banks clothed with hawthorn, alder and willow, others 
 careering through rocky gorges for miles in a succession 
 of roaring torrents and deep black pools. Our snow- 
 fed rivers are altogether different; they run lowest in 
 winter, and are comparatively unaffected by rain, but come 
 down in full flood during a spell of hot weather, especially 
 one accompanied by a north-west wind. Like all glacier 
 and snow-fed streams, they are never, so to speak, clear, 
 but have always a " greenery yallery " milk-and-watery 
 tinge, and in fishing them the strength of your tackle is 
 of primary importance. They are, as a rule, dangerous to 
 fish, especially in wading, as they are full of quicksands 
 and nasty swirling eddies. The Waitaki, one of them, is 
 a most uncanny looking stream, and it is said that more 
 lives have been lost in it than in any other river of New 
 Zealand. Being glacier-fed and deep, the water is 
 deathly cold, and cramp is apt to seize the most robust 
 swimmer. This last season I paid this river three several 
 visits. On my first, in November, in an evening and 
 morning's fishing, myself and friend had eleven trout 
 which scaled an aggregate of fifty-two pounds. On a 
 second trip, in December, in one day we had seven fish, 
 the largest eight pounds, the smallest three, and then a
 
 TROUT FISHING JN OTA GO. 77 
 
 Nor- Wester brought down the river in flood. But, on 
 my last trip in March, the sport was poor, it being too 
 near the end of the season, and we did not average more 
 than two fish a day. 
 
 Minnow is the favourite lure, although at Kurow, 
 forty miles inland, I am told that fly is successfully used. 
 This river fairly teems with big trout, and it is no 
 unusual thing, under a favourable combination of weather 
 and water, to secure in an evening eight or ten, average- 
 ing from four to eight pounds each. The favourite 
 fishing ground is about two miles from the sea, at the 
 railway crossing. The bridge is a mile long, and at each 
 end is a station and a " pub," where the angler can be 
 put up very comfortably. The river runs in three or four 
 channels, which are constantly altering, and the trout are 
 found on the edge of the current, generally within a foot 
 or two of the bank. As the water is milky no great art 
 is required in rising your fish, but, once hooked, they are 
 strong and full of fight. Trout are of comparatively 
 recent introduction in this river, and it is only within the 
 last two seasons that they have come into angling 
 prominence. The supply of whitebait, our minnow, is 
 simply illimitable, so trout are bound to increase still 
 further. 
 
 Already there are stories of monsters having been 
 seen and hooked. One gentleman, a Christ Church 
 angler of seventeen years' home experience in salmon 
 fishing, reports having got into one fellow which ran out 
 1 20 yards of line, and then broke away with everything, 
 whose weight he put down as over thirty pounds. On
 
 78 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 my first visit in November the ostler at the inn told me 
 that if I would walk a mile down the river he could 
 point me out a fish over three feet long, but, added he, 
 " you can't get at him." The best fish I have killed in 
 the Waitaki was just under eight pounds ; but on my 
 second visit I certainly both saw and felt one of these 
 leviathans. He came clear out of the water, jumping 
 over my minnow, and as I struck, I hooked him in the 
 vent. My instant thought was, " By Jove, it's true about 
 these big fish ! " Unfortunately, I had no friend then 
 within hail, to lie prone and gafif, as the fish rooted about 
 the bank, and to make a long story short, I played him 
 for an hour, until at last he tore down stream right 
 through and underneath the bridge, where I could not 
 possibly follow. He ran out my eighty yards, and then 
 it was a case of hold on, but, happily, the minnow came 
 away, so I saved my line and tackle. Well, I put this 
 fish down as from fifteen to eighteen pounds, and I had 
 many a look at him, as seven or eight times he sprang 
 feet out of the water trying to rid himself of that drag at 
 his tail. Phantom and Devon minnows are chiefly used, 
 the latter, from their weight, being specially suited to the 
 strong currents on the Waitaki ; but on the clear rain- 
 fed rivers the natural bait is preferred, used on a 
 spinning flight. 
 
 Our river banks are much cumbered by the 
 P/wrmium tenax, or New Zealand flax plant, the 
 leaves and stalks of which stand up ten feet and more; 
 so that to negotiate them a longish rod is necessary. 
 I have found my American built fifteen-foot cane rod
 
 TROUT FISHING IN OTA GO. 79 
 
 the very thing for our fishing, and use it for both fly and 
 minnow. I have hardly once seen a landing-net since I 
 came to the Colony, but every angler carries the indis- 
 pensable gaff. The flies used are similar to our own, and 
 I have found my own favourite partridge-spider a very 
 sure killer. A favourite fly is body of peacock harl, 
 dressed with a light wiry and red hackle. The Shag 
 has been a famed trout stream, and was one of the first 
 rivers stocked in this province, but two consecutive 
 exceptionally dry summers, and continued " sluicing " in 
 the upper waters have quite ruined it for the present. 
 This last summer we turned in 15,000 yearlings, so hope 
 it may come again. In the tidal waters good trout are 
 still caught, but they are scarce. I got one in December 
 which scaled seven pounds, a magnificent fish ; he cut as 
 red as a salmon. Unfortunately, it is of little use trying 
 for these big fellows before dark, and night fishing 
 has never been much to my taste. The sluicing is a 
 nuisance; it causes our rivers to run thick for weeks 
 together, and must be detrimental to the trout. The 
 interior of this portion of Otago is a vast gold-field, 
 and the diggers run the streams through their cradles, 
 sending down any quantity of mud. 
 
 Trout have taken most kindly to New Zealand, and 
 are now found in almost every river in Canterbury, 
 Otago, and Southland. Sea-trout we have too, but I am 
 not sanguine as to the successful acclimatisation of salmon 
 proper ; our sea-water is, I fear, too warm for them. But 
 time will show. In some of our lakes trout grow to 
 twenty pounds, and only an expert could tell them from
 
 8o ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 salmon, their shape and colour being almost identical. 
 The scenery in this neighbourhood is very similar to 
 that of the Yorkshire Wolds and Upper Clydesdale ; 
 from the coast to thirty miles inland a bare undulating 
 country, hills grass-clad to their summits, and sheep 
 everywhere. The lark too, singing overhead, throstles 
 and blackbirds, finches and starlings, and sparrows of a 
 most impudent kind, all flourish exceedingly in this 
 new land, and are pleasant reminders of the old. Food 
 in our rivers is very abundant, and this accounts for the 
 rapid growth and great size of the trout. Whitebait, a 
 little fish, very similar in appearance to the home article, 
 begin in October to ascend our streams in myriads. They 
 penetrate for miles up country and spawn about 
 Christmas, returning to sea by the autumn floods in 
 February and March. During their stay in fresh water 
 the trout simply gorge themselves on these small fish, 
 and can hardly be induced to look at the fly; in fact, 
 owing to this, fly-fishing is best inland, well away from 
 the seaboard. As at home, I find evening the best 
 killing-time with either fly or minnow. Our summer 
 months, November, December, and January, are pretty 
 warm, and, in bright weather, the fish during the heat of 
 the day seem to bask inactive and do not start feeding 
 much before six o'clock; but the "rise" once "on" is a 
 sight to see. Our twilight is very short; unless at full 
 moon, you find yourself all in the dark within half-an- 
 hour after sunset, and the banks of our New Zealand 
 rivers are rather rough walking for night work. A box 
 of well-scoured gentles is not an unusual adjunct to
 
 TROUT FISHING IN OTAGO. Si 
 
 the Otago fly-fisher's outfit, and I am told that big 
 trout, seven and eight-pounders, who simply ignore 
 a bare fly, are frequently entrapped by the seductive 
 wrigglings of the impaled grub ; but, reader ! this 
 is hearsay. Early prejudices coming in, I have 
 not yet brought myself to try this particular bait. 
 This New Zealand has been well termed " Britain of the 
 South." There is much to remind one of the old home; 
 English trees, shrubs, fruits, and flowers in abundance, 
 and no scarcity of clouds, rain, and wind. Our Otago 
 streams have many features in their surroundings all in 
 common with Ribble and Tweed ; and could we only 
 suppress the ubiquitous flax plant, and, on yonder cliff, 
 where stands a waving cabbage-palm, conjure up the 
 orthodox ruin, ivy-clad and grey, all else is home-like 
 and suggestive of Upper Ribblesdale and the Border. 
 
 Our fishing season is from the first of October until 
 the first of April, and hereby hangs a tip. If any 
 reader has leisure, and the desire to skip an English 
 winter and enjoy a New Zealand summer, plus such 
 trout fishing as we can give, let him take the direct 
 steamer leaving Plymouth in September, which will 
 arrive here in mid-spring, spend four to five months in 
 the Island, and then, leaving in March, get back in due 
 time for the May-fly at home. This would be something 
 like an " out," and I can guarantee a good time to any 
 brother of the angle. To the minnow fisher this is a 
 paradise, indeed. The " brotherhood " here are good 
 fellows all, and would extend a warm welcome to any 
 visitor from Home. 
 
 G
 
 LOCH LEVEN. 
 
 BY THE REV. C. P. ROBERTS, M.A. 
 
 JERE I a poet; or better, perhaps, a Scotchman ; 
 or, better still, a poet and a Scotchman, I might 
 be tempted to begin with a glowing description 
 of Loch Leven, its islands, and the surrounding country ; 
 I should, doubtless, hold you spellbound whilst I 
 pathetically dwelt upon the imprisonment in the Island 
 Castle of Scotland's Queen, and painted her romantic 
 escape from its dark and gloomy dungeon. But, being 
 neither a poet nor a Scotchman, but only a common- 
 place, and withal a veracious, English, practical angler, I 
 shall confine myself to the simple story of my first 
 introduction to it. 
 
 The thoughts of a visit to Loch Leven fired me with 
 a good deal of angling enthusiasm, for had I not heard 
 of the beauty of the trout, the sport they showed, the 
 large average size to which they ran ; and, moreover, had 
 I not enviously read in the Field of the takes reported 
 as falling to the rods of anglers whose names were 
 mentioned ? Had I not heard, too, that they wanted 
 catching, and that a " duffer " was not much good in that 
 anglers' paradise ? In order, therefore, to get some little 
 acquaintance with the Loch and its peculiarities, if it
 
 LOCH LEVEN. 83 
 
 had any, I determined to spend a couple of days there 
 before the eventful Wednesday, May 23rd, 1883, on 
 which the " National Anglers' Competition " was to be 
 held. I was joined by Mr. Mackenzie at Stirling, 
 and reached Kinross at about ten o'clock in the 
 morning. Having tackled up, and duly stowed the 
 luncheon box, away I went in charge of the two boat- 
 men who were to be my first mentors in Loch Leven 
 angling, and upon whose local knowledge I was de- 
 pendent with regard to the choice of ground. That 
 Monday, alas ! was only the first of a succession of eight 
 days of bad fishing weather during my stay at the 
 Loch ; but they were not all equally bad, and this was 
 one of the least so. I found that there was not much 
 difference between fishing in Loch Leven and in other 
 lochs, except in the fish themselves when I had hooked 
 and landed them. The Loch Leven trout is very lively 
 in the water ; the silvery sides of the distinctive Loch 
 Leven species look like those of a sea trout, and the 
 symmetry of his form as he lies a deceased captive at the 
 bottom of the boat or your basket is perfect. But I 
 had only seven to feast my eyes upon as the result 
 of my first day's fishing, and my friend who joined me 
 in the middle of the day had only two. They averaged 
 about fib., and I was not discontented with my first day's 
 outing. Mr. Mackenzie got fifteen, scaling I3lb. 8oz., a 
 basket which was creditable even to his skill. 
 
 Tuesday was the gathering day of the competitors, 
 as well as a practice day for myself, on which I got six 
 fish only, the weather being again unfavourable. In the
 
 84 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 evening a meeting was held at the hotel to make the 
 necessary arrangements for the following day. The 
 chair was taken by Provost Wilson, of the West of 
 Scotland Angling Club, and Mr. Macgregor, the 
 secretary, was present, together with one or more 
 representatives of each of the seventeen clubs who sent 
 competitors. The rules, which had been printed and 
 circulated, were read, and the conditions of the contest 
 explained. Two gentlemen were chosen to measure the 
 rods in case any excess over the fifteen feet allowed was 
 suspected a not unnecessary provision, as one of the 
 competitors in 1882 had to cut off two inches from the 
 butt of his rod to bring it within the prescribed 
 limit. A gentleman, unconnected with the competition, 
 was also chosen to weigh the fish in the presence of the 
 president and members at the close of the day's work. 
 Then began the process of ballotting for boats as 
 follows : There were eighteen boats for the thirty-six 
 competitors. Into two hats were put papers containing 
 respectively the names of the competitors and the names 
 of the boats, bow and stern for each ; a ticket was 
 drawn simultaneously from each hat, and the person 
 drawn had to take his seat, to begin with, in the bow or 
 stern, as the case might be, of the boat which was 
 drawn with him. Mr. Mackenzie drew the stern of the 
 " Sir Walter Scott," having for his companion Mr. 
 Robert Gow, a representative of the Dundee Club, and 
 I drew the stern of the " Bruce," having as my com- 
 panion Provost Wilson, the genial commodore of the 
 fleet. One of the rules of the competition was that the
 
 LOCH LEV EN. 85 
 
 occupants of the boats should change from bow to stern 
 every hour, so that each might have right and left-hand 
 casting alternately. When these preliminaries had been 
 settled, and the scene of next year's competition and 
 the number of clubs which should be allowed to compete 
 had been discussed, and a committee appointed to 
 arrange these matters, the meeting broke up. 
 
 And here let me mention that the Green Hotel is the 
 head-quarters of the West of Scotland Anglers' Club, 
 which annually holds three competitions on Loch Leven, 
 the first and chief being on the Friday and Saturday 
 next after the Wednesday on which the National 
 Competition is held. This brought many members of 
 the club down to Kinross, and I think it only right that 
 I should acknowledge with gratitude the very kind 
 hospitality which the members of the club displayed 
 on the Tuesday and succeeding evenings towards the 
 representatives of the Manchester Anglers' Association. 
 They made us free of their room and free of their 
 "mountain dew"; and exhibited in full that cordial 
 welcome which anglers always extend to their brothers. 
 After spending the evening in moderate conviviality, 
 each person present retired at an hour which seemed 
 to himself a reasonable one (there was not unanimity 
 on this point ! ), all in good hopes for the morrow. 
 
 I was fishing for eight days at Loch Leven, but I 
 really think that my best sport was on this particular 
 night. I had the finest and strongest of tackle, and threw 
 the lightest of casts in the most perfect of weather. I 
 filled a basket with an aggregate which seemed bound
 
 86 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 to win the first prize, and was just ready to land a beauty 
 which would certainly have taken the premium for the 
 heaviest fish, when the sport was ended by a " tap, tap, 
 tapping at my chamber door," and I was awakened from 
 my dream to the melancholy reality of weather anything 
 but perfect, and a prospect of the fulfilment of the truth 
 of the adage that " dreams go by contraries." However, 
 I rose and made up my casts for the day's work ; then 
 joined the others at breakfast, where we made up 
 ourselves, and then off in the machine to the pier, where 
 all had to assemble by nine a.m., under pain of disquali- 
 fication. The thirty-six competitors were all up to time, 
 and the scene was one of bustling activity, with thirty-six 
 men making up their rods, and thirty-six boatmen in 
 attendance upon them, all eager for the fray. It was 
 said that the gathering was representative of the best 
 angling skill of the country ; there were some with 
 reputations already won, and others without reputation, 
 who meant to win it. All the best known Scottish loch 
 fishers were present from the West of Scotland, Kin- 
 ross-shire, Dundee, Stirling, Edinburgh, Walton and 
 Buckland, St. Mungo, Dunfermline, Clackmannanshire, 
 Glasgow Rowbank, Dundee Walton, and Perth Clubs. 
 The last-named sent as one of its representatives the 
 well-known Mr. P. D. Mallock, who carried off the first 
 prize in 1881 and 1882, and who, in the fishing tourna- 
 ment held at Hendon on June nth, 1882, won the first 
 prize in each of the 'amateur competitions with " single- 
 handed fly rod in "thro wing fly with greatest accuracy 
 under bushes," the fly-casting competition with double-
 
 LOCH LEV EN. 87 
 
 handed trout rod, and came in second to Reuben Wood, 
 the American competitor, in the contest for " amateur 
 fly-casting with single-handed trout rod " and " amateur 
 fly-casting with salmon rod." The contingent from the 
 southern side of the Cheviots included such crack 
 anglers as Dr. Brunton, from London; Mr. Norledge, 
 from Newark; and Mr. J. O. Mackenzie, from Man- 
 chester. 
 
 The wind blew stiffly from the west and south-west, 
 the very worst direction it could possibly come from for 
 good sport on Loch Leven, for, curiously enough, that 
 loch fishes best in an east wind. The temperature was 
 very low, but our spirits were high, and when the arrange- 
 ments were complete, rods and tackle adjusted, and 
 luncheon baskets stowed away, Provost Wilson gave the 
 word for " off," and the boats started for those parts 01 
 the loch which, in the judgment of the boatmen and 
 those of the competitors who had any local knowledge 
 of the ground, were deemed the best. My boat, the 
 " Bruce," was a lumbering old tub, the man-of-war of the 
 fleet in which daily raids are made with nets upon the 
 pike in the loch. My companion grumbled at the ill 
 fortune which gave us so heavy a craft, with its broad 
 beam and half-decked bow; but I blessed our fortune 
 later on in the day, for, when changing stations, I found 
 the half-deck a friendly shelter under which I sought 
 protection from the bitterly cold wind, whilst I consoled 
 myself with a pipe, and let my flies trail behind. 
 
 The nature of the day's sport will be gathered from 
 the takes of the various competitors, which I will prc-
 
 88 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 sently record. It was killing work for the fishermen, 
 not the fish to cast and cast in the half-gale which was 
 blowing ; " March Browns," " Hechams," Zulus," " teal 
 wings with green bodies," and " teal wings with red," all 
 the favourite flies, failed to lure any but the few which 
 must have escaped from whatever aquatic institution 
 answers to the terrestrial " asylum " for no sane trout 
 rose that day ! However, sane or insane, each counted 
 if you could but catch him, and if you want to catch 
 fish you must " keep your flees in the watter and leather 
 awa." So I " leathered awa," and I think I never had a 
 harder day's fishing in my life. Each boat that we came 
 near had the same tale to tell, and all exertion seemed 
 fruitless. One gentleman ought to have won a prize, if 
 get-up and exertion could win ; he wore on his hands a 
 pair of gloves minus fingers, and on his head a gear very 
 much plus ear caps ; round his neck was a substantial 
 muffler, and a diminutive body was enveloped in a good 
 deal of coat. He cast to the right of him, cast to the left 
 of him, cast to the front of him ; he fished with his arms, 
 fished with his body, flung his head after his flies, and 
 threw all his person into the effort, except his feet on 
 which he stood ; but all, alas ! of no avail. 
 
 And so the day wore on until it was time to be 
 making towards the pier in order to save disqualification 
 5-45 was the time for landing. I had six fish when we 
 quitted the bay, and my companion had four. He 
 thought my chance of a prize was good, considering the 
 weather, and it was amusing to hear his report to the 
 boats we passed "The minister's doing it !" This was
 
 LOCH LEVEN. 89 
 
 what convinced him that the minister had done it. I 
 was lying at full length in the boat, with my head and 
 shoulders under the friendly half-deck, seeking solace in 
 a weed ; my flies were trailing behind, when whiz went 
 my reel and up jumped I ! I landed the fish, which 
 scaled lib. I2oz. The Provost thought me sure of a 
 prize, and felt that he could not himself beat my aggre- 
 gate ; so, with the unselfish generosity which always 
 characterises a true sportsman, whose breast harbours 
 no feeling of jealousy, he insisted on my fishing the best 
 of the water for the remaining distance, and was more 
 keenly anxious for my success than his own sport. 
 
 It was interesting to watch the eighteen boats 
 gradually gathering towards the pier. All who had any 
 fish landed punctually, and then came the weighing. 
 Basket after basket was emptied into the scale, and all 
 displayed such an even mediocrity that speculation was 
 rife as to who would win a premium. A whisper went 
 round that one Harris would have the best creel ; and a 
 certain red-bearded boatman, who had twice to be put 
 back and told to wait his turn at the scale, at last 
 produced what seemed a " giant amongst the pigmies :" 
 seventeen fish scaling I3lb. iioz. left no doubt as to 
 the winner of the first prize, and a murmur of applause 
 went round when the weight was declared. After all 
 had finished, the Provost declared the winners. There 
 was no mention, alas ! of a Manchester representative, 
 though " the minister " had the tantalising satisfaction 
 of coming next on the list, with seven fish weighing 
 5lb. icjoz., or i^oz. behind a prize. I thought my fish
 
 90 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 of lib. 12^02. had a good chance of the premium for 
 the heaviest fish ; he was in splendid condition, and all 
 that a trout should be ; but another competitor, a 
 Scotchman, produced one with a head like a cod, and a 
 body like an eel, weighing two ounces more than mine, 
 and so all the seven prizes went to our Northern 
 brothers, who were not to be beaten that year on their 
 own ground. 
 
 The Glasgow Herald 'thus described the finish : " The 
 result tends to exemplify the proverbial uncertainty of 
 fishing ; the favourites, except Mr. Macgregor, who won 
 the third prize, were ' nowhere,' and the winner was a man, 
 a good angler and true, who had no repute beyond his own 
 club ; but the boatmen who were with him said that they 
 had never seen a better angler, and that when a fish rose 
 the steel was in htm to a certainty. And there never was a 
 competition in which skill was more heavily handicapped, 
 and in which the luck of coming across fish which were 
 unfishlike enough to rise determined the issue. It is 
 curious to notice that the winner's companion in the boat 
 only got four fish weighing 3lb. 302., against seventeen 
 weighing I3lb. n|oz." 
 
 All things come to an end, and this came to a good 
 end at the hotel. Those competitors who were staying 
 at " The Green," and some few who joined them for 
 dinner, did ample justice to a well served repast, and 
 cordially toasted the hero of the day, who, though unable 
 to be present himself, had not forgotten to commission a 
 friend to provide champagne for the consolation of his 
 beaten but appreciative and friendly foes.
 
 A MEMORY OF LOCH TAY. 
 
 BY C. H. NEVILL. 
 
 CRAPE, scrape, scrape, 
 
 O'er thy cold false waves, O Tay, 
 And I would not my tongue should utter 
 The thoughts that arise to-day. 
 
 Oh, sad for the Gillie who shouts 
 " Tis a fish," when 'tis only a rock ; 
 
 Oh, sad for the frozen man, 
 
 Who sits in his boat on the loch. 
 
 And the weary ones row home 
 
 To the landing under the hill ; 
 But oh, for the rush of a goodly " fushe," 
 
 And the sound of a reel that is still. 
 
 Scrape, scrape, scrape 
 
 By thy desolate shores, O Tay ; 
 The tender dream of my vanished youth 
 
 Has come, and has passed away.
 
 IN FAR LOCHABER. 
 
 BY P. H. MULES, M.D. 
 
 jN August evening, in 1886, found one whom we 
 will call the " Doctor " in anxious consultation 
 with Donald Cameron over the relative merits 
 of " scarlet bodies " versus " yellow bodies," " mallard 
 wings" versus "teal wings," and "fly" versus what 
 Donald would call the "worrum." For had it not been 
 pouring all day, and was not the river certain to come 
 down a full water ? And with a full water coming 
 down, salmon would be going up, and this opened 
 possibilities for the morrow, gladdening the heart of 
 the angler who had come three hundred miles in the 
 hope of such a favourable opportunity. 
 
 "Ye maun try the worrum," said Donald impressively 
 for the ninth time. Now, if a worm be permitted 
 under certain exceptional circumstances to turn, how 
 much more may a human being revolt at the idea of 
 such enormities ! Donald's suggestion was met with a 
 scorn which should have withered him, and he subsided 
 for the moment, as the door opened to admit a stout 
 weather-beaten man who, shaking the raindrops from his 
 plaid, enquired in the cheeriest of voices, " Weel, 
 Toctor, an hoo are ye the nicht ? Ye'll be trying for a
 
 IN FAR LOCHABER 93 
 
 fush the morn." " Ah, ha ! McKenzie, and how are you ? 
 You're just in time," said the Doctor. And replying to 
 the persuasive eloquence of the hostess with " just a wee 
 drappie, Mrs- Gow, an here's t' ye all," McKenzie tossed 
 off his nip and settled himself to decide the respective 
 merits of the rival flies. Scarlet body and gold twist 
 had it, with yellow body and teal for contingencies. So 
 a solemn content reigned over the whole party, broken 
 only by the ghoul Donald, who, in the pawkiest manner, 
 enquired 
 
 " Wad ye no thenk the worrum the recht thing, 
 Maister McKenzie ? " 
 
 With " Half-past six and raining fine !" a voice the 
 following morning roused the Doctor. A glance at his 
 watch assured the astonished man that the night had 
 actually passed, Raining it was, and although the 
 addition "fine" might be a contradiction in terms, the 
 meaning was fully understood. "When it rains in 
 Lochaber, it does rain," said a witty old Scotch divine. 
 " This is only a wee saft ; we ca' it rain when ilka' 
 drap just fills a toddy glass." Four other anglers, as 
 enthusiastic as themselves, had preceded Donald and 
 the Doctor on their six miles' drive to the river. There 
 were lovely glimpses as the rain ceased from time to 
 time and the clouds lifted; a winding road following 
 the Loch-side and turning almost impossible corners, 
 twisting up steeps and down pitches at an angle, on the 
 average, of 45 ; in the distance, stretching cloudwards, 
 the rugged snow-capped crest of grim Ben Nevis ; whilst 
 from every jutting rock and craggy knoll leapt miniature
 
 94 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 waterfalls, streaking the hill sides with silver and 
 transforming the wimpling burns into sturdy little rivers, 
 tearing their busy way onwards to the sea with a " Who 
 shall say us nay?" brief assumption of importance. 
 Passing the little store and the Highland smithy round 
 which, even yet, float phantom shapes wielding targe 
 and claymore, whilst the anvil's ring conjures up the din 
 of arms and the shrill notes of the pibroch we meet 
 the moist breezes laden with peaty scents and heavy 
 with the balmy odours of bog myrtle, whilst patches of 
 purple heather and waving fern-fronds stretch up the 
 glens and brae-side, giving touches of colour to the 
 landscape. Then the track winds past the old kirkyard 
 and the tiny kirk, about whose moss-grown walls 
 still lingers the halo of old-world " meenisters " whose 
 sayings and doings, delightful in their quaint wit and 
 simplicity, form a literature of their own. The old 
 divines have passed away; their sayings, at least the 
 witty ones, remain, and so do the grey weather-beaten 
 stones, rich with many coloured lichens fit memorials of 
 the past. Still we skirt the loch, ever and anon passing 
 clumps of birches with silver stems and pendant graceful 
 foliage, like leafy fountains. Then, as the mist lifts sea- 
 wards, a grey motionless object seen standing in the 
 water suddenly awakens to life, and with a heavy flap, 
 flap, a solitary heron sails ghostlike away, only to settle 
 two or three hundred yards further on; whilst the 
 whistling whaup, the most wide-awake of birds, leaves the 
 rocky shore, and uttering its railing cry swiftly skims 
 the tossing water. A nudge from the driver, and a finger
 
 IN FAR LOCHABER. 95 
 
 pointing far across the current, rivets the attention of 
 both to a round black object running up with the tide 
 like the head of a powerful swimmer. "Seal?" says 
 the Doctor enquiringly. " Ay," replies his companion. 
 "Three hundred yards?" is the next query. "Just 
 about," is the laconic response, whilst such is the 
 absorbing nature of sport that the thoughts of both 
 regretfully revert to the rifle hanging up at home. A 
 further space is traversed along the winding road whose 
 beauties, ever fresh, can scarce be hidden by the rain- 
 storms which come sweeping adown the glens, clouding 
 the distant hills and making them a fitting habitation 
 for the "children of the mist." But what care our 
 anglers? For if a southerly wind and a cloudy sky 
 proclaim a hunting morning, a westerly breeze and a 
 falling rain are prophetic of a full river. 
 
 Round another corner, and there on the " lip, lip," ol 
 the tide, swaggering about with inimitable impudence, 
 are a pair of hoodie crows, their wise heads twisting 
 this way and that, and their sharp eyes watching for 
 unconsidered trifles brought on shore. For genuine 
 impudence commend me to these birds. In a way 
 they are valuable scavengers, and if only their talents 
 were confined to this department, they would be useful 
 adjuncts to Highland sanitation ; but all is fish that 
 comes to their net, and they welcome a healthy change 
 of diet with the springtime. For be it young lamb, 
 grouse-eggs, or young grouse, all is taken with equal 
 alacrity into the omnivorous maw of Master Hoodie 
 Crow. Then their ingenuity in robbing the grouse-
 
 96 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 nests is almost human in conception and execution. 
 Two hoodies agree to go egg-hunting; let us go with 
 them, and turn bird-language into Lochaber Saxon. 
 An exemplary mother grouse is sitting on her nest, 
 when to her advances hoodie No. I, the spokesman. 
 " Hoo's a' wi' ye the day, mem ?" says he in the most 
 suave of tones. " An' hoo's yersel, honest mon ?" replies 
 she, not to be outdone in politeness ; for, being doubtful 
 of her visitors, she is anxious to propitiate and not give 
 offence. "The gudeman's no at home the day?" 
 says he enquiringly ; for he knows the cock-grouse 
 will show fight. " He's awa' jest the noo," says she. 
 All this time the second crow has been working 
 round to the rear, and at a wink from No. I, he gives 
 the lady a violent peck behind. Twisting rapidly 
 round to repel this unmannerly advance, the indignant 
 matron exposes for a brief moment some of her 
 valued charges; and a second later an egg is pierced, 
 and the two hoodie crows, with fiendish chuckles, are 
 sailing to the nearest knoll to consume their ill-gotten 
 gains. 
 
 But now the anglers near their destination, and, as a 
 distant rushing, booming sound catches on their listening 
 ears, Donald's eyes glisten, and he says exultingly, 
 "The fush will just be runnin' grand." "Eh! mon!" 
 says he again, as a moment later the never-to-be- 
 forgotten sight of a Highland torrent in full spate 
 bursts upon their delighted eyes, " she's waxed varra 
 big; ye'll just try the worrum." Ten minutes later, 
 by practised fingers, the scarlet body and gold twist
 
 IN FAR LOCHABER. 97 
 
 was being knotted to the cast, whilst Donald, with a 
 weapon of home manufacture, yet serviceable withal, 
 prepared for a campaign with the worm. 
 
 The river rises in the deer forest of Scarva, high 
 among the hills whose sombre shadows tell of sheltering 
 corries and mountain fastnesses, the home of the fox, 
 the raven, and the stag; and running a short length 
 with a rapid descent, empties itself into the sea half a 
 mile from the first pool. The watershed is extensive, 
 but the descent so quick that the stream is at its best 
 during, or immediately after, a heavy rain ; then it is in 
 perfection a series of fine falls, with swirling foam-flecked 
 currents twisting the peat-stained water this way and 
 that into a thousand fantastic shapes, and merging into 
 inky-black pools of apparently bottomless depths, where 
 the water-kelpies hide, and the cunning old salmon 
 who has gauged all the resources of the angler's art 
 rests on his upward way ; these, again, give place to 
 rapids, through which the foaming waters boil and surge 
 amongst huge water-grooved rocks, to fall by another 
 cascade, partly veiled by steamy spray, into a sullen 
 rock-girt basin at its foot. The first pool yielded 
 nothing, for although it teemed with fish it was difficult 
 to work from the side on which they were. The second 
 venture was made at the junction of the Scairg with their 
 own stream. There a misguided trout of goodly appearance 
 rose at the fly, and was incontinently tossed on to the 
 bank for his pains. " Noo thin, Toctor," said Donald, 
 " bide a wee till I get me by yon rock, and then feesh 
 doon the pool again." A few casts over the rougher 
 
 H
 
 98 ANGLERS 1 EVENINGS. 
 
 water, and, as the fly hung for a moment in midstream, 
 there came a pull, and the angler was fast in a fish 
 which, fairly hooked, had little chance of escape. The 
 pool was deep, the way was clear ; and in five minutes, 
 at the foot of a coral-clustered rowan, Donald lifted a 
 nice grilse of 4 Ibs. on to the dewy grass. 
 
 But, somehow, after this the fish rose badly. The rain 
 ceased, and the river fell quickly; the likeliest pools were 
 drawn blank, and the fishers met their disconsolate 
 fellow-anglers wending their homeward way with long 
 faces, dry flasks, and empty creels. Even Donald failed 
 to draw a prize from the bosom of the deep, nor could 
 sarcasm of the most biting kind shake his belief in the 
 virtues of his bait. " Dinna fash yersel," said he, " gin 
 they feed at a' they'll tak' worrum, an' I'll set me doon a 
 wee." So down he sat, like a scart on a rock, to dangle 
 his worm again in the rushing water. The Doctor 
 travelled onwards, till a noble pool stretched before him ; 
 a perfect salmon cast, with a grand rush of water at the 
 head and falls at the foot, spanning which and pointing 
 far up the hillside to the lonely cot of a mountain shep- 
 herd was a primitive wooden bridge, rocking and 
 tumbling with the fierce blows of the tumbling water. 
 Carefully fishing down the pool, a sudden plunge came, 
 and again was the angler fast in a fish. Twenty 
 yards of line in half the number of seconds whizzed 
 through the rings ; then with a mad upward rush an 
 81b. grilse, fresh from the sea, threw himself, a glittering 
 mass of burnished silver, three feet into the air, to fall 
 with a sullen plunge just over the casting line.
 
 IN FAR LOCHABER. 99 
 
 Here was the danger ; the water was very heavy, 
 and the fish travelled down at an alarming rate. With 
 care the first pool might be negotiated, perhaps the 
 second ; but here all chance of a kill ended, for below 
 the third pool was a broken water full of rocks, through 
 which no fish could be piloted. Where ! oh, where ! 
 was Donald with the gaff? A despairing look was 
 cast around, when, to the angler's relief, a shepherd 
 with an eye to sport plunged down the hill-side through 
 the purple heather, scattering his fleecy charges and 
 startling a solitary grouse, which winged rapidly away 
 with its accustomed " kock, kock." A frantic waving 
 hurried him on, a few words sufficed to explain the 
 difficulty, and at full speed he set off for Donald, as the 
 fish passed over the first fall, to lie for a moment in the 
 second pool. Still he bore down, taking all the angler's 
 skill, as rush after rush hurried him further and further 
 into the strong water. With every care he was guided 
 over the second fall and dropped into the last pool 
 where he could be killed. A shout and just as all hope 
 had departed and the fish was making straight for the 
 rapids, out of which no human skill could have turned 
 him, Donald, breathless with haste and eagerness, 
 bursts into view, the shepherd close at his heels. 
 There is one chance left a deep at the head of the 
 broken water. All the strain the rod can bear is 
 brought on the fish; it slowly swings for a moment 
 within reach of the gaff; its silver side is pierced, and 
 with a whoop from the shepherd, who tosses his blue 
 bonnet high into the air, far on to the heathery bank
 
 ioo ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 flies the coveted prize. Just then the sun burst forth, 
 bathing the glorious hill tops in a flood of golden light, 
 and spreading a royal mantle over the purple moor- 
 land. Even hoary Glencoe, the grim witness of the 
 most ruthless of massacres, looked less forbidding as 
 he reared aloft his triple crowns ; and with minds at 
 peace with all mankind, the Doctor, Donald and the 
 shepherd pledged one another in a bumper of 
 " mountain dew," and drank success to salmon fishing.
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 
 
 BY REV. J. M. ELVY, M.A., MINOR CANON OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 fiY two visits to Braemar were made at the same 
 time of year under diametrically opposite 
 climatic conditions, the former being a cold 
 and backward summer with scarcely a fine day, the latter 
 dry and hot : the one pleasanter for excursions, the 
 other more favourable for fishing. Braemar can be 
 reached in three ways : by train from Aberdeen to 
 Ballater, and thence by coach or carriage, a distance of 
 eighteen miles; by coach from Dunkeld via the Spital 
 of Glenshee, forty miles; and from Blair Athol on the 
 Highland railway via Glen Tilt. The last can only be 
 taken by hardy pedestrians without heavy luggage. I 
 took the first. A coach runs daily between Ballater 
 and Braemar in the season, and twice a day during the 
 height of the season, July, August and September. The 
 road follows the right bank of the Dee, amid scenery 
 of the grandest description. Pine forests mingle their 
 sombre foliage with light graceful silver birches. On the 
 left you have Lochnagar before you the whole way, and 
 in front from time to time you come in sight of Ben 
 MacDhui, with other giants of the Grampian range. 
 In June these mountains are still capped with snow,
 
 102 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 which remains in the gullies even well on in July. 
 About six miles on you pass Abergeldie on the opposite 
 side of the river, and three miles further on come 
 to Crathie and Balmoral. Here, if you are so disposed, 
 you can pay a pilgrimage to the tomb of John Brown, 
 which, I am told, attracts more visitors than the more 
 exalted monuments. There is a good view of Balmoral 
 from the road, and when the Queen is absent you can, 
 with an order, go over the castle itself. The grounds are 
 left very much in a wild state, which harmonises well 
 with the surroundings, and shows the good taste of the 
 Royal resident. The house is about equal to that of a 
 second-rate nobleman in England. There is a noble 
 hall, ornamented with heads of stags shot by the late 
 Prince Consort, with date of slaughter and weight 
 below. The carpets and curtains of many of the rooms 
 are of tartan plaid. These are my only recollections of 
 this favourite Royal residence, beyond the splendid hills 
 and forests in the background crowned in many places 
 with monuments commemorating interesting events in 
 the history of the Royal family and the rushing river 
 in front. 
 
 About five miles from Balmoral the road crosses to 
 the left bank of the river, and shortly afterwards you 
 come in sight of Invercauld House, the seat of the 
 Farquharsons, who share with the Earls of. Fife almost 
 the whole of this splendid region. This is a finer 
 mansion, and in a far grander situation than Balmoral. 
 The late owner, Colonel Farquharson, occupied it very 
 little, being fonder of the opera and the gaieties of
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 103 
 
 London than of salmon fishing and deer stalking. He 
 went by the name of Piccadilly Jim, and among the 
 most successful caricature portraits which have appeared 
 in Punch was one of him dressed in full tartan, with his 
 opera hat in his hand, standing amid the lamps of 
 Piccadilly. After passing Invercauld you come to 
 Braemar Castle, which stands at the junction of the 
 Clunie with the Dee. This is a fortress of some antiquity 
 and considerable strength, and remains much in its 
 pristine condition. Its last military occupation was by 
 a company of soldiers who were quartered there some 
 hundred years ago to prevent smuggling, then common 
 in the Highlands ; its sole occupant now is old Angus, 
 a pensioner of the Farquharsons, who knows every inch 
 of the river, and every fish in it and how to get them 
 out, and is always ready to impart his knowledge to 
 those privileged to fish ; a dear old fellow, who, I hope, 
 is still in the land of the living, notwithstanding that he 
 lived, all alone, winter and summer, in that dreary old 
 castle. 
 
 Braemar is a straggling place, not beautiful in itself 
 no Scotch village towns are but pleasantly situated on 
 elevated ground with the Clunie rushing through it. 
 There are two hotels there, the Invercauld and Fife 
 Arms, which now carry on, though in a commercial 
 spirit, the former rivalry of the two clans. These are 
 often filled to overflowing in the season, guests being 
 put up on chairs and sofas and the billiard table, as none 
 can be sent away. There are plenty of lodging-houses. 
 The usual plan is to take a house, from which the owners
 
 104 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 retire into a shanty at the back. I hired one for .3 per 
 week ; not dear, as it accommodated all my family and 
 servants. At the height of the season, however, it would 
 let for ^5 or 6. My advice is, don't go there in the 
 season ; go in May or June the fishing is better then, 
 the scenery fresher, and you get better accommodation. 
 There are in Braemar Established and Free Kirks, a larger 
 Roman Catholic Chapel, and the English Church, which 
 is a very pretty building constructed of pine wood from 
 the neighbouring forests. These Christian bodies, I am 
 happy to say, live together in the greatest brotherly 
 concord. 
 
 Now for the fishing. Not an inch of the Dee above 
 Ballater is free for salmon fishing. The Invercauld 
 water lets for some 300 for the season. The Invercauld 
 Arms has a short length with two good pools in it, free 
 to those staying in the house. 
 
 The Fife Arms has a capital length extending to the 
 Linn of Dee, some six miles, which is let by the rod up 
 to the end of May, and is free in June and afterwards 
 to those staying in the house. Below Invercauld House 
 the Queen comes in, and none but highly privileged 
 persons can set their feet there. Above the Linn the 
 fishing is in private hands, but I believe that permission 
 for a day or two is not hard to get. The fish, how- 
 ever, do not go above the Linn till the end of May. 
 Nor is trout fishing free, all the water being in the hands 
 of the inns or of those who hire the shootings and 
 fishings ; but as trout fishing is not much accounted of, 
 permission is easily got if sought in the right way.
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 105 
 
 My position as Chaplain of the English Church obtained 
 me special privileges. Mr. Foggo, the factor for the 
 Invercauld property, takes great interest in the Church, 
 and at once gave me permission for trout fishing on all 
 the water on the property, which includes all the best; 
 and the landlords of the two hotels soon gave me leave 
 for salmon on their lengths. 
 
 At first I confined myself to trout fishing. The 
 Clunie, which is about the size of the Ribble at Horton, 
 but more rapid and rocky, is the best trout stream. You 
 should walk up it about two or three miles, and then 
 fish up and down. There are plenty of fish, and you can 
 mostly get a capital basket averaging three to the pound. 
 The largest I caught there was fib. They are not 
 particular as to flies, but hackles do best. A few sea 
 trout and grilse come up, and some salmon. The last 
 are rarely caught there with fly. I got one on a March 
 Brown when fishing for trout, and had it on some time. 
 I should probably have killed it if it had kept to the 
 pool, but after a time it took to the rough water below, 
 where I could not follow it, and I lost it. I landed one 
 with a worm of about 7lbs. The drawback to the 
 Clunie is the multitudes of salmon parr, which, when the 
 water is low, lie all over the stream and seize the fly as 
 soon as it lights, and scare the trout away by their 
 struggles. 
 
 By taking the coach for about nine miles, you 
 reach the upper water of the Clunie, where large 
 baskets of small trout can be taken after rain. The 
 tributaries of the Clunie are the Callater and Haddock
 
 106 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 burn. The former flows out of the loch of the same 
 name, and after a course of some four miles empties 
 itself into the Clunie, two miles from Braemar. It is a 
 rocky stream with dark peaty water, and is good for trout 
 with fly or worm and with a worm there is a good 
 chance of a salmon. You can go to and return 
 from the Baddock burn by coach; distance six miles. 
 You should walk up it about a mile, when you come to 
 rocky pools and streams. Here, under favourable cir- 
 cumstances, you can take large quantities, but they will 
 not average a quarter of a pound. Loch Callater, five 
 miles from Braemar, is a fine sheet of water, amid grand 
 scenery. Pike were introduced into it some years ago, 
 and it is now useless for trout There are many salmon 
 in it, which I am told cannot be taken by fly or minnow. 
 The shooting tenant nets it from time to time, when 
 considerable numbers are taken. The stream before it 
 enters the loch is good for trout. From here is the best 
 place to make the ascent of Lochnagar. 
 
 A small mountain loch near is well worth a visit. 
 You turn off to the left from the river Callater about four 
 miles from Braemar, and come to it by following a 
 stream, after a stiff pull of two miles. There you are in 
 the midst of the wildest scenery, sacred to grouse and 
 red deer. It is no use going there unless there is a stiff 
 breeze from the west, the only wind which gets on 
 the loch. It is about twice the size of Horton Tarn. 
 I went twice, the first time catching fifteen averaging 
 half a pound, the latter five rather heavier ; but more and 
 larger may often be caught. The fish are fatter and
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 107 
 
 gamer than any I ever handled. I can find no mention 
 of this loch in any book. To my south-country ears the 
 name sounded like Vatrich, which is, I believe, the Gaelic 
 for Patrick, though what the patron saint of Ireland can 
 have had to do with it I do not know. There is a loch 
 near the top of the Glenshee pass in which fish of one, 
 two, and three pounds may be taken. The fish, how- 
 ever, are shy. The best plan, I was told, at midsummer, 
 is to go in the evening, fish till dark, wait during the 
 hour or so of darkness, and fish again as soon as light. 
 But as the region is of the wildest, and I had no 
 companion, I did not relish the expedition. 
 
 The Dee does not rank high as a trouting river, 
 but I have seen it alive with rising fish. During my 
 second stay, when other streams were too low, I used 
 to go to it, starting about 9 p.m., and fishing till 
 11-30 (up to which time, at midsummer, you can see 
 to fish), and in certain parts took some very good 
 fish ; but it is well worth a visit at other times 
 when one is not occupied with larger game. A good 
 excursion from Braemar is to the Derry, a shooting 
 lodge of Lord Fife's. You turn off the Dee at the Linn, 
 and go up Glen Lui and Glen Derry. There is a fall on 
 the Lui which prevents the salmon going up. The Lui 
 itself has a bright white sandy bottom and the clearest 
 water, and I should think that a trout could see you a 
 hundred yards off. The Derry, which runs into it, has 
 deeper pools and darker water, and is a capital brook for 
 trout when there is sufficient water. I went up with a 
 party, and, during my stay there to rest the horses,
 
 io8 . ANGLERS 1 EVENINGS. 
 
 caught about forty, one large enough to break me, which 
 I caught as I returned, with the old fly still in its mouth. 
 
 This is the best place from which to make the ascent of 
 Ben MacDhui, the second highest mountain in Scotland. 
 From this point you can go on to the Tarfe, but it is a 
 fatiguing excursion and somewhat dangerous if you 
 should lose your way or get caught by bad weather. 
 There are other tributaries of the Dee good for fishing, 
 the Ey, Quoich, and Garrawalt ; but I did not try them. 
 
 Now, as to salmon fishing, my first experience was 
 on Sir W. C. Brooks's length at Glen Tanner, below 
 Ballater. Before leaving Manchester I wrote to Sir 
 William, who in response most generously gave me 
 permission to fish there as often as I liked, telling me 
 that if I wrote to the gun room a fisherman should wait 
 upon me and show me the best pools for the day, and 
 that I might have for myself the best fish I could catch 
 each visit This permission he renewed to me when I went 
 again to Braemar. The offer was too good to be neglected, 
 so one day I took the coach to Ballater, stayed the night 
 at the Invercauld Arms there, and went by train in the 
 morning to Dennis, where I found the fisherman in 
 readiness. I must confess to my brothers of the angle 
 that I surveyed this functionary with some awe. He 
 was a stalwart businesslike fellow of somewhat stern 
 countenance, and appeared to be master of all that can be 
 known in salmon fishing. I, a complete novice, was 
 about to perform in his presence. I debated with my- 
 self what I had better do, and as I reflected that he would 
 soon find me out for himself, I thought the best course
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 109 
 
 would be to confess my ignorance beforehand. So I 
 unbosomed myself to him, and, though I evidently went 
 down somewhat in his estimation, he very kindly con- 
 sented to take me to the side of the river where the 
 easiest casts could be made. I felt clumsy at first with my 
 1 6-foot rod, and even with considerable exertion could 
 not get out much line. But I soon improved under his 
 instruction, and in about the third pool got into a salmon 
 which, after some fight, was gaffed and safely landed. 
 My first salmon you can easily understand my feelings. 
 I drank its health, and I did not forget to invite 
 the keeper to do so too. It was but a poor fish, 
 between five and six pounds, but I was proud of it. 
 I did not catch another fish that day. A keeper was 
 fishing on the other side, and I was surprised at the 
 marvellous line he got out. While I with difficulty 
 covered about one-third of the river, he with apparent 
 ease threw right across. He did not throw a clean line, 
 but bellied the water and then whipped over. This 
 did not, however, matter in rough water like the Dee. 
 My friend told me that he was considered the best 
 fisherman on the Dee, which is saying a good deal. 
 While I watched him, he hooked and landed a splendid 
 new run fish which weighed I4lbs. 
 
 Sir W. C. Brooks has about six miles of the Dee at 
 Glen Tanner on both sides. It is a splendid length, 
 full of grand pools. He had also then the Aboyne 
 water lower down. 
 
 On my second visit I trespassed on his kindness 
 twice, and caught one fish each time, one of which
 
 I io ANGLERS 1 EVENINGS. 
 
 weighed I3^1bs., the largest salmon I have caught. The 
 Dee spring salmon do not average more than eight 
 pounds. Lower down," heavy fish are caught in the 
 autumn. On this visit I had what I consider a perfect 
 gillie. His taciturnity was remarkable even for a 
 Scotchman. When we got to a pool he showed me 
 where to begin and end, and where the fish were most 
 likely to lie, and then went and sat down, not rising 
 even when I hooked a fish until it gave signs of 
 exhaustion, but then he was on the spot, and did his 
 business manfully. 
 
 The Invercauld Arms at Ballater, a comfortable 
 and reasonable inn, has a splendid length of water, 
 extending from two miles above Ballater nearly to 
 Balmoral on the right bank, and marching with the 
 Queen's and the Prince of Wales's fishing. It is let by 
 the rod, fetching, in the best months, April and May, as 
 much as 30 a month per rod. To this must be added 
 the expense of a carriage. It is divided into three beats, 
 which are taken in turns. In June the terms are lower, 
 and you can go and return by the coach. In this month 
 the fishing is often very good, and I_do not know where 
 fishing so good can be got on more reasonable terms. 
 In July it is free to those staying in the hotel, but the 
 fishing is not then usually of much count. In April and 
 May the sport is often splendid, and I was told on good 
 authority that two gentlemen the year I was there got 
 250 salmon in the month. They were crack hands, and 
 took nearly all with minnow. I may here mention a 
 circumstance that amused me. While I was at Ballater
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. in 
 
 the train which was to convey the Royal party was 
 waiting at the station, and I, with others, went to see the 
 carriages. An old domestic showed us over, pointed out 
 the Queen's bed, and then turning to another he said, 
 " and this is Beatrice's bed." I thought it illustrated the 
 affectionate simplicity with which the Royal family are 
 regarded by their servants. 
 
 We now return to Braemar. I tried the hotel waters 
 once or twice for salmon, but without success. There 
 are, however, plenty of salmon in the upper part towards 
 the Linn, where they go with the intention of pushing up 
 when the water is in suitable volume. The Linn is a 
 chasm where the whole water of the Dee rushes through, 
 contracted within the breadth of some six feet a kind 
 of extended Strid ; a series of round swirling holes and 
 rushing passages. In the pool at the bottom, and in 
 these holes, you can see the salmon lying in hundreds, 
 waiting to go up. How they accomplish the feat is a 
 puzzle, for at the top is a fall of some feet. It is said 
 that the fish never take bait while lying there, but they 
 are nevertheless caught in a most unsportsmanlike 
 manner, by means of a snap-hook and strong tackle. 
 This, of course, is done by stealth, but, that it is 
 attempted, proof positive was afforded some time ago. 
 In very low water a log of wood was taken out with 
 hooks enough in it to have set up a fish-tackle shop. 
 
 I received from Mr. Foggo one day a letter which 
 cheered my heart. It was to the effect that the let of the 
 Invercauld water was up at the end of June ; that I was 
 at liberty to go on it for the rest of my stay, and that if
 
 112 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 I went to old Angus he would doubtless go with me, 
 and would show me how to get them out if anyone 
 could. You may be sure that I did not neglect this 
 opportunity, for this length is undoubtedly the best on 
 the Dee. It extends to Invercauld Bridge, about three 
 miles. The last mile, however, is the really good water ; 
 it is all salmon pools ; you are no sooner out of one 
 than you are into another. It is always full of fish, 
 which rest there on their way from the rough water 
 below before they make for the Linn. The whole of it 
 can be fished, too, without wading. I had nine days' 
 fishing there before I left, and during that time caught 
 twelve fish. I had one or two blank days, several days 
 I caught two, and the last morning, fishing from eleven 
 to two, I caught three. At this time of the year this was 
 splendid sport. I took Angus with me the first day, 
 and he put me up to all the good places. But after 
 that I went alone, and gaffed all my own fish. I hate 
 to have a man dangling at my heels. The fish are 
 rather a serious burden, but if you are overweighted you 
 can take the coach which passes over Invercauld Bridge. 
 I wish those times would come again. On my second 
 visit I could not get on this water, as the let was 
 extended to the end of July. 
 
 With respect to tackle, a 1 6- foot rod is quite large 
 enough, at anyrate for summer fishing. The best flies 
 are Jock Scott, Butcher, Popham, Durham Ranger, black 
 and silver Doctors, and Blue Jay. A large March Brown 
 is said to be good, but I never did anything with it. 
 Most of mine were caught with Jock Scott, which I varied
 
 FISHING ABOUT BRAEMAR. 113 
 
 in size according to the state of the water and the 
 character of the stream which I was fishing. There is 
 a fly used early in the spring called the Yellow Eagle, 
 which is good in heavy water and towards evening. For 
 summer fishing the great thing is to have small flies. 
 The prawn is a deadly bait early in the season. Old 
 Angus told me that it was introduced there by one of the 
 gentlemen of the Queen's household. He met him and 
 told him that he might as well throw his hat in, but 
 changed his mind before the gentleman had done, for 
 though a very poor fisherman he landed eight fish. 
 John Brown is said to have killed eighteen in one after- 
 noon with it. I never used it, for I had none, and if I 
 had I don't think I should have tried it, for it seems to 
 me unsportsmanlike to employ such a slaughtering bait 
 in a splendid river like the Dee.
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 
 
 BY J. A. H. 
 
 JHOSE anglers who prefer small takes of good 
 fish to larger numbers of smaller ones can 
 hardly do better than turn their steps to 
 Derbyshire. Big catches are not to be expected ; one 
 must content oneself with two or three brace of fish 
 averaging from Jib. to lib ; though on a good day one 
 ought to get five or six brace, and baskets of ten 
 brace or more are not unheard of. A further charm lies 
 in the fact that the inhabitants of the Derbyshire streams 
 are not to be caught by anyone and everyone. Here 
 are trout and grayling of education and refinement ; and 
 the smallest and neatest of flies, the most delicate gut, 
 and absolute accuracy of casting are necessary, except 
 on those rare occasions when the fish will rise at 
 anything. 
 
 It may be prejudice on my part, but I would sooner 
 catch a brace of fish on the Wye or the Dove than a 
 dozen on some loch in the wilds of Sutherland, where the 
 veriest duffer has nearly as good a chance as the most 
 skilful. It was on the Wye that I first threw a trout 
 fly, and learnt the intricacies of " fine and far off " ; a 
 liberal education, though it was long before I ventured
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 115 
 
 to call myself a fisherman. And there is this advantage 
 in Derbyshire fishing that if the fish are doing 
 badly, there is lovely scenery to rest one's mind, wearied 
 with the cares of life; the streams, too, are full of 
 insect and animal life, in which one can always find 
 interest to wile away the time. On a good day the fish 
 should average about fib. with a few pounders thrown in 
 at Bakewell the limit is 10 inches and here and there 
 you come across monsters. I never killed anything 
 over i|lbs. myself, but I saw one of 3lbs. taken with a 
 fly, and I knew of one trout in a mill reservoir which we 
 guessed to be between 61b, and 81b. Needless to say, 
 we fished for him many a time, but in vain, although, as 
 a last resort, we descended to night-lines and trimmers. 
 In Dovedale there are grayling of 2lbs. and 3lbs. weight, 
 and I saw one at Ashbourne, evidently poached, weigh- 
 ing 4Jlbs. The largest trout I ever saw weighed 3f Ibs., 
 taken in the Birdsgrove Club water, on the Dove, with 
 a worm. At Bakewell there are legends innumerable 
 of monster trout being choked by puppies, kittens, etc., 
 but if one is to enter into legends there will be no ending. 
 There are three principal rivers, the Derwent, the 
 Wye, and the Dove ; the two latter run almost entirely 
 through limestone, which accounts for the clearness of 
 their waters and the quantity of weed and natural food, 
 with the result of plenty of large and well-fed fish. The 
 upper waters of the Derwent drain from the moors 
 between Sheffield, Glossop, and Hayfield, but the lower 
 reaches run through the limestone district, and con- 
 sequently it is not until we get down to Baslow that we
 
 ii6 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 find such good fish as in the Wye and Dove. For the 
 upper reaches there are no better quarters than the 
 Ashopton Inn, about ten miles' drive from either Sheffield 
 or Glossop; and here, by paying three shillings a day, 
 one can fish about ten miles of water the Upper 
 Derweut, the Ashop, and the main stream after they 
 join together. It is very pretty water and full of fish. 
 There is also accommodation at the Snake Inn, on 
 the Ashop, between Ashopton and Glossop, right away 
 up on the moors. 
 
 If we follow the river down from Ashopton we come 
 to Bamford, where the little river Noe, which runs from 
 Castleton and Hope, joins the Derwent. This stream is 
 full of small trout, but is in private hands. Here the 
 character of the Derwent changes entirely ; it is no 
 longer a brook in a narrow valley, but a river in a 
 broad open vale. We now come to the waters of 
 the Sheffield Fishing Club, who have done their best to 
 improve the fishing by re-stocking with trout, their fish 
 hatchery being close to Bamford. It is hardly necessary 
 to say much of private water. Passing down the valley, 
 the first open water we come to is the Chatsworth 
 fishery, which can be fished from the Wheatsheaf or 
 Peacock at Baslow, or from the Chatsworth Hotel at 
 Edensor, a charming house. At the Peacock, at 
 Rowsley, permission can be got for a few fields on the 
 Derwent and for the Bakewell water, but not for the 
 Chatsworth fishery. I once made the mistake of going 
 to Rowsley to fish the Derwent, and so I had to fish the 
 Wye instead ; curiously enough, it was one of the best
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 117 
 
 days I ever had there. Five brace of trout, with six fish 
 each a pound and over, is more than one usually expects 
 to get at Bake well, especially on Saturday, when the 
 mills shut their water down for hours. There is one 
 mill in particular, just above Bakewell, where the water 
 is worked in a manner most annoying to fishermen. 
 About noon on Saturday the water is shut down for 
 about three hours, and then suddenly the dam is run off 
 with a flood which lasts for perhaps an hour, effectually 
 stopping all fishing, and disturbing the fish for the rest 
 of the afternoon. Later on the water will be again 
 shut off for hours, leaving the river-bed dry in all but 
 the pools. Appeals have been made to the conservators 
 and also to the Duke of Rutland's agent, but with no 
 effect. On the Chatsworth water there are some very 
 nice grayling runs, and as a rule better baskets of both 
 trout and grayling are made here than on the Wye, but 
 the average weight is not so good. Wading, and deep 
 wading too, is necessary, and one of the most successful 
 fishermen on this water was generally to be seen 
 immersed to the armpits. As the Derwent is fed 
 mostly by surface water, it is more liable to floods 
 than either the Wye or the Dove, the feeders of those 
 rivers being almost entirely subterranean, so that there 
 is a more equable flow of water. When a really heavy 
 flood does come down, it is most annoying, for after a 
 short time the washings from the limestone quarries 
 and from the roads turn the water milk-white, and 
 generally sicken the fish. In the spring of 1886 there 
 was a most disastrous flood, which carried a lime tip at
 
 ii8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Miller's Dale bodily into the river, and killed every fish 
 between Miller's Dale and Bakewell. Bakewell soon 
 recovered, but many years must pass before there is such 
 a stock at Monsal Dale as there used to be. 
 
 At Rowsley the clear waters of the Wye are lost in 
 the Derwent's browner stream, and the two form a 
 fine river, which meanders through the meadows lying 
 below the wooded hills of Darley Dale. Here the 
 waters are preserved by a club as far as Matlock, where 
 the beauties of the limestone scenery are at their best, 
 though perhaps the narrower gorge-like valleys of 
 Monsal Dale and Miller's Dale are lovelier still. Here 
 there is a strong association which has cleared out the 
 pike, re-stocked the river, and made what is now one of 
 the best fisheries in Derbyshire ; it is open to visitors on 
 a small payment. The Greyhound at Cromford is a 
 capital place to stop at, and fairly out of the run of the 
 "cheap-trippers." Between Cromford and Ambergate 
 there is fishing, but it is almost entirely in private hands. 
 
 The Wye is altogether a different style of river. The 
 trout are larger, but more wary ; as a school-inspecting 
 friend remarked once, "These Wye trout have passed 
 the sixth standard." The Buxton length is the first 
 fishable water, and a small charge is made to visitors, 
 but it is not advisable to begin fishing until you get at 
 least two miles from the town, for until quite recently 
 this small stream had to carry away all the Buxton 
 sewage. However, thanks to some settling tanks, and 
 the wonderful precipitating powers of a stream running 
 from Axe Edge, matters are very different now, and the
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 119 
 
 effluent is reported to be as "clear as crystal," and 
 quite fit to drink. Curiously enough, the trout in the 
 Buxton length run large one of S^lbs. was killed 
 recently. This does not look as though ordinary 
 sewage, in moderate proportions, were very detrimental 
 to the trout. But in connection with this it is inter- 
 esting to note that every few years there is an 
 epidemic of horrible fungoid disease which more than 
 decimates the inhabitants of the Wye. The Dove is 
 very like the Wye, except that it is" entirely unpolluted 
 and has no lime quarries ; and I have never heard of 
 any diseased fish being seen in the Dove, even in 1880, 
 when dead fish were to be picked up all along the 
 banks of the Wye. The grayling seem to suffer more 
 than the trout ; they are much more delicate, and when 
 the flood swept down from Miller's Dale, poisoned with 
 lime, the grayling came floating up to the surface first, 
 the trout being able to fight longer against its suffocating 
 powers. 
 
 Below Bakewell we come to the Miller's Dale length, 
 formerly in the hands of a fishing club, but now in 
 private hands. This is one of the loveliest spots in the 
 whole of England, and it is hard to keep one's atten- 
 tion concentrated on fishing, as the eye is apt to 
 wander from the flies to the towering limestone crags 
 with their adornment of trees and ferns. This charming 
 spot was the scene of one of the most dastardly crimes 
 connected with poaching. The son of the Squire one 
 evening ran against some poachers, who first killed him, 
 and then threw his body into the stream.
 
 120 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Passing down the stream we first come to Monsal Dale, 
 then past Ashford the beau-ideal of an English country 
 village and then to Bakewell. All the fishing here is 
 in private hands, and the owners do not readily grant 
 permission to fish ; but at Bakewell the Duke of Rutland 
 has thrown open a long stretch on both sides of the 
 Wye. Visitors to the Rutland Arms at Bakewell, or 
 the Peacock at Rowsley, can fish the waters without 
 payment; to others the charge is 2s. 6d. a day. Only 
 fly-fishing is allowed. A lovely water it is, but the 
 trout are the most highly educated in the North of 
 England, and the most learned of them are said to be 
 able to discriminate between the respective merits of 
 different tackle shops. Any fisherman who can kill 
 good baskets at Bakewell should not have much 
 difficulty elsewhere, and at most times dry fly-fishing 
 is a necessity. On Saturdays and Bank Holidays this 
 water is apt to get "crowded, but through the meadows 
 of Haddon Hall the river winds and turns so much 
 that there is plenty of fishing for everyone. At Fillie- 
 ford Bridge, a mile below Haddon, our permission ends, 
 but the river meanders on until it is lost in the Derwent 
 at Rowsley. Just before it reaches the Derwent it is 
 swelled by the united waters of the Lathkill and 
 Bradford, which are celebrated for their swarms of fish ; 
 these, however, are reserved for the ducal owners and 
 their intimate friends. 
 
 And now let us turn back again to Buxton, retracing 
 our steps to the source of the Wye on Axe Edge. 
 To the north a little streamlet forms the headwaters
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 121 
 
 of the Goyt, eventually to become the Mersey ; to 
 the east runs the Dane ; and last, but not least, to 
 the south flows the classic Dove. It would be 
 difficult to find a clearer or less polluted stream than 
 this last, at anyrate as regards its upper waters, and 
 though the trout have perhaps not such savoury morsels 
 to feed on as their neighbours below Buxton, they 
 seem to thrive fairly well. The river runs nearly due 
 south for about twenty miles through Hartington and 
 Dovedale towards Ashbourne. This is the best of the 
 trout water, and with a southerly wind affords perfect 
 up-stream fishing. Just short of Ashbourne the river 
 turns away towards the south-west to Rocester, and here 
 the trout begin to lose their predominance over the 
 grayling, though near Ashbourne they are rather 
 larger and better fed than higher up. Close to Ash- 
 bourne two brooks run into the Dove Bentley Brook 
 and Henmore Brook and sometimes very good fish are 
 caught in them with the minnow, fish of two or three 
 pounds being not uncommon. Unfortunately, pike have 
 got into Henmore Brook, owing to the bursting of a 
 weir higher up the stream ; worse still, they are gradually 
 increasing and also getting into the main river. I have 
 never yet found out the correct pronunciation of the 
 name of the Dove. Some call it the Dove, and others the 
 Dove, and it is hard to say which is right ; it is at any- 
 rate noteworthy that Charles Cotton makes it rhyme 
 with " love," which tells in favour of the prettier name. 
 
 At Rocester the grayling predominates largely, and 
 sometimes very good baskets of these fish are got down
 
 122 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 the river, which runs south-east from Rocester, through 
 Uttoxeter and Tutbury, to join the Trent below Burton ; 
 here the trout and grayling fishing ends. A little higher 
 up, the Blythe runs into the Trent. This stream is 
 remarkable for the quantity of green drake which 
 make their appearance in June, and also for the fact that 
 on its banks Ronald lived and wrote his book, one 
 invaluable to fly-fishers in almost every part of the 
 country. Near Rocester the Churnet joins the Dove, 
 and it seems extraordinary that salmon manage to find 
 their way through the Humber and up the Trent and 
 Lower Dove as far as the weir at Rocester. No doubt 
 they might tell some strange stories of the hosts of 
 difficulties they have passed in the way of weirs and 
 pollution. One catches numbers of salmon parr when 
 fishing at Rocester. There used to be a salmon ladder 
 up the weir across the Dove at Rocester, which, luckily, 
 was entirely useless, as the nuisance of salmon parr when 
 trout fishing would hardly be compensated for by getting 
 a few unhappy fish that had toiled up the Trent. 
 
 There are some lengths open to the public near 
 Uttoxeter, where in the autumn very good baskets of 
 grayling are got with the fly and bottom fishing. 
 But a good deal of the Dove is taken up by clubs. Just 
 below Dovedale there is the Okeover Club, with three or 
 four miles of water and about five members, who seldom 
 fish themselves or give permission to others. It is a very 
 pretty water and well stocked, and makes one envious of 
 the lucky few whose lines can be cast in such pleasant 
 places. The Norbury Club, which has a very nice length
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 123 
 
 between Ashbourne and Rocester, is very difficult to get 
 into. Norbury lies about the centre of their water, and 
 on the opposite side of the river is Ellaston, a pretty little 
 village, especially interesting as the scene of " Adam 
 Bede." Between the Norbury and Okeover Clubs lies 
 the Birdsgrove Club, which has lately been reconstituted 
 and promises to rival its neighbours. May field, about a 
 mile and a half from Ashbourne, lies in the centre of 
 the water; this little village has also some literary 
 interest, for here is the cottage in which Moore wrote 
 "Lalla Rookh." 
 
 The highest waters of the Dove are all preserved, but 
 at Hartington there is a very good length of water, 
 open except in June ; the charge is 2s. 6d. per day. 
 There is a good hotel there, the Charles Cotton, 
 which is about a twelve miles' drive from Leek, 
 Buxton, Bakewell or Rowsley. Whoever named the 
 Charles Cotton and Izaak Walton hotels chose most 
 appropriate titles, as commemorating the friendship of 
 these two brothers of the angle two hundred years ago, 
 and reminding us of the classic ground we tread when 
 fishing on the Dove. As the angler strolls along the 
 banks of the Dove he has plenty of room for his 
 imagination ; perhaps, where he has caught a large trout, 
 there Charles Cotton landed one which Izaak Walton 
 had risen and played ; or, perhaps, where he has sat down 
 on the bank to have a talk over flies and other piscatorial 
 matters, or to discuss some whiskey, there these two 
 friends did the same two hundred years ago barring the 
 whiskey. At any rate it is recorded that Cotton had his
 
 124 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 friend up from the south to try his hand on the wily 
 inhabitants of the Dove. I suppose every fisherman has 
 read the " Compleat Angler," but Charles Cotton's short 
 chapters are not in all editions, though they are well 
 worth reading and contain information really useful, 
 even in these days of school boards and education both 
 of men and fishes. I do not suppose Charles Cotton 
 could catch fish now with the tackle he used then ; he 
 speaks of rods fifteen to eighteen feet long, and the 
 bottom end of his cast consisted of two horsehairs. 
 Nowadays on the Dove a ten-feet rod is long enough, 
 and unless the angler uses the finest drawn gut he will 
 not kill many of its inhabitants. For all that, the true 
 principles of fly-fishing are to be found in Charles 
 Cotton's book ; and it is still true that 
 
 " To fish fine and far off is the first and principal rule for trout angling." 
 
 He also tells us to make the cast so that 
 
 " Your rod and tackle will in a manner be taper from your very hand to 
 your hook." 
 
 Unfortunately, Cotton's residence, Berisford Hall, is 
 now in complete ruins, and only the lines of the founda- 
 tion and a few stones are to be seen ; but the fishing- 
 house which he built is still standing, with its motto over 
 the door " PISCATORIBUS SACRUM," and the initials I Z 
 and C C intertwined. Owing to the cheap-tripper's 
 mania for cutting and writing his name everywhere, the 
 owner has been compelled to keep this historical little 
 house locked up; but one can peep in through the 
 window and wonder if ghosts frequent the place.
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 125 
 
 The Hartington length is very nice water, more 
 especially the short length through Berisford Dale. 
 At times fair sport is to be had here, and good fisher- 
 men can generally make decent baskets. Between 
 Hartington and Dovedale the water is full of fish, but it is 
 all in private hands. Still, though few anglers have the 
 opportunity of fishing there, they benefit from this 
 stock, both on the open water at Hartington and on the 
 open water below at Dovedale. 
 
 I now come to my last subject Dovedale, a fisher- 
 man's paradise; but no words of mine can describe the 
 charming variety of the scenery of this beautiful dale. The 
 entrance is about five miles from Ashbourne station, and 
 they will send over to meet you from the " Izaak Walton ;" 
 but anyone objecting to the slowness of the North 
 Stafford trains can go by train to Matlock, and then take 
 the charming drive passing through the Via Gellia. 
 Once at the " Izaak Walton" you will be very sorry to leave 
 it. The river runs through a narrow gorge-like valley, 
 which is thickly wooded almost to the water's edge, while 
 here and there the limestone juts out in most fantastic 
 shapes. The stream is full of trout and grayling, but 
 they are not to be caught by everyone ; still, they are not 
 quite up to the aggravating standard of education reached 
 by their relatives at Bakewell. Anyone thinking of 
 going to Dovedale should read a charming little book 
 entitled, " An Amateur Angler's Days in Dovedale." He 
 is sure to go then, and if he goes once he will go again. 
 Perhaps from a piscatorial point of view the beauty of 
 Dovedale is its disadvantage, as it attracts crowds of
 
 126 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 cheap-trippers, who persist in walking on the very brink 
 of the river ; and the trout are wary, owing to the clear- 
 ness of the water and the quantity of natural food. It 
 is easy to imagine anyone wearying of catching fish where 
 everyone can do the same, "duffer" or not; but in Dove- 
 dale the odds are on the fish, and the greatest skill is 
 required in fishing these romantic waters. Many hints 
 for those who know nothing of Derbyshire fishing can be 
 picked up from Ronald's book, or from David Foster's 
 " Scientific Angler." 
 
 There are, of course, times when the fish are to be 
 caught easily. One red-letter day often comes back to 
 my memory. I had been staying at the "Izaak Walton" 
 for a week at the end of one September. The weather 
 was hopeless cold east winds and occasionally snow; 
 but the barometer began to fall, and persuaded me to 
 extend my stay another day or two. Next morning I woke 
 up to find the wind blowing a hurricane from the south- 
 west, and after hurrying over my breakfast, I reached 
 the river to find I had the whole stream to myself, and 
 the fish rising all over the place. It was one of those 
 days when any fly seemed the right one, and all day 
 through I never changed one of the three different flies 
 on my cast, except to replace those lost when the line 
 was whirled by the wind into trees or bushes. Of 
 the rises I got I could not have struck more than one- 
 third, and even to this day it is unpleasant to think of 
 those that were played and lost. Unfortunately, in the 
 hurry of the morning, lunch, whiskey, and tobacco were 
 all left behind ; and before the afternoon was over I had
 
 ON DERBYSHIRE STREAMS. 127 
 
 to return wet through and worn out with fighting against 
 the storm. Never had an angler such a chance of 
 making a record ; as it was, I managed to total ten brace 
 of trout and grayling, running from half a pound to a 
 pound and a quarter, and weighing altogether fourteen 
 pounds. But days like these come once in a lifetime, 
 and the blank days and bad days are many in number. 
 Still, in lovely spots such as Dovedale, catching fish is 
 by no means all of fishing, and therein lies the charm 
 of Derbyshire angling that it is a pleasure at times 
 to lay aside one's rod in favour of other surrounding 
 interests.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY 
 WATERS. 
 
 BY JAMES BROADBENT. 
 
 JNTIL some eighteen years ago my angling 
 experiences were confined to fishing for coarse 
 fish in the reservoirs near my native town in 
 Lancashire. At this time I went to reside in the then 
 quaint and quiet little village of Cannock (Staffordshire), 
 which has since been considerably spoiled by the march 
 of modern so-called improvements, though it is one of the 
 few places where the old custom of ringing the curfew is 
 still kept up. There I first experienced the delight of 
 angling for trout and grayling ; a delight which has 
 deepened with increasing years, and is now a never-failing 
 source of interest and pleasure, whether in looking back 
 upon the many enjoyable holidays passed by the river- 
 side in some charming valley, or in making plans for the 
 future that golden future when the hope, which springs 
 eternal in the angler's breast, of slaying a mighty 
 " sawmun " shall become a reality. And oh ! the joyful 
 anticipations when, on a winter's evening, surrounded 
 with fur, feather, and silk, we tie the Duns, March 
 Browns, Red Spinners, and the endless variety of
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 129 
 
 entomological specimens (many unknown to the 
 naturalist) which we consider necessary for our next 
 summer's campaign. 
 
 Whilst living at Cannock one of my most intimate 
 friends was a Scotchman we will call him " Mac." He 
 had been a fly-fisher from the time he was big enough to 
 handle a rod, and was one of the most successful anglers 
 I ever met. In a happy moment I was induced to join 
 him in a fishing expedition to Loch Awe, Argyleshire. 
 On our outward journey we went through Greenock and 
 thence by boat through the charming Kyles of Bute to 
 Ardrishaig; then we took coach to Ford, at the head 
 of Loch Awe, and made this village our first resting 
 place. The accommodation at the small inn was of the 
 most primitive character the beds were of chaff, and our 
 fare principally trout and braxy mutton, washed down 
 with potato whiskey ; but the keen bracing air engendered 
 an appetite that made us anything but fastidious; so 
 long as the supply of food equalled the demand we were 
 easily satisfied with the quality, and I question whether 
 we should have declined " long pig " if nothing better 
 had come in our way. 
 
 We arrived at Ford on a Saturday afternoon, and in 
 the few hours' fishing at our disposal Mac got sufficient 
 trout for Sunday and Monday mornings' breakfasts. 
 There was a service in Gaelic at the little kirk on Sunday 
 morning, at which we were not present. Instead, we spent 
 a long day in exploring the country in our immediate 
 neighbourhood. We had a lovely walk across the hills 
 to Craignish, a small fishing village on the coast, and 
 
 K
 
 130 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 obtained most charming views of sea and loch. We 
 stayed at Ford for a few days only, and then removed 
 to Port-in-Sherrich where we stayed another two days, 
 and should have remained longer but that our hostess 
 treated us rather shabbily in the matter of bedrooms. In 
 the evening, after we had finished our day's fishing, we 
 engaged two sturdy Hielandmen to row us down the 
 loch to Port-Sonachan, a distance of about ten miles, 
 where we arrived shortly after eleven o'clock. It was a 
 rough, dark night, and I was very thankful to reach the 
 shelter of Cameron's Hotel, which became our head- 
 quarters during the rest of our sojourn at Loch Awe; and 
 a more comfortable hotel it would be hard to find. After 
 our experiences at Ford it was elysium. We found the 
 fishing best between Ford and Port-in-Sherrich ; the bays 
 are smaller, but there are more of them. The trout 
 there are more numerous and not so highly educated 
 as at the lower end of the loch, owing to this part 
 being less fished; but they do not run quite so large 
 on the average. It was my first experience in loch 
 fishing, and I have therefore nothing remarkable to 
 relate in the way of big baskets, but my friend Mac had 
 excellent sport on several days, and we were able to send 
 some nice specimens of Loch Awe trout to our friends. I 
 understand that Cameron has now a small steam-launch 
 on the loch to tow the boats out to the fishing ground 
 in the morning and fetch them back in the evening ; but 
 we had only our own and the boatman's arms to trust to, 
 and many a long row we had at night after our day's 
 fishing.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 131 
 
 On our homeward journey we drove all the way from 
 Port Sonachan to Helensburgh, staying one night at 
 Inverary. A more delightful drive it would be difficult 
 to find; we passed along the head of Loch Fyne and 
 Loch Long, through Tarbert and along the shores ot 
 Loch Lomond, passing through Luss, where we rested 
 for a couple of hours. It was my first visit to Scotland, 
 and was in all respects a new experience to me ; to a 
 tired man of business I cannot conceive anything more 
 invigorating than a fortnight spent at Loch Awe at the 
 end of April or the beginning of May. And here 
 I would fain record my deep and lasting gratitude to my 
 mentor, that learned Piscator, for having quickened in me 
 the love of angling which had lain in embryo for many 
 years, and which has since led me to follow the windings 
 of many charming rivers and burns, and developed in 
 me the love of nature inseparably connected with an 
 angler's life. 
 
 My favourite river in Staffordshire was the Blythe. 
 It is a tributary of the Trent, and not, as I have olten 
 seen stated, of the Dove. It rises near to Longton, in 
 Staffordshire, and, after flowing through a somewhat flat 
 country for about twenty miles, falls into the Trent at 
 King's Bromley, a few miles north of Lichfield. It is 
 a quick-running river, alternating in deep pools with 
 streams rippling over a clean gravelly bottom, until a 
 mile or so above its junction with the Trent, where 
 it becomes very deep, with few streams, and holds 
 more pike and coarse fish than trout and grayling. The 
 lower reaches of the river are very open and easily
 
 132 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 fished, but, as you ascend, the banks become considerably 
 overhung with trees and bushes, and for successful 
 fishing waders are necessary. The Blythe differs from 
 its sister river the Dove, in that it does not rise in the 
 limestone rock, and has not a rocky bottom ; and perhaps 
 this is why in the Blythe much larger flies are used, the 
 water not being so clear. The whole of the Blythe 
 fishing is in the hands of private individuals, but it has 
 always been my good fortune to obtain permission to 
 fish there whenever I could go. The first fortnight in 
 June is the fishes' carnival in this river, as the May-fly 
 (the drake) swarms in abundance. A week's fishing 
 during that time is a thing to be remembered. It is 
 then that the old trout, who spends the greater portion 
 of his life in a snug hole well protected by overhanging 
 bushes, and furnished below with some conveniently 
 handy snags as a place of retreat, loses his head, and 
 falls a victim to his insatiable appetite for that apparently 
 delicious mouthful, the Ephemera Danica. It was my 
 privilege some years ago to spend a week in this anglers' 
 paradise when the May-fly season was at its height, and 
 such baskets of trout as we then took were a sight to see 
 and to long for in these degenerate days, when trout 
 never seem to be in a humour to take what is offered 
 to them and to be thankful for it. Can it be that 
 even in the depths of the water the schoolmaster is 
 abroad, and that the fishes have their note-book com- 
 piled by experienced old trout, containing valuable 
 observations as to the different artificial flies which may 
 be expected on the water at different times and seasons,
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 133 
 
 with added advice as to when it is safe to rise to a fly, 
 and when it is wiser to remain quietly below ! Who 
 can tell ? 
 
 The house at which I stayed was once the residence 
 of Ronald, the famous entomologist and fly fisher, and 
 near to it he built his piscatorial observatory overlooking 
 the Blythe, in order that he might more easily pursue 
 his observations on the habits and customs of Fario and 
 Thymallus. The editor of a late edition of Ronald's 
 " Fly Fisher's Entomology " says, " The Blythe, a sweet 
 trout stream in Staffordshire, close to Creswell station, 
 was the scene of Ronald's early experiences ; on the little 
 bridge close to the present station stood his observatory." 
 I think he is wrong in this statement. Ronald himself 
 says, " I built a little fishing hut or observatory of heath 
 overhanging a part of the river Blythe near Uttoxeter in 
 Staffordshire." Now Creswell is at least twelve miles 
 from Uttoxeter. The place I have mentioned is only 
 three miles distant. 
 
 One day, whilst I was there fishing with my friend 
 Mac, we took thirty-two trout before five o'clock in the 
 evening, and, had we fished on later, we could have in- 
 creased our take considerably ; but the day was hot and 
 we were tired (for we had fished hard whilst we were at 
 it), and we had each a good basket of fish. Above all, 
 we had arranged to be in for dinner at six o'clock, and as 
 it would not do to keep a lady waiting, we cried " Hold, 
 enough !" and put up our rods. We turned out our fish 
 on the grass in front of the house, and, the landlady 
 bringing out her largest dish, one of the sort that would
 
 134 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 comfortably accommodate a Christmas round of beef, 
 we piled up the fish, with the biggest on the top, after the 
 manner of anglers. The sight was one to gladden the heart 
 of the most exacting fisherman one half of the trout 
 averaged close on a pound each; there were no small 
 ones, as we had returned all less than eight or nine inches 
 in length. Our landlady, who had lived at the farm for 
 many years, said it was the finest dish of fish she had 
 ever seen, and although I have caught more fish in one 
 day I never caught so fine a lot in such perfect condition. 
 I fished with only one fly the whole of the day a Dark 
 Mackerel, a favourite fly of Ronald's, and one which has 
 lost none of its charm since his time. The next day, 
 fishing with another friend, we had almost as good a 
 basket, twenty-six fish, and in all probability should 
 have beaten the previous day's take but for a bad 
 breakage of one of our rods, which restricted our 
 fishing for the rest of the day to one rod. During the 
 greater portion of this day we fished with the artificial 
 May-fly sunk. 
 
 I will give the experience of one other day on this 
 river, some miles lower down, and then pass on to the 
 Meece. One dull, cloudy, but mild morning in November 
 I set off, accompanied by a small boy to carry my 
 impedimenta, as I had five miles to walk from the railway 
 station to the river, and back again in the evening. We 
 all know that after a long day's fishing it is no joke to 
 have to carry waders, etc., in addition, if the fates are 
 propitious, to a well-filled creel. It was one of my 
 early days as a fly-fisher, and, perhaps on that account,
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 135 
 
 of all my successful days it stands out as a " bright spot 
 in memory's waste." I began to fish about ten o'clock, 
 and had been getting fish with tolerable regularity up to 
 about three o'clock, when, in fishing a deep hole with a 
 heavy stream running into it, I hooked something large. 
 I saw the fish as he took the fly, and whether he was a 
 big Trent trout or a small salmon I shall never know for 
 a certainty. He made tracks up the stream as hard as 
 he could go, until he landed me in front of a high fence, 
 with water below me too deep for wading. I let him 
 have as much line as I dared and then gave him the butt, 
 in the hope of turning him, trusting that my tackle might 
 hold ; but, alas ! it failed me, and the fish went on and 
 on, and, for all I know, may be going yet, with the 
 remains of a cast and three flies tacked on to him. I 
 never saw him again, but I might say of him, " he never 
 told his weight, but let imagination, like a germ, grow on 
 his vanished form." The painful incident was too much 
 for me, so to steady my nerves I settled myself down for 
 a quiet smoke, and possibly might have taken a mouthful 
 of " cold tea." I rigged up another cast of flies, but my 
 friend from whom I had just parted must have spread 
 the news that there was danger about, seeing that I took 
 no more fish that day. When I came to turn out my 
 creel and take stock of the day's sport, I counted up 
 seventeen beautiful grayling, in the pink of condition, 
 many of them close on a pound each. It was a day to 
 be remembered by a young fisherman ; I need not say 
 that, ever since, I have had a strong affection for the 
 much abused grayling, and so far as my humble efforts
 
 136 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 can avail he shall have all the protection the law can 
 give him. 
 
 Here I would call attention to the fact that in the 
 same river, at different times of the year, excellent 
 baskets were made of trout and grayling respectively. 
 For instance, in the days of June of which I have 
 spoken there were few grayling taken, while, again, in 
 November very few trout were taken. This shows that 
 each of the two has his special season as a sporting fish, 
 and is then in his most perfect condition. The flies I 
 used on the last-mentioned day were the Hare's-ear Dun, 
 the Cinnamon-fly, and the Ephemera-palmer, put on my 
 cast in the order named, beginning with the dropper. 
 
 Before leaving the Blythe, I may mention that in the 
 late autumn, in a wet season, many large salmon go up 
 this river. They rarely go beyond the first mill, owing 
 to the obstructions there, except in a big flood. One 
 day I saw four salmon, all very much covered with 
 fungus, and almost in a dying state. One, which I 
 estimated to weigh about twenty pounds, I took out 
 dead. 
 
 After the Blythe, the river Meece is my favourite as 
 an angling river. It is a tributary of the Trent, rising 
 near to Whitmore, Staffordshire, and can be seen when 
 travelling on the L. & N. W. Railway between Crewe 
 and Stafford, as it is frequently crossed by the line. 
 There are no grayling, but as a trout stream it has few 
 equals. It flows through a flat country, and is one of 
 those oily winding streams with deep holes under 
 the banks, which have such a " trouty " look about
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 137 
 
 them. Nearly the whole of the stream above its junc- 
 tion with the Sow, near to Norton Bridge, is preserved 
 by the Meece Angling Club, consisting of twenty 
 members, chiefly the riparian owners or their friends. 
 
 Izaak Walton, our great example, lived for many 
 years at Shallowford, or, as it was called in his day, 
 " Shawford," a small hamlet situate on the banks of 
 this river. Doubtless it was while living here that the 
 love of angling first took possession of him. In "The 
 Angler's Wish " he says, 
 
 " Or with my Bryan and a book 
 Loiter long days near Shawford brook." 
 
 Sir John Hawkins in his note says, " Shawford Brook, 
 part of the river Sow, running through the very land 
 which Walton bequeathed in his will to the Corporation 
 of Stafford to find coals for the poor. The brook is a 
 beautiful winding stream, and the situation such as 
 would be likely to create admiration in a mind like 
 Walton's." 
 
 The subscription to the Meece Angling Club is 
 5 a year, and there is also an entrance fee of 5. 
 The fishing is very closely preserved, a keeper being 
 employed all the year round. The club have no fish 
 hatchery, but the last time I was there I noticed that they 
 had fenced in a small runlet, with a framework of fine 
 gauze, in which to place fry ; the gauze protected the fish 
 from birds and prevented the fry getting out into the 
 main stream until such time as it was thought fit to 
 liberate them. I have not heard the result of the 
 experiment. The stream abounds in shallow gravelly
 
 138 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 " runs," the perfection of spawning beds, so that with the 
 limited amount of fishing over twelve miles of water, and 
 with freedom from pollution, except such as is common 
 to all rivers flowing through an agricultural district, there 
 is every chance for the trout to increase and multiply. 
 There are four or five mills on the stream, about a couple 
 of miles distant from each other, and the pools formed 
 by the damming up of the water at the head of these 
 mills give food and shelter to some grand fish. And the 
 Meece fish are grand, whether from a sporting or a 
 gastronomic point of view. They cut pink when cooked, 
 and in weight range up to about two pounds ; occasionally 
 an odd fish goes beyond this, though such fish are not 
 frequently taken. The average is about three-quarters 
 of a pound. The last time I fished the stream, in August, 
 1888, the keeper told me there had been splendid sport 
 during the time the May-fly was on, many of the baskets 
 weighing twenty to twenty-four pounds for as many fish. 
 One member of the Manchester Anglers' Association 
 will not soon forget the sight he and I had one evening 
 in May on a shallow below one of the mills. In a very 
 short length of water we saw I am speaking literally 
 and not with the angler's reputed advantage of magni- 
 fying and multiplying spectacles scores of grand trout 
 making big waves as they scudded away. The water was 
 then too low and clear to give us much chance of taking 
 any fish, as the mill above was stopped, and there was 
 very little water coming down, but in the earlier part of 
 the day we had sampled them, and amongst the fish we 
 took was one scaling nearly a pound and a half.
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 139 
 
 This river is full of food. In the autumn it is con- 
 siderably overgrown with weeds in some of the stretches, 
 and these weeds provide insect life in myriads. The 
 local anglers rarely fish with more than one fly on their 
 cast, the favourite being Dark Mackerel (described in 
 Ronald's book), the Alder, March Brown, and various 
 Palmers. The flies are dressed very large, quite as large 
 as an ordinary sea-trout fly ; occasionally they are used 
 as large as a small salmon-fly. If you fish with small 
 flies there the result will be small fish. The fishing 
 during the month of June is entirely reserved for mem- 
 bers, so that a visitor never has an opportunity of fishing 
 the stream during the May-fly season. There are several 
 good rules in connection with this club, one of which is 
 that no person shall be allowed to fish the stream on two 
 consecutive days. Such a rule as this would not answer 
 well on an association water so far distant from the bulk 
 of its members as is the river at Horton, but I think it 
 might be applied with advantage to those who live within 
 a few miles of the village. When most of the members 
 of an association live within a walk or drive of the river 
 it is an excellent way to prevent over-fishing. Another 
 rule, much appreciated by outsiders, is that every mem- 
 ber is furnished with a number of tickets, one of which is 
 available for the use of a friend on any one day of the 
 week for which it is issued ; if the ticket is not used 
 during that week it is valueless. These tickets are not 
 available during the month of June, nor can they 
 be used by any person residing within nine miles of 
 Stafford. Visitors are restricted to the use of artificial
 
 140 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 fly, and all fish taken under ten inches in length must be 
 returned to the water. 
 
 Before I leave this river I must tell you the following 
 legend of one of its members who has now joined the 
 great majority I do not vouch for its truth. He was a 
 parson, and, as is often the case where the environment 
 is favourable, an excellent fisherman. During the season 
 there were very few days on which he did not make use 
 of his privilege as a member to fish the stream, and rarely 
 indeed did he go home with an empty creel ; in fact such 
 was his reputation that he had earned the sobriquet of 
 "The Otter." On one occasion when his family, a 
 tolerably large one, had met for the mid-day meal, and 
 the removal of the cover displayed to view a joint of beef, 
 the children with one voice exclaimed "Oh, ma, meat!" 
 
 A short account of my experiences at Horton, where 
 I spent my holidays in 1890, may be interesting. The 
 weather was very varied, and we saw the river in many 
 moods. The biggest water was early in the morning of 
 the 25th August, when the river rose nearly six feet; yet 
 by mid-day it was fishable with fly, and I heard of eight or 
 nine trout being taken with a Blue Dun it was between 
 twelve and two o'clock. The fishing was, like the 
 weather, variable, but only once had I a blank day on 
 the river. The fish I caught were in very nice condition 
 and the bulk of them of a good size. My best taken 
 with fly (a small Blue Dun), weighed fourteen ounces, and 
 gave me a good fight in the stream just below Horton 
 Bridge. I found the Olive Dun, the Blue Dun, and the 
 Alder the most successful flies on the river; and on the
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 141 
 
 tarn a fancy fly with silver body, black hackle, and 
 Indian Crow tag, and a small Alexandra with a little 
 bright red in the wing. 
 
 For an expert in spinning the natural minnow there 
 was a splendid water many times during my visit. I 
 met a landowner on the river one day, and he had then, 
 about three o'clock, eleven very nice trout, all taken in 
 this way. I heard of his getting a trout the day before 
 I left Horton, which weighed 2lb. 3oz., and he the 
 trout I mean had quite a dish of small trout in his 
 larder ; his capture will be a good riddance to the water. 
 There is little doubt that the water is very well stocked 
 with good fish, but except under favourable conditions 
 they are not easily caught. I came to the conclusion 
 that the best baskets were to be made either with the 
 worm or by minnow-spinning, although occasionally the 
 fly will hold its own ; for instance, on one occasion a 
 big rise of Duns came on the water about two o'clock, 
 and in half-an-hour I caught six fish in one stream, four 
 of which averaged half-a-pound each. I left the river to 
 send away my " catch " by parcel post, and, sad to relate, 
 I did not kill another fish that day. I noticed that on 
 three consecutive days there was a good rise of Olive and 
 Blue Duns between twelve and three o'clock ; the colder 
 the day, the later the rise. As to which part of the river 
 is the best I scarcely dare hazard an opinion ; but I agree 
 with the keeper, Walker, in this, that if you cannot 
 get a fish between " New Inn " Bridge and the wooden 
 bridge below, you are not likely to get one anywhere 
 else.
 
 H2 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 I went to the Tarn four times during my stay, and 
 never came away blank except on the last day of my 
 visit, when I was made to feel very small by my boy, 
 who took three fish and lost several others, whilst I never 
 touched one. There was rather a curious incident con- 
 nected with the taking of these fish. When we were at 
 breakfast my boy said to me: "I dreamt last night that 
 I caught a grand basket of trout at the tarn, and I can 
 show you the fly I caught them with." He brought his 
 fly-book and showed me a small Alexandra ; I said it 
 looked a very likely fly and he had better try it, and see 
 if his dream would come true. It came so far true that 
 this fly was the only one that would stir the fish. 
 
 I must not leave Horton without saying a word for 
 it as a health resort. Westerly winds prevailed while 
 we were there, and it seemed as though we ought 
 to taste the brine on our lips, the wind was so 
 bracing and exhilarating. We had several very pleasant 
 excursions. A capital day can be spent at Settle 
 and Giggleswick, with a walk back to Horton by Stain- 
 forth Force and village. My boys and I walked over 
 to Clapham one morning, and then through the caves, 
 returning to Horton by Moughton Scars. These scars 
 are scarcely less interesting than the caves, and are well 
 worth a visit; the limestone formation is most peculiar, 
 and the traces of the action of the sea are as plainly 
 visible as though the sea had left it but a few years ago. 
 The hart's-tongue fern grows here in great luxuriance. Of 
 course we had a climb to the top of Pen-y-ghent, calling 
 at Hull-pot and Hunt-pot on our way. Another pleasant
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF MANY WATERS. 143 
 
 walk is from Ribblehead Station to Alum-pot, near to 
 Selside, and then on to Horton. This Alum-pot is a 
 fearsome place. When visiting it you should make 
 inquiries as to whether there is a bull in the field. The 
 farmer very often turns one in, and I understand Mr. Bull 
 effectually prevents anyone from going near. 
 
 A friend and I drove over to Malham Tarn on 
 Thursday, the 2ist of August, for a day's fishing. Under 
 ordinary circumstances the drive must open out some 
 charming views of hill scenery, but on the day we went 
 the clouds were resting on the hills and quite obscured 
 the view, and it rained, and rained, and RAINED, till we 
 were like drowned rats ! In spite of the rain we fished 
 hard till four o'clock, but with little success. My friend 
 got one fish of lib. 5oz., and lost another. Successful 
 fishing with fly in Malham Tarn seems to be very 
 uncertain, the fish rising badly to fly as a rule. 
 A few years since very large takes were made with fly, 
 but we were told by the owner that some time ago he 
 netted the tarn to take out the perch, and a great 
 quantity were so taken out. Since then the fly-fishing 
 has not been so good, and his theory is, that when there 
 were a considerable number of perch in the tarn they, 
 being the strongest fish, drove the trout off the best 
 feeding ground, compelling them to seek for food on 
 the surface. There seems a great deal to be said in 
 favour of this theory. 
 
 To sum up the result of my visit to Horton I would 
 say, " I have been there and still would go." It is a 
 charming place, full of interest; the time passed all too
 
 144 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 quickly, and it was with great regret that I took a last 
 fond look at Pen-y-ghent as he stood there in his 
 grandeur, a veritable " Monarch of the Glen."
 
 THE CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT 
 CANE RODS. 
 
 BY E. R. AUSTIN. 
 
 JREDIT has generally been given our American 
 cousins for the invention of the split cane rod, 
 and there is no doubt that they were the first to 
 bring it into general use. Wells, in his " Fly Rods and 
 Fly Tackle," gives a capital account of its qualities, and 
 it was his description that fired the ambition of the writer 
 and some of his friends to try and improve on the rather 
 primitive style of construction which Wells suggests. 
 Any amateur possessed of ordinary deftness of fingers 
 and a considerable stock of patience may hope, in the 
 light of my experience, to turn out a creditable weapon, 
 and thus to secure to himself the feeling of pride that all 
 anglers have in using tackle, flies, or rods made by their 
 own hands. 
 
 The general tendency of professional makers of these 
 rods, particularly the Americans, is to make their pro- 
 ductions too limber; and one of the greatest difficulties 
 the writer had with his first attempts was the production 
 of the happy combination of lissomness and stiffness 
 necessary to a perfect rod. It was only by repeated 
 trials, and more than one failure, that this was accom-
 
 146 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 plished. If the rod be made with a uniform taper 
 from butt to tip it will be too lissom ; the cane rod 
 should follow what are considered to be the best lines 
 of an ordinary fly rod, namely, a slight increase in 
 the middle of its length beyond the uniform taper. 
 On the other hand, to follow the sizes of an ordinary 
 rod throughout will result in the cane rod being too 
 stiff. The tyro must get the proper scantlings from a 
 cane rod which he finds to work properly to his mind. 
 
 That there are elements of superiority in the cane 
 rod can easily be shown. Take a piece of cane, and it 
 will be found, even after removing the silica, that the 
 outside fibres are exceedingly hard, much harder than 
 any known wood used for fly rods. It has been mathe- 
 matically proved that in a beam acting as a cantilever, 
 which is what the rod is when in action, the maximum 
 breaking stresses are in the extreme outer fibres, in the 
 direction of the bending strain, and decrease towards the 
 middle to nothing. 
 
 By cutting the cane into sections and glueing them 
 together with the rind outside, all the strongest fibres are 
 where the strength is most required. From this it will 
 be seen that the beneficial effect of putting steel in 
 the core of the rod, as advocated by some makers, is 
 purely imaginary, as at this point the bending stresses 
 are absolutely nil. Experiments made by Hardy show 
 that split cane is far and away of greater ultimate 
 strength than any such woods as greenheart, mahoo, 
 or hickory, and that it is possessed of greater resilience 
 or power of recovery under bending strains. It is this
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS 147 
 
 latter quality which, at close quarters, gives the cane 
 rod its power over fish. From io to n feet is the 
 best length for general purposes. 
 
 CANE. 
 
 Considerable care is required in the selection of 
 cane. So far, the " Calcutta cane " is the only one that 
 has been found generally reliable, and even this often 
 proves deceptive. This cane, known by the black 
 markings on a yellow ground, can be obtained in 
 sixteen -feet lengths, but as a rule, the butt is the only 
 really serviceable part, the upper portion being too soft. 
 There is little in the outside appearance to guide one 
 as to the quality of the cane, beyond the brightness 
 of the yellow portion, a grey-looking cane generally 
 proving unfit for use ; and a good look-out must be 
 kept that it is not spoilt by the burns. Choose, how- 
 ever, the heaviest canes. It is only on splitting the cane 
 up that its real quality can be ascertained. The eyes out 
 of which the leaves spring are on opposite sides alter- 
 nately ; the length should be split directly through 
 these eyes. Then subdivide the cane, keeping for use 
 only those portions not affected by the eyes, which, on 
 trial, will be found to be short and rotten at these points. 
 The rejected portions between the eyes may be used to 
 test the quality. If, on breaking a piece across finger 
 and thumb with the skin outside, the fracture is broom- 
 like, the cane may be used ; if it breaks short, throw 
 it aside at once. The colour of the grain is a good
 
 I 4 8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 general guide; if bright and yellow it may be service- 
 able, but if blue it will be found rotten. It is a good 
 plan when splitting up a number of canes to put 
 the splints in bundles and label them, "good," 
 " medium," and so forth. When splitting up, regard 
 must be had to the size of section required, whether 
 for butt joint or upper joints. It will be found a good 
 plan to scrape off the silica before going far in trimming 
 to shape. This trimming is best done with a knife, 
 and, owing to the extreme hardness of the outer fibres, 
 not many blades will stand the work. Trim the sections 
 roughly to width and wedge-shaped, file down the 
 projecting knots, and the splint will be ready for planing 
 up. It may be thought that the silica is a source of 
 strength, but this is a mistake ; this covering is often 
 scratched in the cane, and once marked can never be 
 brought to a good finish. Besides, it is most destructive 
 to the keen edge of a plane, and more often to the 
 fingers, imparting an almost razor-like edge to the 
 planed strip. 
 
 The amateur must beware of Japanese cane the 
 beautifully mottled and coloured kind used for flower- 
 stands, etc. Nothing is more deceptive. Compare a 
 piece of this with Calcutta cane. The fracture is 
 perfect ; a test of strength under bending load shows 
 it quite the equal of the other ; there is no trouble 
 about leaf eyes, and it works perfectly in spite of the 
 frequent knots ; yet in spite of all this, for some 
 unknown reason it will not make rods. The writer 
 took infinite pains with a top joint, and to all appear-
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS. 149 
 
 ance succeeded perfectly ; that joint, however, will bend 
 to any curve and remain so, there being apparently no 
 resilience in the material. 
 
 PLANING TABLE. 
 
 A perfect rod must be absolutely true to shape, and 
 only by a perfect means of planing the strips of cane 
 true to angle and taper can this be attained. Wood is 
 of no use for a planing table, as the moment the plane 
 has reduced the strip to near its proper size it bites into 
 the bed, and all possibility of making the pieces alike in 
 shape is lost. Here we must call in the aid of the 
 engineer to make first a wood pattern of a suitable 
 planing table for a casting; then to plane it absolutely 
 level on its face and cut the grooves in it. It is rarely 
 that a joint is required more than 5 or 6 feet long. 
 Get the casting made 6 feet long of the following section : 
 4^ inches wide, 2\ inches deep, cored out on the under- 
 side to reduce the weight (see Fig. i) with cross-bars at 
 intervals to stiffen it. 
 
 Fit;. I.
 
 ISO ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 The most perfect practical form for a cane rod is a 
 hexagon, since in it the angles of all the strips are equal, 
 and consequently all the sides of equal width. After having 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 got the top surface planed smoothly, raise one end about 
 a tenth of an inch on the bed of the planing machine, 
 and, with a tool ground true to an angle of 60, plane 
 four grooves in the surface, the deepest about i 5 6 inch 
 deep, and graduating in size till the least runs out to 
 almost nothing. Great care must be exercised in keeping 
 the planing tool ground true to angle and fixed perfectly 
 vertical. Then follow with a sharp-pointed tool to clean 
 out the bottom of the grooves. Nothing more is 
 required. Each strip planed in these grooves will be 
 absolutely true in shape and taper ; and, above all, when 
 put together, perfect glue joints will be formed with- 
 out any adjustment being required. The whole virtue 
 of the rod depends on the sides of the strips being 
 in perfect contact through their whole length and width. 
 Knowing the size required for a joint of the rod, say 
 at the bigger end, plane a short piece of soft wood as a 
 trial piece, cut it up into lengths and tie together. If 
 this proves too large, try another piece further up the 
 groove until the right size is attained; then mark the 
 place on its side as a guide for planing. Take the roughly 
 trimmed strips, lay them in the grooves, rind uppermost,
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS. 151 
 
 and with a smooth file level the knots off*. Sometimes 
 there is a hollow above and below the knot, which it is 
 best to warm and press outwards, or there will be ugly 
 depressions on the face of the rod, marring its appearance. 
 There is no necessity for fastening the strips down while 
 planing ; the slight roughness left by the planing tool 
 in the metal, and the downward pressure, are quite 
 sufficient to prevent slipping. 
 
 The only plane that will deal effectually with such 
 hard material is the American plane, which has the 
 bevel of cutter the reverse way of the ordinary plane, 
 and is capable of very fine adjustment by its screw feed. 
 It might be expected that the iron planing bed would, 
 after very few cuts, take the edge off ; but as a matter of 
 fact, as long as the strip of cane under operation projects 
 in the least above the surface of the bed the blade can- 
 not come into contact with it. It is only at the final cut 
 that it is necessary to guide the plane by the fingers 
 travelling along the plate, to keep one part of the cutter 
 at work on the strip, that to right and left of it naturally 
 touching the plate. It is this certainty of each strip being 
 cut down to the surface of the bed that makes them 
 absolutely alike and true. Some canes will be found 
 very troublesome to plane at the joints, the plane picking 
 up the grain above and below in a most annoying fashion. 
 To get over this a smooth file must be used to reduce 
 the part of the joint first, afterwards planing up the 
 spaces between. When you begin planing, watch must 
 be kept over the regularity of angle, so that one side 
 does not come out longer than the others (see Fig. 3), or
 
 152 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Fig 3- 
 
 the result will be a distorted hexagon and an eyesore 
 that cannot be afterwards adjusted. A word must here 
 be said as to the necessity of so arranging the strips, 
 that no knot in any one comes opposite that in another. 
 To this end cut the lengths of cane at least a foot longer 
 than "the finished joint is required, and as soon as they 
 are trimmed up, lay the six strips side by side ; there 
 being about twelve inches from knot to knot, it is very 
 easy to arrange for a space of two inches between. 
 
 GLUEING. 
 
 The best and strongest glue only must be used. 
 Some fish glues are very good, but the writer has found 
 " kid " glue answer the purpose. Only a small quantity 
 must be melted at a time, and it must never be heated 
 more than three times. 
 
 This is the most disagreeable and troublesome 
 process of all. Having numbered the planed strips for 
 the best disposition of knots, warm them before a fire, 
 lay them on a board side by side, lay the glue 
 liberally on straight from the fire with a wide flat brush 
 for about one-third the length, bunch them together, and 
 wrap spirally with some strong fine twine. It is best to 
 secure the end of the twine at the other side of the room 
 and turn the joint round in the hands, keeping a steady 
 strain all the time. The glue squeezes out over the hands
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS. 153 
 
 and does its best to cover the fingers and string, but this 
 cannot be avoided. As soon as wound up near to the 
 end of glueing, and whilst still warm, straighten by the 
 eye with finger and thumb. Then lay in more glue for 
 another third, and proceed as before. On finishing the 
 joint it will be found that the winding in one direction 
 and the pull of the twine have twisted it ; warm before 
 the fire, and wind a wrapping in the opposite direction, 
 crossing the first wrapping. This will take out most of 
 the twist, but if any is left, lay the joint in one of the 
 grooves of the planing plate and weight it till the glue is 
 set. All this has to be done before the glue is set, but a 
 little practice makes the process easy, and three lengths 
 or a whole rod may be glued in a morning. Twenty- 
 four hours should be allowed before unwrapping, and one 
 anxiously scans the result the moment it is possible, for 
 any bend or twist must now be permanent, and a source 
 of vexation for all time to the possessor of the rod. 
 Happy the maker if he finds nothing more than a regular 
 bend in only one plane a good point, as in arranging 
 the rings the concave side can be placed uppermost to 
 counteract the natural droop of the rod and the effect 
 of the bending strain, mainly in one direction. 
 
 There is a better way of doing the glueing, but it 
 requires more apparatus. The joints are glued up in 
 halves and tied on to a perfectly true planed strip of iron 
 having the same taper as the joint. By this means the 
 piece cannot warp and twist. When the two halves are 
 set, clean up the faces and glue together ; it is necessary 
 only to watch the possibility of bending in one direction,
 
 154 
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 and no twist is possible. This process requires three 
 strips of iron of the various sizes. 
 
 HANDLES. 
 
 The simplest form of handle is that turned out of a 
 solid piece of wood, maple or black walnut, with a ferrule 
 let into the end (see Fig. 4), but the strongest, most 
 
 
 / 
 
 i f 
 
 p 
 
 1. 
 
 
 HH 
 
 g| 
 
 7 r-r 
 
 3g^ zez2 '^^^^^/^frs''?'^///^^' | x - -^'PtfffiYWf 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 workmanlike, and best looking is that in which the strips 
 of the butt joint are spliced into the handle. (See Fig. 5.) 
 
 
 , / 
 
 a. 
 
 J 
 
 -* &\ I . ^f 
 
 y ^^22333 
 
 i : 5 
 
 
 
 ^ / 
 
 Fig- 5- 
 
 To make this perfectly a lathe is required, as great 
 accuracy in the spacing and cutting the grooves is only 
 attained by fixing the piece of wood between the centres
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS. 155 
 
 after turning to shape, and cutting the wood out by a 
 diamond-pointed tool traversed by a slide rest, the 
 handle being revolved one-sixth of a turn for the main 
 cuts, and finished off by hand at the taper portions. A 
 free working wood with straight grain, such as red cedar, 
 is necessary, and great care is required to finish off the 
 taper portion to a feather edge at the junction with the 
 cane joint. Having glued the cane joint up to this point 
 it must be warmed, and whilst hot the grooved butt 
 must be forced in, the body of the joint being whipped 
 round with copper wire to prevent it being wedged open. 
 Take care to get the joint straight and true with the 
 butt When cold the pieces may be separated for final 
 glueing. For choice, the cane need only be carried down 
 to the first ring, which makes a good finish. 
 
 The handle should not be varnished with coach body 
 varnish (so suitable for the rest of the rod), as it is always 
 liable to be sticky to the warm hand; shellac spirit 
 varnish is better, laid on with four or five coats as fast 
 as they dry, an affair of a quarter of an hour. When it 
 is well set after the final coat, rub it down first with 
 powdered pumice and water, polish with rotten-stone 
 and oil applied with an old silk handkerchief, and finish 
 off with dry rotten-stone. This gives a brilliant polish ; 
 the varnish is always dry to the touch and very 
 durable. 
 
 The most simple form of reel fitting is that composed 
 of two narrow flat strips of brass set a suitable distance 
 apart for the reel to lie between, and a V shaped heel- 
 piece as shown by Figs. 4 and 5.
 
 i$6 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 FERRULES. 
 
 No reliance is to be placed on the ordinary ferrules 
 to be bought at a tackle-maker's. These are generally 
 made with the male portion taper and depend upon 
 their jamming when pushed home. This either results 
 in the ferrule being jammed too fast to be separated 
 without a good deal of force and twisting, about the 
 worst thing for a cane rod ; or after a little wear the joint 
 works loose, and the angler is continually casting a part 
 of his rod into the water with a great splash unless it is 
 tied, a most miserable sort of contrivance and unworthy 
 of this age. All that is necessary to avoid this is to 
 make the male ferrule perfectly parallel, so that when 
 pushed in it is in perfect contact, without shake, for its 
 full length. When buying the ferrules, preferably of 
 bronzed brass, select another ferrule the next size smaller 
 and throw away the male ferrule furnished by the maker. 
 Cut this to length and spin it in a lathe on a hard wood 
 mandril, which for convenience may be turned in steps 
 for the different sizes, then file and rub down with emery 
 cloth till it is a perfect fit in the female ferrule, using the 
 callipers freely after the tip will just enter. This ferrule 
 requires no dowel or stringing to keep fast, and on taking 
 down the rod the joints can be separated with the 
 greatest ease. 
 
 A good deal has been made of bayonet joints, 
 screws, and many other devices. None of them are 
 necessary. I have made several rods, and none of them 
 cast loose. A good test of a perfect fit is the pop-gun-
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF SPLIT CANE RODS. 157 
 
 like sound when the joints are separated. After fitting 
 the ferrule to your satisfaction, one end of each requires 
 forming to a hexagon shape to fit the rod. The end of the 
 cane joint is of course scraped perfectly round and fitted 
 to the ferrule without distorting it ; when pushed home the 
 hexagon framed end corresponds with the body of the 
 joint. Dowels are quite unnecessary, and in fact are a 
 great evil, as the wood is cut away where the solidity is 
 most required, inside the female ferrule. Above all do 
 not put any pins through the ferrules ; this is another 
 source of weakness and only permissible to bad work- 
 men. For fastening the ferrules use leaf shellac warmed 
 over a spirit lamp, first inserting a portion into the 
 bore and making thoroughly hot, then slightly coating 
 the end of the joint but taking care not to overheat it, 
 and pushing on the ferrule. 
 
 WRAPPINGS, RINGS, AND VARNISHING. 
 
 These are the finishing touches. The best silk for 
 the wrappings is a loosely-spun kind, to be bought at a 
 fishing-tackle-maker's; but for the top joint fine sewing 
 silk will be found best. Having laid off the spaces for 
 the rings, increasing in distance from the tip, sub-divide 
 them, beginning about half-an-inch apart, and likewise 
 increasing in the spacing. The upper half of the top 
 joint will require only about five-ply of silk, and the 
 width of the wrapping should increase towards the butt 
 as the size of the joint increases. It is only necessary to 
 wax the point of the silk to prevent it slipping, and to
 
 158 ANGLERS' EVENTNGS. 
 
 finish off the last ply, which should be done by the 
 invisible knot ; then lay over the wrappings with weak 
 glue, which fills the loose pores of the silk and makes 
 them take the varnish better. The rings, by choice, 
 should be fixed and graduated in size. The eyed tip 
 can be of the ordinary wire kind, which, however, may be 
 much improved, with a view to prevention of cutting by 
 the reel line, by working in an ordinary boot eyelet, 
 polished smooth. Coach body varnish is the best, used 
 fresh, thinned down with turpentine, and laid on with a 
 stiff short hog's-hair brush. If the weather be damp, 
 warm the piece first. Allow a few days to dry, and 
 repeat two coats. 
 
 In this paper I have endeavoured to give the amateur 
 the result of my experience, so that he may avoid pitfalls 
 and unnecessary experiments in finding the best means to 
 his end. I hope that, having succeeded in turning out 
 his rod, he will derive as much pleasure as I myself have 
 done in watching its behaviour under the trying circum- 
 stances which sometimes befall -the angler.
 
 THE KEEPERS, MORTON.
 
 THE HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE 
 FISHERY. 
 
 I. 
 
 TROUT BREEDING IN RIBBLESDALE. 
 
 BY ROBERT BURN. 
 
 JHE upper waters of the River Ribble, for about 
 twelve miles from its source at Ribblehead, 
 down to Helwith Bridge, four miles north of 
 Settle, are preserved by the Manchester Anglers' Asso- 
 ciation. At the head of the valley is Whernside, on the 
 right hand Ingleborough, and on the left hand Pen-y- 
 Ghent, three of the highest hills in Yorkshire. The 
 little village of Horton-in-Ribblesdale is the headquarters 
 of the Association ; it is the most northerly parish in the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire, and about 770 feet above 
 the sea level. 
 
 During the construction of the Settle and Carlisle 
 extension of the Midland Railway, which runs alongside 
 the river, when large bodies of men were encamped 
 for years in the valley, the water was almost depopulated 
 by unrestrained netting and other means. Fish were 
 taken in nets or " grappled " with the hand ; they were 
 blown up with dynamite and poisoned with lime, and 
 in low water it was a favourite Sunday amusement for
 
 160 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 parties of three or four men to go up the river armed with 
 sledge hammers. Every large stone in the water likely 
 to shelter a trout was struck violently, and the fish, 
 stunned or lifeless, came to the surface. The river is 
 now carefully watched by the Association, and with a 
 view to replenishing the waters a fish-house has been 
 erected. 
 
 When the Council of the Association decided to 
 establish the breeding house, it required much care to 
 find a suitable situation, as many points had to be 
 considered. It was necessary to find a place sheltered 
 from strong and cold winds ; one which could be easily 
 drained, so as to get the water away quickly ; and, 
 above all, one where a good and regular supply of suit- 
 able water could be obtained. These conditions were 
 found in the site chosen on the bank of Horton Beck, 
 close to Douk-ghyll Scar. The foundation is solid rock, 
 with a good deep drain running into the brook. The 
 water supply was found in a small cistern in the field 
 close to the Scar, fed by springs which, to the knowledge 
 of the oldest inhabitant, never went dry. The water 
 was tested, and pronounced suitable. It is conveyed a 
 distance of sixty-five yards through lead pipes, and as 
 the supply cistern is some four to six feet above the 
 level of the roof, there is plenty of pressure. It may be 
 noted that the temperature of the water has never been 
 above 44 in the hottest summer, nor below 40 even 
 when the thermometer has stood at zero, in the winter. 
 The erection of the house was entrusted to the village 
 joiner, and he has done the work satisfactorily.
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 161 
 
 The arrangement of the house inside is as follows : 
 The water first enters a filter box supplied with flannel 
 slides to catch sand and grit, and then passes into a long 
 trough. This trough is connected with six trays, in 
 tanks, on the left side of the house, arranged in the form 
 of steps, over which in succession the water flows, 
 escaping by a waste-pipe into the drain. On the right- 
 hand side are also nine trays arranged in the form of 
 steps, and independently supplied with a constant flow 
 of water from the trough and with a waste pipe. The 
 trays are furnished with glass rod grilles, on which the 
 ova are placed; each tray holds about 1,800. As the fish 
 are hatched, they escape through the grilles into the 
 boxes below. Trout spawn at Horton late in November 
 or early in December, and run for that purpose up the 
 small brooks or becks, surmounting difficulties to an 
 extent that seems incredible. Here they are easily taken 
 in small nets or by the hand. 
 
 Before the close-time legislation, trout were taken, 
 when spawning, by thousands, but now anyone taking or 
 having trout in possession in close time, except for 
 purposes of cultivation, is liable to prosecution, and even 
 fish breeders must have permission from the Conservancy 
 Board. When sufficient trout have been netted, and placed 
 for readiness in large cans filled with water, the method of 
 spawning is this: In a broad shallow dish is placed a 
 little water, then the female fish is held, the tail in the 
 left hand, and the head and shoulders in the right hand. 
 The right hand is passed with gentle pressure down the 
 body of the fish towards the vent. If the fish is ripe the 
 
 M
 
 1 62 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 ova begin to fly out singly into the dish, without any 
 apparent pain. Should the fish not be ready, it is seen 
 at once that pain is caused, and the fish is returned 
 to the brook. A male fish is then taken and stroked 
 in the same way, and the milt allowed to fall upon 
 the ova in the dish, which is canted from side to side 
 so that all the eggs may become impregnated. The 
 change is something wonderful. The eggs at first are 
 colourless, but on absorbing the milt change to a golden 
 pink hue. The ova are easily carried for hours in a 
 little water in a quart can with swinging handle, until it 
 is convenient to place them on the hatching trays. As 
 many as 3,000 to 4,000 may be so conveyed without 
 injury. The spawning is generally done on the bank of 
 a stream, and as each fish is done with it is returned to 
 the water. At first it seems languid, but it is soon 
 restored by the current, and swims to a place of conceal- 
 ment, not much the worse for the unnatural treatment 
 it has received. It is said that a female trout of one 
 pound weight will contain about 1,000 eggs, but I have 
 never seen one that parted with so many, the largest 
 number being 400 to 500. Perhaps we were afraid of 
 injuring the fish by too much pressure, and many eggs 
 were left behind which would be deposited in the 
 stream in due time. The eggs vary in size according 
 to the age of the fish. It was noticed that the ova 
 from a lb. trout will go 32 in a row, while from a 
 trout lib. to i|lb. only 30 will lie in the same space, 
 and from some large Malham Tarn fish 28 occupied the 
 room.
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHERY. 163 
 
 The time required before the young fish hatches 
 varies according to the temperature of the water and air. 
 For the years 1885 to 1888 inclusive, the time of incuba- 
 tion was uniformly 104 days ; but in 1889, owing to the 
 milder weather, the first fry were hatched in 76 days. 
 A spell of severe weather then came on, and the hatch- 
 ing stopped at once, and was not resumed for a fortnight. 
 About six weeks after the eggs are placed on the trays, 
 they begin to show signs of life. Taking one up in a 
 glass tube and holding it to the light, the eyes first show 
 as black specks, then the complete form of the fish 
 can be seen coiled round inside the shell, and with a 
 magnifying glass it is possible to see the blood vessels. 
 When the little trout bursts its shell it has a yellow bag 
 attached to the under side of the throat containing a 
 glutinous substance, by the absorption of which the 
 alevin, as it is called, subsists for a month or six weeks. 
 At first this bag seems to overpower the fish, and it 
 seems anxious to get into some dark corner out 
 of sight, but in a few days it gathers strength and moves 
 about freely. Day by day the appendage gets smaller, 
 and the little one gradually acquires its own natural 
 graceful form with dark back and silver belly, and darts 
 about actively in search of food. The alevins are very 
 sensitive to light, and it is necessary to place pieces of 
 slate or stone in the troughs under which they can shelter. 
 Many monstrosities are hatched, fish with two heads or two 
 tails, or even two bodies joined together like the Siamese 
 twins, but they never grow to any size, always dying 
 in a few weeks. As the fry get larger they require
 
 i64 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 more water and more room, and some are removed into a 
 larger trough with a steady supply of water falling in at 
 one end and overflowing at the other, so as to cause a 
 continual current. There is considerable natural food in 
 the water, but in addition the fish are fed daily with well- 
 boiled beef or liver, finely powdered in a mortar and 
 passed through a fine sieve, or with a specially prepared 
 food which is very nourishing. Outside the breeding- 
 house is a stone cistern holding about 3,000 gallons, with 
 a regular flow of water of twenty gallons a minute. In 
 this some three or four thousand fry are kept until they 
 are a year old, and then are placed in small streams, so 
 that they may gradually work their way down to the 
 river. At the age of one year the young trout measure 
 from three to five inches. As there is not sufficient pond 
 room in which to keep the whole of the fry until they are 
 yearlings, a considerable number of the largest and 
 strongest are placed in sundry small becks, where there 
 is an ample supply of food and shelter. For the last 
 nine years ending March, 1893 an average of 25,000 fry 
 have been turned into the streams, and this must tell 
 largely on the stock of trout in the Ribble. 
 
 Coming, as the spawning season does, in the winter, 
 the work is at times anything but pleasant. On some 
 days there is a keen frost, with snow thick on the ground 
 and the nets frozen stiff when out of the running water ; 
 on others a cold, biting rain makes netting the fish, and 
 then handling them to get the spawn, a difficult and 
 disagreeable business. Dry clothes, a comfortable dinner 
 in a warm room, and an " Anglers' Evening " to follow,
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHERY. 165 
 
 soon put all right again, and the Manchester Anglers 
 look back with pleasure on many enjoyable days and 
 evenings at Horton spent in this useful work. 
 
 II. 
 CREEPER FISHING AT HORTON. 
 
 BY THE REV. ST. VINCENT BEECHEY, M.A. 
 
 THE latter half of April and May and the first 
 half of June should be the prime of the year for 
 those who whip for trout on our North of England 
 streams. Do not be alarmed, brother anglers; I am 
 not going to indulge in a rhapsody on the sweet 
 influences of the springtime at the countryside, more 
 especially as the prevailing influences in the spring of 
 the present year* were influenza, drought, and a persis- 
 tent north-east wind. I am going to stick in a severely 
 businesslike way to the fish and the fishing. In the 
 month of June, just at the time when trout fishermen 
 might be expected to be returning from the warpath, 
 enthusiastic about the battles they had fought and the 
 captives they had made or might have made, I made a 
 discovery as regards our river at Horton a discovery 
 which seemed likely to ensure sport on the Ribble at 
 almost any time during the period mentioned, on those 
 frequent days when the condition of the water prevented 
 fishing with the artificial fly. I had given Walker f 
 
 * tSyt. t The Association's keeper.
 
 1 66 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 instructions at the beginning of the season to send me a 
 telegram to say when the river was in condition. The 
 end of May had come, but no telegram. In my part of 
 the world, which is not very far as the crow flies from 
 Horton, this was not to be wondered at. I never 
 remember a May so made up of drought and east wind. 
 The " cacoethes scribendi " was nothing to the itching 
 of my fingers to wield the rod, and the best of the season 
 was fast slipping away. So I determined on the ist June 
 to go to Horton and chance it. As I came down from 
 the station I paused on the bridge, and shook my head 
 as I looked at the attenuated stream. At the same 
 moment Walker's stalwart form was observed coming up 
 the river-side. He expressed considerable surprise at 
 seeing me, and wanted to know why I had come. But 
 an idea had been forming in my mind suggested by 
 piscatorial accounts in the papers from other Yorkshire 
 streams and I asked him in turn whether he had seen 
 any creepers at the river-side. He said he had come all 
 the way up and hadn't seen one, though he had looked 
 carefully for them. I suspected then, and had good 
 reason afterwards to be sure, that he either did not 
 know what a creeper was or did not know where to find 
 them. In the evening a visit to the tarn was rewarded 
 with three good fish, but time was also found for an 
 examination of the stones on the river-side, which satis- 
 factorily proved that the creepers were there, and all very 
 much alive. So Walker was told to get a supply next 
 morning, being instructed as to the proper place where 
 they were to be found, namely, under the stones adjacent
 
 HOR TON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 167 
 
 to water which has at least a moderate current. Very 
 few can be found near water that is comparatively still. 
 About nine a.m. on the following day he appeared, 
 looking flushed and excited, as if he had just emerged 
 from a bout with sheepstealers or poachers ; and if no 
 damage was visible on his limbs, injury was clearly 
 depicted on his countenance. Looking at me reproach- 
 fully, he ejaculated, " Well, by gum ! I never had sic 
 wark i' a' : my life." It is quite beyond me to reproduce 
 in the vernacular the account of his pursuit after creepers. 
 I wish I could. I can only give the substance of his 
 remarks. Creepers were decidedly misnamed. Runners, 
 or, rather, sprint runners, would be the more exact term. 
 It was one thing to find them quite another to catch 
 them; and when he thought he had them safe in his 
 fingers, they had a trick of transferring themselves to his 
 coat sleeve, and then, unless the coat was rapidly pulled 
 off, of wandering into more remote and less accessible 
 parts. Between the exertion of catching the little beasts 
 and continually half stripping himself he was dead beat. 
 I suggested that boys should be requisitioned for the 
 purpose ; but he wouldn't have them at the river-side. I 
 may here say that another trial at the same game induced 
 him to alter his opinion, and think that, after all, boys 
 ought to be utilised. We both agreed for I had tried 
 to supplement the somewhat meagre results of Walker's 
 exertions by efforts of my own that boys would be 
 more suitable for the purpose. They were more handy, 
 in the first place, for getting down to the stones ; they 
 were less exposed to the danger of apoplexy ; their
 
 1 68 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 smaller fingers were better adapted to grasping the lively 
 quarry ; while a few creepers more or less between the 
 shirt and the skin would probably be a matter of 
 indifference to them. 
 
 As the wind, to my surprise and delight, was blowing 
 gently from the south, bringing a cloudy sky, I resolved, 
 not having as yet much faith in the creeper, to try the fly 
 in the streamy bits at Helwith Bridge. As long as these 
 atmospheric conditions prevailed, by fishing fine and far 
 off I was tolerably successful. But it was not long before 
 the wind got back to the old quarter, blowing, conse- 
 quently, down the river, and making it very difficult to 
 cast up-stream, the only possible method in such low 
 water; for, if it is difficult to cast the fly against a wind, 
 it is quite impossible to cast the creeper, since if you 
 whip too quickly and suddenly you simply oblige the 
 trout with a gratuitous tasty morsel, for you inevitably 
 whip the insect off. But those who know the Ribble 
 will remember that there is one portion of about a 
 quarter of a mile in length, between Crags Hill and 
 Higher Studfold, where, owing to a sharp bend or elbow, 
 the course is partially reversed, and consequently the 
 wind, when it is blowing down the river, will generally 
 be found blowing up this length. At the lower end, just 
 before the river turns southward again, is a large pool, at 
 the end of which is a good stream ; above this is a long 
 stretch of flat water (useless for the creeper) flowing 
 between high banks on either side; and above this 
 several little pools of broken water, succeeded again by a 
 stream which, in its course, curves back into the old
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHERY. 169 
 
 direction. As the wind was favourable for this length, 
 and the sun was now (4 p.m.) shining brightly, I 
 determined to give the creeper a trial. I was very soon 
 convinced that the Ribble trout fancied the creeper. 
 Whenever the visitor was properly introduced he was 
 eagerly welcomed. This introduction, however, was not 
 always easily managed, owing to my inexperience in the 
 art, and the quantity of baits employed was out of all 
 proportion to the quantity of fish encreeled. The way 
 those trout managed to absorb the insect without absorb- 
 ing the hook was astonishing. In about an hour the sun 
 again disappeared, and the fish stopped feeding, and, 
 indeed, it was little use attempting to fish up beyond the 
 topmost bend, owing to the adverse wind ; so I knocked 
 off, with ten trout weighing exactly five pounds, or an 
 average of half a pound not a bad take, considering the 
 lowness of the water. Most of these had been taken with 
 the fly, but all the biggest, averaging three-quarters 01 
 a pound, went to the credit of the creeper. 
 
 I now determined to give a day entirely to a fair trial 
 with the creeper, and to this end read up during the 
 evening all the literature I could find on the subject. 
 Ah, brother angler ! you know by sad experience the 
 difference between gaining information from angling 
 manuals as you sit in your arm-chair with a pipe in your 
 mouth, and trying to profit by what you have read when 
 you come to do business at the water-side. To describe 
 the apparatus and methods of fishing with the creeper 
 would simply be to copy from the aforesaid manuals; 
 the most lucid and helpful of them on this subject I
 
 i ;o ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 found to be "Pritt's Yorkshire Trout Flies." It is enough 
 to say that the ordinary fly rod, line, and gut cast are 
 suitable enough, with the addition, of course, of the 
 special bait hook; a single No. 4 hook, armed with a 
 bristle for the jacks or male insects, which are only about 
 one-third the length of their better more-than-halves ; 
 and two small hooks, placed about half an inch apart, for 
 the females. These hooks are inserted, the upper one in 
 the thorax and the lower one in the tail-end of the insect, 
 so that it hangs head upwards, with its legs, as it were, 
 embracing the gut. The fish appear to take both baits 
 equally well. By the time I had digested all the informa- 
 tion I could glean, imagination ran riot in thoughts of 
 the sport I should get on the morrow. Everything 
 seemed favourable for a record in water where I knew 
 the fish would take the bait, and where, I was told, 
 creeper fishing was never practised. Pritt had said, "The 
 lower and clearer the water is, the more chance of sport ;" 
 and again, " From the time you begin to find the creeper 
 under the stones close to the water's edge, which, in warm 
 seasons, will be about April 24th, up to the appearance of 
 the stone-fly itself, he can distance all comers, and the 
 fish you will get with it will, as a rule, be the largest fish 
 you have." All the conditions, therefore, pointed to a 
 big bag. So I rose in the morning eager for the fray ; 
 but, alas! when I turned out I found the one important 
 condition necessary for success was wanting the wind 
 was contrary, blowing stiffly from the north-east. There 
 was nothing to be done but to utilise that convenient 
 easterly bend of the river and make the most of the few
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 171 
 
 pieces of streamy water which it contained, for the creeper 
 is of no use in still water. 
 
 The trout did not seem to be very eager at first, and 
 I had only taken three when I came to the upper limit 
 of the fishable water. At this point it is bounded by a 
 wall on either side. The water was so low that the 
 stream at the head of the pool was divided into two 
 parts by a large bank of stones. Wading up the middle 
 of the water I took a good fish on the field side, and then 
 turned my attention to the run on the further side. This 
 was a narrow stream not more than eighteen inches wide, 
 extending for about ten yards between the wall which 
 carries the road and the bank of stones in the middle. 
 As the wind was already very awkward, owing to the 
 upward curve of the river, it was difficult casting. To 
 get hung up either on the stones on the one side, or the 
 grass growing in the wall on the other, would have been 
 fatal. The extrication of the hook would have meant 
 the dispersion of the trout. But by very careful mani- 
 pulation, and working the line gradually up-stream, I 
 managed to raise in this narrow run four large fish, three of 
 which I got safely into the net, of course leading each 
 one promptly down-stream, so as to avoid disturbing the 
 water above. This was a typical place for the creeper, 
 so I describe it in detail. I had taken from one spot, 
 standing in the mouth of the river, four trout in perfect 
 condition, and none under half a pound. But I had 
 come to the end of my tether. It was most tantalising 
 to know that the trout were well on the feed, and yet 
 that it was utterly useless to make any further attempts
 
 i;2 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 owing to the strong east wind. But for this the slaughter 
 must have been terrific. The seven averaged nine ounces 
 each a small but handsome lot. Talking of averages, 
 it is curious to note how fish of a similar size seem to 
 rise on the same day. On consecutive days in Septem- 
 ber I whipped with fly exactly the same water, namely, 
 from the wooden foot-bridge below the "Golden Lion "to 
 the "New Inn" bridge, and took twelve fish each day; the 
 first lot averaged fully seven ounces each, the last barely 
 five ounces, and they ran very even. I need not say that 
 I took no account of undersized fish. 
 
 The creeper, of course, changes into the stone- fly, 
 locally termed the May-fly. On the day which I have 
 described the creepers were already undergoing the 
 transformation. When this is the case it does not matter 
 which you use ; the same tackle will do for both, and 
 the fish seem to take them equally well. When, how- 
 ever, the stone-fly is fully out it is even more deadly 
 than the creeper, and you never get an ill-conditioned 
 fish 'with it. The only difference in using them is, that 
 the creeper should be sunk a few inches, while the stone- 
 fly may float nearer the surface indeed, it is difficult to 
 make it sink. But it should not be allowed to float 
 nearly high and dry, as it is apt to do, for in that case 
 the trout will seldom get hooked. Time and again I 
 noticed the trout rise fairly to the floating insect and 
 carry it off without giving the slightest pull. How it 
 manages this instantaneous appropriation and evades 
 the two hooks embedded in the body of the fly is a 
 problem as yet unsolved.
 
 HOR TON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 173 
 
 This method of fishing may be profitably employed 
 on those days (which are rather the rule than the 
 exception) when the water is too low for the fly, during 
 the period lasting from about April 24th to June 
 2oth. It is not as artistic as fly-fishing, but it is a very 
 good substitute for it, while the fish taken by it are 
 always the finest, and give excellent sport after they 
 are hooked. 
 
 I should like to make a further suggestion for im- 
 proving the sporting capacities of our water at Horton, 
 and that is, that grayling should be introduced. They 
 could easily be obtained from the neighbouring river 
 Yore, where the trout and grayling thrive well together ; 
 and if grayling were established they would prolong the 
 angling season into the late autumn and even winter, 
 and at least form an excuse for some of our anglers to 
 slip away from the fogs of Manchester, and spend a day 
 or two in the bracing air of Horton and unconventional 
 ease of the " Golden Lion." 
 
 III. 
 A PLEA FOR THE GRAYLING. 
 
 BY J. A. II. 
 
 MOST anglers are content to take Charles Cotton's 
 description of the grayling "one of the deadest- 
 hearted fishes in the world " as correct, and judge 
 this graceful little sporting fish accordingly. But
 
 174 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 I think that Charles Cotton could never have fished 
 for grayling at the right time of the year. Nor am 
 I alone in this opinion ; I need only refer to the 
 numerous authorities on the subject, Pritt, Senior, 
 Walbran, Dr. Hamilton, and many others, who all bear 
 testimony in favour of the grayling. The fact is that 
 very few anglers have any idea what sport they might 
 have, if, instead of hanging up their rods when Septem- 
 ber has passed, they would wend their way to the neigh- 
 bouring streams of Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and 
 cultivate a nearer acquaintance with this charming fish. 
 
 The joys of grayling fishing can only be appreciated 
 by those who have experienced them. To my mind 
 there is nothing more delightful than on a bright frosty 
 day in October or November to be on the banks of a 
 grayling stream with a fly rod in one's hand, and the fish 
 rising all round one and refusing to be put down, pluck 
 them as you may. They are free risers at times, but are 
 most difficult to hook, for the smallest of flies and the 
 finest of tackle must be used ; and when once hooked 
 they require delicate handling, for their mouths are most 
 tender. And then the beauty of the fish when caught ! 
 Most anglers only know them in April, after they have 
 spawned, when they often come readily to the fly ; but 
 there is as much difference between a grayling caught 
 then, and one caught in September or October, as there 
 is between trout taken in February and June. The open 
 season for grayling begins on June I5th, though they 
 do not come well to the fly until August, and the big fish 
 are rarely caught until the end of September; but
 
 HORTON-1N-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 175 
 
 October and November are the best months, though I 
 have taken them with the fly in December and January. 
 Grayling fishing has a fascination of its own, coming as 
 it does when the glories of autumn are upon us, and the 
 landscape is touched with the melancholy of the fading 
 year. But at present I will regard the subject from a 
 more practical point of view, and ask you to treat the 
 charms of grayling fishing as an accepted fact, and to 
 consider whether it would not therefore be adviseable to 
 introduce these fish into the waters of the Manchester 
 Anglers' Association in Ribblesdale. 
 
 One of the greatest arguments in favour of the 
 grayling especially to those who do not shoot is that 
 it comes in just when trout are going out. Trout fishing, 
 as we all know, begins nominally at the beginning of 
 February, but few anglers worthy of the name begin 
 their fishing before March. We soon reach September, 
 and if there are no grayling at hand our fishing is 
 over for the year just a short six months, during 
 two-thirds of which the water is either too low or 
 too high, or there is no wind or there is too much, 
 or else there is thunder about, or something else. This 
 does not give one many opportunities of catching 
 fish, especially as most of us are able to go a-fishing 
 only when we can arrange to get away from business, 
 and not when it is the right time to go. Now, 
 although "catching fish is not all of fishing," we like to 
 get some sometimes, and anything which increases the 
 possibilities of attaining this object should not be ignored. 
 By introducing grayling into the upper Ribble we should
 
 176 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 have more opportunities for sport during August and 
 September, and also have four additional months added 
 to our fishing season ; this ought to be sufficient reason 
 for us to consider seriously whether it may not be ad- 
 viseable to introduce this sporting little fish into the 
 waters at Horton. But further than this, the very best 
 time for grayling fishing is when the water is low, and 
 this applies to August and September, when trout are 
 still in season, as well as to the later months of the year, 
 when grayling are the only fish we may angle for. How 
 many of us there are who have started off Horton-wards 
 full of hope, only to find on our arrival that the river was 
 hopelessly low, and fishing out of the question! If we 
 had had grayling in the stream, the case might have 
 been different. I admit that they are somewhat capri- 
 cious risers ; so are trout, but my experience leads me to 
 believe that the best time to catch grayling is when the 
 water is low ; which, alas ! is not the case with trout. 
 Here we admirers of the grayling have a very strong 
 argument, and in further support of it I may mention 
 a few days from my own experience. One day I was at 
 Rocester on the Dove, at the latter end of August 
 the water was low, the sky was bright and the sun hot, 
 and it is hardly necessary to say that, as I had been 
 fishing for trout, when the afternoon drew on there was 
 very little more in my creel than when I started. I was 
 lying on the bank, smoking and basking in the sun, and 
 wondering what I should do to pass the time until my 
 train was due, when the keeper came up. " Have you 
 had any sport, sir ?" " Well, need you ask ? only two
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 177 
 
 small trout," was my disconsolate reply. " If I were you, 
 sir, I should go down to the weir, and try for the grayling ; 
 there's been a good few rising there all day." I imme- 
 diately "blessed" my own stupidity for not thinking of 
 this before, for grayling are curious fish, and though not 
 rising all over the river, will often rise steadily all day in 
 one particular spot. I hurried away to make the most 
 of the time, which was now only too short; for when I 
 reached the large pool below the weir, I found my friend 
 the keeper was right. To cut matters short, in very 
 little over an hour I creeled seven brace of grayling 
 weighing just seven pounds. Later on in the same year, 
 at the end of chill October, long after the trout fishing 
 was over, on the same water I got 9! brace of grayling 
 weighing 9^ Ibs., all taken with the fly. 
 
 Here is another similar experience, also on the Dove. 
 On this occasion I was fishing higher up the river, where 
 the trout fishing is excellent, on the Birdgrove Club water, 
 which holds some of the largest trout in Derbyshire. I 
 had heard that the water was hopelessly low. A bank 
 holiday, however, and some heavy rain in Manchester, 
 which as I found out later carefully avoided the Dove 
 tempted me to go down and take my chance, with the 
 usual result; for it was one of those days when your 
 friends kindly advise you to " chuck your hat at them." 
 A low river and a sky of the purest blue did not inspire me 
 with hope, but my past experiences helped me on this 
 occasion, and wending my way to where I thought the 
 grayling might be rising, I was lucky enough to have 
 my hopes rewarded. I returned home with j\ brace of 
 
 N
 
 i;8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 grayling weighing 8 Ibs. ; but this time I worked hard, 
 for the fish would not look at a sunk fly, and only took a 
 small Yellow Tag fished perfectly dry. The moral I wish 
 to draw from the foregoing is that, but for the grayling, 
 on each occasion I might have had to toil all day for 
 perhaps a brace of trout, or perhaps nothing ; instead of 
 which I was lucky enough to get two catches of which 
 any angler might feel proud. 
 
 There is another point I ought not to miss, and that 
 is the short time in which grayling attain a decent size. 
 In "Salmonia" Sir Humphry Davy states that such 
 fish as were hatched in May or June became nine or ten 
 inches in length by September, and weighed from five to 
 eight ounces, though probably in our northern streams 
 the rate of growth would not be so rapid as in the river 
 Teme, of which he was writing. But in any case, in a 
 very short time one would get really takeable fish, and 
 indeed, fish which one might take all the year round, for 
 grayling under lb. are not supposed to spawn so says 
 the late Francis Day, the greatest authority on British 
 salmonidce. 
 
 The scene of the following experience was nearer 
 home. One September I visited Horton, going as usual 
 when I could get away, and expecting, with my usual 
 luck, to find the river dead low which I did. I fished 
 for two days with as much result as you can imagine, 
 and finally I bolted off in despair to Wensleydale, for 
 there, at any rate, grayling were to be found, to say 
 nothing of charming scenery. The water was of course 
 low, for the Kibble and the Yore rise on much the same
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHERY. 179 
 
 watershed, and I cannot say the grayling were rising 
 freely, but at least I got some fishing worth calling 
 fishing, of which there did not seem much probability at 
 Horton. On my return I met Walker on the bridge. 
 He shook his head sadly as he looked at the river, which 
 had now dwindled to that apology for a stream which 
 we unfortunately know so well. " Well, and have you 
 coort oot up yonder?" asked W T alker, evidently not 
 expecting that I had. When I turned out of my creel 
 half a dozen nice grayling, of which the biggest was 
 close on a pound, his face was a picture. The old boy 
 does not like to have his ideas upset. " Dom it," he 
 said, "whoi can't we have them soart o' fish?" I 
 managed to bring Walker to my way of thinking very 
 easily, and I wish we enthusiasts for the grayling had 
 always as easy a task before us. 
 
 I hope I have proved that grayling may be a very 
 desirable addition to any fishery ; and I will now touch 
 on the points likely to be raised against me. Prejudice 
 one cannot fight, but, when a reasonable argument is 
 brought forward, it is a duty, in advocating what some 
 people look on as a revolution, to refute it. The most 
 common objection is that grayling devour trout spawn, 
 and must eventually be the means of thinning down the 
 stock of the latter fish. In the first place, I have never 
 seen this proved; I think the theory is not based on fact, 
 and even if it were, it would not matter at Horton. For, 
 curiously, grayling seldom leave the main stream, and 
 my impression is that whatever spawn is deposited by 
 trout in the main river at Horton does not come to
 
 i8o ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 anything; the heavy floods of winter and early spring 
 must often sweep it all away, or else bury it inches 
 deep with stones and gravel. Further, I believe the 
 fry and yearlings which we turn in are what mainly 
 stock the river. In proof of this, I would call attention 
 to the great increase in the stock at Horton compared 
 with what there was before artificial breeding operations 
 were begun. This is a fact to which the resident land- 
 lords have borne witness. Great credit is due to the 
 Fishing Committee for the eminent success of the fish 
 hatchery. I dare say that someone may object that in 
 the Derbyshire streams the stock must be almost entirely 
 kept up by the spawn deposited in the main rivers, as 
 there are few, if any, tributaries for the trout to ascend 
 for spawning purposes. But they don't have floods in 
 Derbyshire like those in the Kibble ; and further, the 
 Derbyshire trout seem very well able to look after them- 
 selves. My own opinion is that " the boot is on the 
 other leg ;" the poor, much-abused grayling, from its 
 habits, is compelled to deposit its spawn in the main 
 river in April or May, when Master Trout is just begin- 
 ning to pull himself together again, and I have no doubt 
 the latter is very much on the rampage at that time, and 
 on the look-out for the daily rise of the " grayling ova " 
 fry. The late Francis Day states that at the end of 
 July the fry are one to five inches long, and that in 
 aquaria it has been observed that trout will readily eat 
 young grayling. Perhaps my opponents will look on 
 this as an argument in favour of their introduction, as 
 being the means of providing additional food for the
 
 HOR TON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 1 8 1 
 
 trout. I suppose no one would contend that the grayling 
 goes for young trout. His small mouth is hardly 
 adapted for such food ; but certainly the trout will reap 
 any revenge which is due to him when the small gray- 
 ling hatch out. 
 
 I have also seen it stated that grayling will bully 
 trout. Again, I think, " the boot is on the other leg." 
 The grayling is comparatively a delicate and timid fish, 
 whereas the trout, with all due respect, is a pugnacious 
 rascal. Many a time have I seen small trout flying for 
 their lives when they had ventured a little too near the 
 haunt of one of their great-grandfathers, but I have 
 never yet seen a grayling pursuing another fish. One 
 of the strongest arguments I ever read was a remark by 
 " South-West " in one of his interesting little notes in the 
 Field. I think his name ought to carry weight, for he 
 is one of the best, if not the best of fishermen in the 
 south of England, with an experience of many years. 
 He is speaking of the Test, and here are his words : 
 " It would be an evil day for Houghton if the grayling 
 followed the example of the May-fly and grannom in 
 deserting the river." 
 
 But the strongest point of all is the fact that with the 
 exception of a few instances, where grayling have been 
 introduced in modern times, they have been living side 
 by side with the trout for centuries. If half what is 
 said against the grayling is true, by this time we should 
 have very few trout left in many streams in England. 
 " Prejudice is not proof," and those who have experienced 
 the fascinations of grayling-fishing cannot be expected
 
 1 82 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 to yield to mere prejudice. I don't lay claim to 
 more than ordinary skill in fishing, and unfortunately 
 my experiences are but few, but I have killed good 
 baskets of trout in Derbyshire, and in the very same 
 waters I have taken numbers of grayling. The same 
 thing holds good of the rivers of the south of England, 
 and the Shropshire streams ; and I recently received a 
 letter from Mr. F. M. Walbran telling the same story 
 of the Yorkshire rivers. He writes as follows : 
 
 "On June 21, 1889, on the Wharfe, I killed 44 trout 
 weighing 2ilbs. On the same water on November 21, 
 1889, I killed 44 grayling weighing 281bs. Again on the 
 Yore in December, 1890, I killed 36 grayling weighing 
 I4lbs., and on the same water I have killed i61bs. of 
 trout per day. Beyond this you do not want to go and 
 / say without fear of contradiction that trout and grayling 
 will thrive well together" 
 
 Mr. T. E. Pritt in the " Book of the Grayling " writes 
 as follows : 
 
 " The fish (trout and grayling) thrive equally well 
 together in those rivers which are suited to them, and 
 grayling must be acquitted of any tendency to diminish 
 the number of trout, if the ordinary supply of food is 
 fairly plentiful." 
 
 Evidently the Yorkshire fishermen have no doubts 
 on the subject, and if we turn to the writings of southern 
 anglers we find the same opinion. Mr. R. B. Marston 
 writes as follows in the Fishing Gazette : 
 
 " So long as there is plenty of room and food for 
 both, I do not believe that trout are prejudicially
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 183 
 
 affected. . . A river which contains trout and grayling 
 in good quantities is, in my opinion, far more interesting 
 to fish, and affords far more sport, than one stocked with 
 trout only, and of course for a much greater portion of 
 the year." 
 
 Again, Dr. Hamilton, also writing to the Fishing 
 Gazette, uses the following words : 
 
 " We feel sure that trout and grayling will live quite 
 happily together." 
 
 Other similar testimony to the merits of the grayling 
 could be given, but it is hardly necessary. 
 
 My belief is that those who argue that grayling spoil 
 trout fishing have not hit on the real reason why their 
 sport is not so good as it used to be. Where grayling 
 have been introduced, or where they have been living 
 with the trout for hundreds of years, and are supposed to 
 be spoiling the trout fishing, it is more than probable that 
 these rivers are suffering from the same misfortunes as 
 many others where there are no grayling ; it may be too 
 many fishermen, too much draining, or one of the many 
 causes by which we fishermen try to account for the fact 
 that we cannot make as good baskets as our forefathers 
 did, or indeed as we used to do ourselves. I say again, 
 let those who say grayling are spoiling their trout fishing 
 be quite sure that their streams are the only ones where 
 the fishing is not what it used to be. 
 
 The grayling is a fish which grows rapidly to a decent 
 size, often to a very large size, and it is well worth 
 introducing both for the fact that it gives us a much 
 longer fishing season and greater possibilities of sport,
 
 1 84 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 and also for its fine sporting qualities. All authorities 
 agree that grayling and trout will do well together on 
 one condition : you must have sufficient food for both. 
 As regards Horton it is only necessary to turn up the 
 stones on the river bed to see the capabilities the river 
 has in food supplies, and in the excellent condition of the 
 trout there is further proof of abundance. Besides this, 
 grayling lie more in the pools and gentle runs, where 
 trout do not as a rule lie. The introduction of this fish 
 would increase the Ribblesdale fishing-water by fully 
 one-half, and turn into good fishing-water what is now 
 practically useless. As to whether the water at Horton 
 would really suit grayling I do not feel qualified to speak ; 
 but some parts of the river seem excellently adapted for 
 them, particularly the long pools and still runs below 
 Horton Bridge, where one seldom thinks of fishing for 
 trout. And surely, by judicious care, it would be possible 
 to regulate the stock to suit the food supply ; and if they 
 were found to be too numerous it would not be difficult 
 to net them out, for they are far more easily netted than 
 trout. In conclusion, I can only repeat and say with old 
 Walker " Whoi shouldn't we have them soart o' fish ?" 
 
 NOTE ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRAYLING 
 
 AND ON SOME CURIOUS ERRORS BY THE 
 
 AUTHORITIES. 
 
 BY J. A. H. 
 
 In Mr. Day's interesting " British Salmonidae " there is a curious 
 geographical blunder in reference to the various rivers where the grayling
 
 HORTON-IN-RIBBLESDALE FISHER Y. 185 
 
 is found, viz , " In Derbyshire and Staffordshire, the Dove, the Wye, the 
 Trent, the Blithe, and the Hodder" The last mentioned stream we all 
 know to lie one of the most charming rivers of Yorkshire. It occurred to 
 me that I had seen the same mistake before, and I presently discovered it 
 in an article by Cholmondeley Pennell, in one 01 the Badminton volumes 
 on fishing. There, too the Hodder figures as a Staffordshire stream, and 
 upon further investigation I was much struck by the similarity between 
 different authors, both in their mistakes and in the wording of their 
 sentences. The following are a few illustrative extracts, as ar as possible 
 in chronological order ; but as I have not carried my search further back 
 than the present century, perhaps the originator of the blunder is yet to be 
 found. The first quotation is from " Salmonia," by Sir Humphry Davy, 
 published in 1828 ;l The grayling is a rare fish in England, and has 
 never been ound in Scotland or Ireland I know of no river further west 
 than the Avon in Hampshire. They are found in some tributary streams 
 which rise in Wiltshire. I know of no river containing them on the north 
 coast west of the Severn; there are very few only on the upper part of this 
 river, and in the streams which form it in North Wales. There are a few 
 in the Wye and its tributary streams. In the Lug, which flows through the 
 next valley in Herefordshire,they are found, but are not common. In Derby- 
 shire and Staffordshire, the Dove, the Wye, the Trent, and the Blithe afford 
 grayling; in Yorkshire, on the north coast, some of the tributary streams of 
 the Kibble ; and in the south, the Ure, the Wharfe, the Humber, the 
 Derwent, and the streams that form it, particularly the Rye." I 
 quote this passage to point out that it forms a sort of foundation for some 
 later writers. Ronald quotes it in full, but acknowledges the original 
 author It is curious to note that no mention is made of the 
 Derbyshire Derwent, a far more important stream than the Wye. 
 In " Fly Fishing," by Shipley and Fitzgibbon, published in 1838, 
 we find what may be the original mistake in the following passage : " In 
 the southern counties of Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is found 
 in the Test and in both the Avons ; in Herefordshire in the Dove, the Lug, 
 the Wye, and the Irvon ; in Shropshire in the Teme and the Clun ; in 
 Staffordshire in the Hodder, the Trent, the Dove, the Churnet, and the 
 Wye ; in Derbyshire in the Dove ; in Merionethshire in the Dee, between 
 Curwen and Bala ; in Nottinghamshire in the Trent ; in Lancashire in the 
 Ribble ; in Yorkshire in the Derwent, the Ure, the Wharfe, and the 
 Whiske, near Northallerton Dr. Heysham says it is occasionally taken 
 in the Eden and the Esk in Cumberland." This passage contains several 
 mistakes. The Hodder, as was pointed out before, is a Yorkshire stream ; 
 the Wye is in Derbyshire, not in Staffordshire ; and the Dove is as much 
 a Staffordshire as a Derbyshire stream. As in Davy no mention is made 
 of the Derltyshire Derwent. These mistakes are the less excusable, as
 
 186 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Shipley was a native of Ashbourne. Passing on to 1885, we find Pennell 
 writing as follows in the Badminton Library: "Of the counties pro- 
 ducing this fish, probably Herefordshire and Shropshire contain the best, 
 as they certainly contain the most celebrated streams. The former 
 includes the Dove, the Lugg, the Wye, and the Ervon, and the latter the 
 Clun and Teme. In Hampshire and Wiltshire the grayling is found in the 
 Test, Wharfe, and both the Avons ; in Staffordshire in the Hodder, Trent, 
 Dove, and Wye ; in Derbyshire in the Dove ; in Merionethshire 
 in the Dee, between Curleen and Bala ; in Lancashire in the Ribble ; in 
 Yorkshire in the Derwent, Ure, Wharfe, and Whiske, near Northallerton ; 
 and in Cumberland in the Esk and Eden." The similarity between 
 this and the preceding extract is almost verbatim. Curleen is no 
 doubt meant for Corwen. At first sight this seems to be a misprint ; 
 but in a quotation rom a later book by the same author, " Sport- 
 ing Fish of Great Britain, 1 886," we find this mistake reprinted in 
 another form : >; In Hampshire and Wiltshire the grayling is found in the 
 Test, the Itchen. and in both the Avons, etc. ; in Herefordshire in the 
 Teme, the Lug, the Wye, and the Arrow ; in Shropshire in the Teme 
 and the Clun ; in Staffordshire in the Hodder, the Trent, the Dove, the 
 Blythe, and the Wye ; in Derbyshire in the Dove ; in Merionethshire in 
 the Dee between Curlen and Bala ; in Lancashire in the Ribble ; in 
 Yorkshire in the Derwent near Scarborough, in the Yore, the Wharfe, and 
 in the Whiske, near Northallerton ; in the Rye, Swale, Costa (Yorkshire), 
 and the Dove, near Pickering ; in Berkshire in the Kennet at Hemger- 
 ford ; in Cumberland, according to Heysham (but this appears doubtful), 
 in the Esk and the Eden." Here we have practically the same thing 
 over again with a few variations and another way of spelling Corwen. 
 One more quotation. In " Fly Fishing " by Dr. Hamilton, published in 
 1884, we read : " In England the grayling is found, according to Yarrell 
 and others, in the following rivers : In Hampshire and Wiltshire the 
 Test, Itchen, and Avon ; in Herefordshire the Lug. the Wye. the Irvon, 
 and the Arrow ; in Shropshire the Teme, the Clun, and the Corve : in 
 Staffordshire the Trent, the Dove, and the Wye ; in Derbyshire, the Dove 
 and the Wye ; in Merionethshire in the Dee; in Yorkshire in the Derwent. 
 the Ure, the Wharfe, and the Whiske ; in Cumberland in the Eden and 
 the Esk." This author perpetuates some of the mistakes. It is amusing 
 to find how a mistake started fifty years ago, possibly in the last century, 
 has been reproduced in the present day. I do not wish to disparage 
 the valuable works of any of the above-mentioned angling writers, as I 
 have derived much pleasure from studying their books, and have gained 
 many useful hints from them ; but it is a pity such a blot should appear 
 upon their pages.
 
 REMINISCENCES OF EARLY 
 ANGLING DAYS. 
 
 BY HENRY VANNAN, M.A. 
 I. 
 
 nascitur non fit," to alter the Latin 
 proverb ; and I think that the exceptions to 
 this rule are not greater in proportion than 
 they are in the case of mental and physical endowments, 
 which, it is agreed, are in a general way transmitted by 
 parents to their offspring. We not infrequently find 
 that clever parents have stupid children, and often 
 the father's gift in some special direction is conspicuous 
 by its absence in the son. Thus I have heard of the son 
 of an eminent mathematician, who was never able to 
 master the simplest elements of Euclid, nor work cor- 
 rectly the most trifling algebraical problem, though he 
 was by no means wanting in ability of another kind. In 
 the case of fishing you may find instances of a similar 
 character, but personally I have never met with a family 
 where the father practised the gentle art without the 
 love of the sport being developed in one or other of the 
 junior members. It is no doubt true that circumstances 
 tend very materially to foster the liking ; as, for example,
 
 1 88 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 being brought up near some river well stocked with fish. 
 But even in this case we meet with very many who, 
 living in the midst of everything calculated to inspire 
 the piscatorial furor, and having every opportunity of 
 exercising the art, will tell you that they never handled 
 a rod or cast a line in their life. Somehow, they say, 
 they never had any turn for it ; they had not sufficient 
 patience, and so forth. 
 
 But, my angling brother, however we may differ as 
 to the origin of the love of fishing in ourselves or others, 
 there is one point on which I am sure we agree, viz., 
 that the practice of the art has been to us a source of 
 boundless delight; that its pleasures never pall, and leave 
 no sting behind them, and that its prospective prepara- 
 tion and actual exercise are alike enjoyable. Whether 
 we sit by the red glow of our u ain fireside" when the 
 wintry storm beats furiously against the window-pane, 
 and discuss with our friend the mysteries into which 
 only "cunning craftsmen" can enter ; or wander with the 
 same congenial spirit, rod in hand, by the margent green 
 of lake or stream when buds are opening, and "the time 
 for the singing of birds is come;" or when the bright 
 suns of summer render peculiarly delightful the grateful 
 shade of sequestered wood and glen, or again, when 
 laden wains are bearing home the rich treasures of a 
 bountiful harvest in all its circumstances and surround- 
 ings, our angling experience is full of healthful and 
 innocent enjoyment, and its recollections, early and more 
 recent, will abide with us as green and restful spots in 
 our memory while life remains.
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 189 
 
 The early experiences of most anglers must necessarily 
 have a good deal in common, and there are those whom 
 nothing delights but the scientific discussion of the latest 
 devices in rods, or lines, or lures : but then the true 
 angler is highly sympathetic, though to some this may 
 appear paradoxical. When we who began to be fishers 
 just as far back as our memory can carry us compare 
 notes together, it may not be without some benefit, if it 
 be but to strengthen the influence of those associations 
 which cluster round our favourite pastime, to amuse us by 
 a retrospect of the slow and uphill process of study, and 
 patient persevering practice, which brought as a reward 
 the fair amount of skill we have attained ; to make us 
 more gentle and kind, and affable and communicative to 
 the wandering juveniles and other tyros who cross our 
 path, with their feet upon the first rung of the ladder of 
 their fishing experience, and commonly a painfully 
 apparent lack of necessary gear ; and to awaken in us 
 feelings of thankfulness that we have an amusement to 
 fall back upon which takes us into a pure and health- 
 giving atmosphere, and brings us into close contact 
 with nature in her charming and ever varying moods. 
 Though cynics may speak of the harshness and cruelty 
 of our sport, and rail against the meanness of its artifice 
 and deception, yet I maintain that its influences are all 
 beneficial and humanising, that a man is a better man all 
 round for belonging to the craft ; and if I have a friend, 
 who, in addition to the other virtues for which I respect 
 and esteem him, adds this merit, that he is a fisher, I 
 shall value his friendship all the more.
 
 190 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 My earliest fishing impressions are associated with a 
 beautiful little brook, or, as Burns would have called 
 it, "a wimplin' burn," which flowed and still continues 
 to flow, in unpolluted clearness, a few miles from a 
 certain University town some distance north of the 
 Tweed. Bubbling up from among the hills which used 
 always to look so far away, and brought such strange, 
 weird thoughts of terrible loneliness and boundless 
 distance, it comes down through a charming valley, 
 in which, covering its channel and fed by its limpid 
 waters, are two or three large reservoirs, forming the 
 water supply for the denizens of the neighbouring town. 
 In this stream, and on that part less remote from home, 
 my apprenticeship to the gentle art began, at the some- 
 what early age of six or seven years. The brook has a 
 name which is neither here nor there, for with us in those 
 early days it was sufficiently described in our own circle 
 as " the burn," because then we knew no other. At the 
 spot where our fishing always began, whether we went 
 "up" or "down," there stood a "clachan," or small group 
 of rustic houses, of as quaint and picturesque a character 
 as you might see in a summer day, consisting of the 
 smith's house, the "smiddy," and one or two lowly 
 dwellings, inhabited by the hinds on the neighbouring 
 farm. 
 
 Here the brook was crossed by an old and very rough 
 road from the city, which marked off* exactly the two 
 portions known to us as "up the burn" and "down the 
 burn ; " these, though immediately adjoining, were as 
 different in their aspects as can well be imagined. Above
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 191 
 
 the clachan the stream meandered for some miles 
 through an open and undulating country, richly clad 
 with green pastures and waving grain, but with no trees 
 shading its banks, and few pools to afford harbourage for 
 trout. Below the clachan, on the other hand, was a 
 dark and silent glen, sloping upwards on each side to 
 a considerable height, and densely wooded. Here the 
 burn assumed a much wilder aspect, and broke into a 
 succession of falls and pools, where the trout were large 
 and plentiful. 
 
 But how oppressive the silence of the place ! How 
 dim the light to our childish eyes! How solemn the 
 answering notes of the cushats croodling from among the 
 topmost trees, whose heads, we knew, were lifted up into 
 the daylight! And it is not wonderful that the im- 
 pressions left upon our memory by these two neighbour- 
 ing spots are as widely different as were their aspects. 
 " Up the burn " all was light, brightness, and cheer- 
 fulness, and the brook flowed shallow and sparkling 
 and noisy, through luxuriant valleys and cultivated fields. 
 The shepherd kept us company with his collie and his 
 flocks, or the ploughman with his team; or the sower 
 sowed his seed ; or the reaper harvested his grain. There 
 was a sense of freedom and exhilaration in the clear 
 crisp atmosphere, and we shouted and laughed and sang 
 for very joy. " Down the burn," on the contrary, in the 
 glen, that is to say, all to our youthful perception was 
 gloom, darkness, silence, loneliness, eerieness, dreariness ; 
 spirits at zero, dark, deep shaded pools, with the witches' 
 froth perpetually circling round them. Here, at a spot
 
 192 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 which had been carefully cleared in order to admit the 
 air and sunlight, stood " the big house," as it was called, 
 grim and vacant, for the proprietor rarely visited it, and 
 it was generally confided to the care of an old female 
 retainer of the family. 
 
 A thorough-going " big house " it was too, with its 
 respectable family ghost, or rather ghosts, for if I remem- 
 ber rightly the number was not limited to one. For the 
 kindly consfderation of the owner in never visiting the 
 place we were, of course, profoundly grateful, as our 
 liberty on this account was greatly increased. But alas ! 
 what did all this liberty avail so long as Mordecai the 
 Jew sat in the king's gate ? Or, to drop the language of 
 metaphor, so long as nameless dread held us back 
 at the very threshold, unless when we were in the 
 company of our elders. For did not we know full well 
 that the place was haunted ; and had we not heard, 
 and drunk in greedily, shivering as we listened, the 
 stories current of sealed presses and locked-up apart- 
 ments? into which, for reasons best known to those 
 whom it might concern, the light of day was never 
 allowed to enter, but which, nevertheless, contained 
 so those said who had heard of it from others who 
 had themselves looked through the keyhole I forget 
 exactly what, but something very dreadful, as you 
 can well imagine. This explained satisfactorily to us 
 why the proprietor never resided there, and how it was 
 that years afterwards, when a family took the house at a 
 merely nominal rent, they were not able to endure their 
 wretched existence. What with invisible beings scudding
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 193 
 
 past them on the stairs and corridors, when with trembling 
 steps, and candle held before them, they were endeavour- 
 ing to navigate their weary way to bed ; what with 
 unearthly howlings in the chimneys, strange tappings at 
 the windows, and apparently unexplainable nocturnal 
 whistlings in the neighbourhood of the house, servants 
 left precipitately after a few days' service, and master 
 and mistress and sons and daughters were fain to hurry 
 after them. But that was not all, nor worst of all ; for 
 was it not affirmed to be a fact by those who had been 
 eye-witnesses, and did we not therefore implicitly believe 
 it, that once every year, on a certain night, at that dread 
 hour when witches and warlocks were abroad for uncanny 
 purposes, a sombre hearse, drawn by four coal-black 
 steeds, and followed by a long train of ghostly torch- 
 bearers, was to be seen flitting silently like a phantom 
 through the glen ? Need it be said, after this, that unless 
 in the company of our respected seniors, and even then 
 with feelings of modified fear, we seldom ventured within 
 the dread precincts. 
 
 When alone, we preferred to confine our attention 
 to that part of the brook already alluded to, which was 
 free and open, and which abounded in minnows and 
 beardies, the former of which we would catch by the 
 dozen and take home, only to be thrown out or given 
 to the cat ; but for all that we discussed our relative 
 takes with the liveliest interest, and were as proudly 
 appreciative of a large paunchy minnow as perhaps we 
 should now be of an unusually fine trout or salmon. 
 I well remember a story that was current amongst us
 
 I 9 4 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 in after years, of one of our confraternity, a veteran 
 of eight, who caught such a splendid specimen of the 
 minnow tribe, so broad and baggy, that he went 
 home in high glee to prove to his father that he 
 had caught a veritable trout at last. In vain did the 
 experienced angler attempt to convince his boy that 
 it was only an overgrown minnow. He had made up 
 his mind that it was a trout, and, like many another 
 and older angler, convinced against his will, he sturdily 
 retained his own opinion. 
 
 This part of the brook was shallow, and had little 
 shelter for trout save under its grassy banks, but it was 
 a delightfully safe place for youthful anglers to learn 
 the rudiments of their art ; and so it came to pass that 
 we learned the difference between a minnow and a trout, 
 by catching some of the latter, and from that time the 
 minnow was looked upon with proper feelings of disdain, 
 as beneath the notice of those who had on several 
 occasions carried home fish which had actually been 
 cooked and brought to table. A famous opportunity 
 was afforded us here of practising that most popular 
 mode of fishing amongst boys, called "guddling," or 
 "gumping." I ought to mention, however, that we 
 never resorted to this plan until we had been un- 
 successful with rod and line. It was fair means with 
 us first ; the other kind afterwards. 
 
 We were sometimes surprised at the large size of the 
 trout we succeeded in disturbing not necessarily catch- 
 ing ; though we frequently threw out a fair number. 
 Personally I never cared much for this style of fishing.
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 195 
 
 Wading and splashing about in the cool stream on a 
 hot summer's day was enjoyable in the extreme, and as 
 one recalls these scenes in the days of other years, and 
 thinks of the separations in our little band, Burns's 
 immortal words come unbidden to our memory : 
 
 We twa hae run about the braes, 
 And pu'd the gowans fine ; 
 But we've wandered mony a weary fit 
 Sin' auld lang syne. 
 
 We twa hae paidl't i' the burn 
 Frae mornin' sun till dine ; 
 But seas between us braid hae roared. 
 Sin' auld lang syne. 
 
 Wading for pleasure was always delightful, but to 
 poke about with hands and arms, under the hollow, 
 worn banks, dislodging fish or water-rats as the case 
 might be, was, to say the least of it, risky, and calculated 
 to raise feelings of hesitancy and apprehension. 
 
 A friend of mine tells how when a boy he was quite an 
 adapt at guddling, and pursued the art successfully for a 
 long time. A companion and he were one day busily 
 plying their sport, the latter wading in the water doing 
 the practical, the former giving directions from the bank. 
 A fine trout was started and observed to dart under 
 cover. My friend gave chase, the other meanwhile keep- 
 ing an eye on the exact spot where it had disappeared. 
 The hands and arms were cautiously inserted. " I have 
 him now," he shouted as he seized the fish. " He's a 
 beauty," said he on the bank. " A pound if he's an 
 ounce," was the reply from the water. " Hold hard till
 
 I 9 6 ANGLERS 1 EVENINGS. 
 
 you work your thumb under his gill," said he from the 
 bank. " Look out," said the other as he flung the prize 
 ashore not a trout of a pound, but a fine frog of half a 
 pound, and his thumb had been under its gill! Since 
 then he has devoted his attention exclusively to rod- 
 fishing. 
 
 Another and more satisfactory mode of capturing 
 fish, which I have seen practised by boys in the country 
 districts of Scotland, is snaring or girning them. This 
 plan seems to require a great amount of skill and dexterity. 
 One day, in the West of Scotland, I came upon a herd 
 laddie successfully plying this art in a considerable 
 stream, and I stood at some distance and watched with 
 interest the " modus operandi." The water was shallow 
 and clear. He cautiously waded up stream, or stepped 
 lightly from stone to stone, keeping his eyes on the 
 water. Then he would be seen working away for some 
 time at a particular spot, after which he generally threw 
 a fish out on the nearest bank. When he had taken 
 about half a dozen good trout in this way he came out to 
 collect them and give a look to his cows. I had some 
 conversation with him and he showed me his appliance, 
 which was a simple loop of hair. This he managed to 
 insert from behind under the tails of the trout lazily 
 basking in the sun, or perhaps enjoying their after- 
 dinner siesta, if indeed it be so that fish sleep; and, 
 gently slipping the noose forward to the gills " he nippit 
 them oot," to use his own expression, on to the bank. 
 It certainly was a clever operation, and it must have been 
 a startling one for the fish.
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 197 
 
 II. 
 
 ONE notable figure that stands prominently out in my 
 recollection of these early scenes is the smith of the 
 little clachan already referred to "Auld Andra," as 
 he was generally called ; not, however, " a mighty 
 man," as Longfellow describes, " with the muscles of 
 his brawny arms as strong as iron bands." As a youth 
 he may have been a fairly strong man, but even when 
 I first knew him he seemed aged, though probably 
 not sixty. He looked small, and was bent and 
 somewhat shrunken; but for all that he kept the 
 whip hand of his two stalwart apprentices and got 
 through a lot of work. Andrew was remarkable for two 
 things; the first his head-dress, an extra tall chimney-pot 
 hat, without which he was never to be seen either in the 
 house or the smithy. I used almost unconsciously to 
 speculate about this ancient appendage, which continued 
 fit for service long after the beaver was worn off and 
 nothing remained but the stiff, straight-up-and-down 
 framework. Andrew was a man of sense and resource, 
 and a heavy snuffer. Most ordinary men who affect the 
 dignity of a long hat are content to rest in the belief 
 that its one and only purpose is for covering the head. 
 Andrew, however, saw in the immense vacuum above 
 his cranium a convenient depository for odds and ends, 
 such as his pocket handkerchief and snuffbox, and very 
 properly used it accordingly. The other circumstance 
 by which he was distinguished was his mode of speech 
 almost the broadest dialect of Doric Scotch I ever heard.
 
 1 98 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 The late lamented Mr. Kennedy, the Scottish 
 vocalist, used to tell that when he was on his tour in 
 the Far West, after an entertainment given in a place 
 where the audience were principally Scottish emigrants, 
 an aged woman waited to shake hands with him, and on 
 his enquiring how she enjoyed the concert, she replied 
 that she had been greatly pleased, but she " thocht he 
 micht hae gi'en them 't a wee braider" Andrew's 
 speech would certainly have come up to this old lady's 
 standard. Unfortunately he was in the habit of inter- 
 larding and enforcing his remarks with sundry expletives 
 and unnecessarily strong expressions, which, happily, in 
 these days of progress and enlightenment, have fallen 
 considerably into disuse, and he seemed to be much of 
 the same opinion as the old Scotch wife whose son had 
 been severely reproved by the minister for his profanity. 
 She rehearsed the circumstances of the case to a 
 neighbour, who, instead of sympathising with her as 
 she expected, upheld the authority of the clergyman; 
 so, feeling keenly the position of her son, she 
 replied, in closing the argument, " Weel, weel, swearin' 
 may be wrang, but for a' that, ye maun alloo' that it's a 
 great orniment tae conversashin." It is only doing 
 justice to the old man's memory to say that when I 
 knew him in later years this habit was very much 
 modified, if not entirely given up. 
 
 His wife "Mysie" was a little retiring woman, so 
 short-sighted that she had to peer disagreeably near your 
 face before she recognised you. She did not appear 
 to be endowed with any great amount of thrift,
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 199 
 
 but she kept her husband pretty comfortable and did not 
 contradict him too often one of the chief secrets, I am 
 informed, of getting along smoothly in the married state. 
 The house and smithy stood side by side, and behind, 
 entering through the latter, was Andrew's "yaird," in 
 which he took great pride. Here, amongst his other 
 plants, he cultivated most beautiful wallflowers, the rich 
 dark-brown double sort, and many of them were wall- 
 flowers in the literal sense of the term, growing as they 
 did out of crevices in an old, low, moss-grown wall at the 
 top of the garden. After pointing out the beauties of 
 the place he would say, "Noo ye maun get a floor to tak' 
 hame," and then he would gather us a rustic posy of 
 beautiful roses, marigolds, wallflowers and violets, with 
 tall spikes of gardeners' garter standing up in the middle 
 and waving like banners as we walked. The strong- 
 smelling plants seemed to have most value in his estima- 
 tion. "That's the stuff," he would say, cutting a 
 great bunch of southern-wood and mint and thyme, 
 and our bouquet was never considered complete until 
 it had been surrounded by a thick layer of these 
 fragrant herbs. Close to that part where we descended 
 by a few steps to the smithy door on our way out, there 
 grew two very large plants of rue and thyme, and 
 stopping at the edge of the walk, and pointing first 
 to the one and then to the other of these, he would 
 look waggishly at us and say, "Noo, bairns, rue an' 
 thyme." 
 
 The smith's dwelling-house consisted of " a but and 
 a ben," that is the kitchen or common apartment of the
 
 200 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 household, and the " spence," or best room, which was 
 only used on state occasions, such as the advent of 
 friends from a far country. Then, indeed, the place, at 
 other times rarely entered, had to be furbished up. The 
 mahogany table and hard horse-hair chairs, and the chest 
 of drawers the gudewife's pride had to be polished; 
 cobwebs and dust in general removed, and the huge 
 tent-bed, hung all round with blue-striped print curtains 
 the most conspicuous object in the room aired and 
 rendered habitable. The kitchen, though not the most 
 cheerful of apartments, was, if anything, the livelier of 
 the two; at least, if you remained long enough in it 
 for the eyes to become accustomed to the dim light 
 which prevailed there at all seasons, some signs of life 
 became manifest. What light there was entered by two 
 small windows on opposite sides of the house, each con- 
 taining one pane of thick glass with a large green knot 
 in the middle. On each side of the little passage by 
 which you entered there was a large box or press 
 bed, and Andrew, whose father for fifty or sixty 
 years before him had shod the horses, and made and 
 mended the ploughs and harrows of the neighbouring 
 farmers, used to point out the one in which he himself 
 was born. 
 
 A word in passing on this kind of bed. Formerly 
 they were the only kind in use among the peasantry of 
 Scotland, and in many respects they were most comfort- 
 able. The bed itself was generally fitted into a recess, 
 and in front it had sliding doors, which ran in a groove, 
 so that it might be opened or shut at pleasure. Our
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 201 
 
 modern fashion is to have the bed pretty near the floor, 
 but this primitive couch stood very high, and a wooden 
 board was fixed along the front considerably above the 
 level of the bed-clothes, which afforded the occupant a 
 sense of security and a certainty of remaining where he 
 was, which must have added to his comfort once he was 
 fairly in. But here lay the difficulty. At sundry times 
 and in divers places I have occupied a bed of this descrip- 
 tion, and like most people of some little physical activity, 
 have attempted by a standing or short running leap to 
 reach the land of rest, but almost invariably with the 
 result of coming an excruciating blow on the patella, or, 
 as an old Aberdeen lady, who had no idea of leaving any 
 of the letters of a word unsounded, once phrased it in my 
 hearing, "getting a fearful k-nock on the k-nee." If you, 
 my friend, in your angling peregrinations should ever be 
 reduced to the level of a "box-bed," my advice, founded 
 on painful experience, most decidedly is: Attempt no 
 gymnastic feats, but quietly betake yourself, for assist- 
 ance in ascending and descending, to the nearest chair. 
 It does not require much stretch of imagination to 
 believe that the shepherd in his lonely shieling by the 
 bleak and exposed hillside, with the wintry storm beating 
 furiously against his door, and the cold, piercing wind 
 searching for entrance at every crevice and cranny, 
 would be fain to declare that he would not exchange his 
 cosy crib, made after the pattern I have described, for 
 the most approved modern bed you could find him. 
 
 But to return to the smith. His life, but for one 
 solitary exception, had been an uneventful one. He
 
 202 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 scarcely ever went from home save to the neighbouring 
 town, and, according to his own account, had slept but 
 one night out of his own house, on the occasion of his 
 making what was probably his first and last railway 
 journey, to a place some forty miles distant from his 
 home. Yet though he travelled so little he would 
 frequently remark with great unction, though, I fear, with 
 but a very indistinct notion of the subject, when question- 
 ing us as to what we were doing at school, that " jogri- 
 furry was the stuff." He told us that while his father 
 was still living, and he himself a strong young fellow at 
 his best, he was awakened one night by sounds of 
 scuffling and cries for help. On going out he found a 
 poor packman in the grasp of a footpad, who made off 
 immediately on his approach. Giving chase, he suc- 
 ceeded in capturing him and giving him up to justice. 
 I cannot say whether the packman had been murdered 
 outright or only robbed and maltreated. At all events, 
 the smith was the chief witness against his assailant, and 
 the result was that the man was hanged. I imagine 
 that in those times the capital sentence of the law was 
 carried into effect at or near the place where the crime 
 was committed. Be that as it may, I distinctly recollect 
 that an aged thorn, which grew in a field close to the 
 roadside, was pointed out as the spot where the criminal 
 was executed. For a considerable time after this Andrew 
 was in danger of his life from the man's friends, and was 
 obliged to keep almost constantly at home. His steps 
 were dogged if he went abroad after dark, and frequently 
 his father's house would be surrounded at midnight by an
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 203 
 
 infuriated crowd, who demanded that he should be given 
 up to them. The little thatched cottage, however, was 
 very strongly built, and did not present many assailable 
 points; the windows were few, and a blacksmith is 
 supposed to know how to fasten his door securely. 
 Fortunately for the occupants of the cottage, the mob 
 never attempted to set it on fire, which, from the 
 inflammable nature of the roof, could have been very 
 easily done, but contented themselves with hooting 
 and yelling, and uttering imprecations upon the head 
 of him who had brought their quondam companion 
 to justice. By-and-bye they ceased their nocturnal 
 visits, but for long after he never returned from the 
 neighbouring town, after doing business and collecting 
 money, without depositing it for safety in his boots. 
 
 It was alleged that at the trial the robber pro- 
 nounced a curse upon the smith, declaring that he should 
 never have a son who would be able to swear away the 
 life of a man. For the truth of this I cannot vouch. 
 It may have been one of those inverted prophecies which 
 are sometimes promulgated after the event has transpired 
 which fits them. Certain it is that the smith had but 
 one child, a son, and he a poor helpless paralytic from 
 his birth, spared to his parents for more than forty years, 
 but all that time paralyzed in speech and in every limb. 
 Poor Johnny ! My earliest recollections of visiting the 
 burn are mixed up mysteriously with him. Some little 
 token of remembrance had always to be taken to him, 
 and this it was my duty, while the ciders were putting 
 up their rods at the door and " crackin' " with Mysie, to
 
 204 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 deliver to him in person, going for that purpose into the 
 dimly-lighted kitchen, where he lay on the old-fashioned 
 sofa, across the little window. This to me, as a child, 
 was an ordeal. The unusually large, manly-looking 
 head, and bearded face ; the dark, piercing, intelligent 
 eyes, sparkling out of the shadowy twilight, contrasted 
 with the diminutive, childish frame, covered with the 
 little tartan frock which loving hands had made for him ; 
 this, and the motions of his face, vainly attempting to 
 express his thanks so his mother said all combined 
 to form a picture that impressed my imagination with 
 awe. 
 
 I afterwards learned from his mother that he had a 
 perfectly intelligent apprehension of right and wrong, 
 and a strong natural aversion to anything evil. He had 
 also great influence over his father, and the rude, un- 
 taught visitors to the smith's house knew well that no 
 rough words nor evil conversation would be tolerated in 
 the presence of Johnny. While their son lived, the 
 smith and his wife seemed thriving and comfortable, 
 and many were the kind friends who came, not empty- 
 handed, to see him. After his death the old couple 
 sank into poverty. What the Divine purpose of such a 
 life is we can but dimly see. No doubt the sight of 
 helplessness and suffering softens the rugged nature and 
 enlists the love and sympathy and help of the strong; 
 yet after all we can but say, 
 
 God has His mysteries of grace, 
 
 Ways that we cannot tell ; 
 
 He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep 
 
 Of him He loved so well.
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 205 
 
 III. 
 
 I NEED not say that as years passed over our heads the 
 scenes in the wooded glen began to wear a different 
 aspect, and that we gradually made the discovery that 
 it was the place where trout were to be found, and 
 worth a hundred of the upper reaches in the open 
 fields. There were then dozens of little pools where 
 nice trout could be taken, and two or three considerable 
 linns, where at times I have taken trout of more than a 
 pound weight, but that was when I was out of my 
 apprenticeship. In the early days it was worm-fishing 
 we practised, with the single hook, and, I am afraid, not 
 the finest of tackle. We never thought of preparing bait, 
 but generally got one of the smith's apprentices to dig 
 us some worms. This stalwart young fellow was a prime 
 favourite with us, because of his kindly ways and the 
 interest he displayed in our juvenile sport. One day, 
 when the old smith had sent him as usual to get some 
 bait, and the " gudewife " had just been administering a 
 refresher of milk all round, I ventured on the remark 
 that he must be pretty comfortable in his situation, and 
 that his mistress was an uncommonly nice person. " Ou 
 ay," said he, " she micht be waur ; she's no that ill if she 
 wadna pit sticks in oor parritch." Of course, as Scotch 
 laddies we all had our porridge for breakfast, but what 
 the apprentice meant by his mistress putting sticks in the 
 porridge, or with what intention these inedible morsels 
 were introduced, for a long time I was unable to divine. 
 But the blacksmith's wife honest woman was near-
 
 206 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 sighted to a degree, as has already been mentioned, and 
 on more than one occasion afterwards I saw her 
 intently examining the contents of the porridge pot by 
 the aid of a huge blazing faggot out of the fire, and as 
 the steam caused piece after piece of the charcoal to 
 drop, unnoticed, into the pot, the mysterious allusion was 
 at length explained. This, however, by the way. 
 
 Unfortunately for our success at this period, we were 
 invariably in the habit of selecting the larger sized worms 
 for bait, under the impression that because they filled 
 our eye they would also find favour in the eyes of the 
 trout; and thus many a day, after tiring ourselves, 
 and fishing, to our thinking, in the most approved fashion, 
 we succeeded only in frightening the fish, and returned 
 home with empty creels. It would be about this time, and 
 probably when I was turned twelve, that a kind friend, 
 whose memory I bless, put into my hands a copy of 
 Stewart's "Practical Angler." I need scarcely say that I 
 perused it with eagerness, that I read it a second time 
 and studied it diligently, that I became a willing and 
 submissive convert to his opinions, and immediately and 
 gladly adopted his modes. I must confess, however, that 
 I had not at first much faith in his style of bait- 
 hooks. I bought a few in a tackle shop they were 
 then sold at threepence each, and were therefore a not 
 inconsiderable tax on a schoolboy's slender purse but 
 with these I certainly was not successful. I examined 
 them carefully and laid them aside, satisfied that they 
 were dressed on too large hooks, and that there were too 
 many of them. They had been made, as Stewart allows,
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 207 
 
 with four hooks on each. I had also implicitly followed 
 his directions for putting on the worm, with the points of 
 the hooks protruding, which is a decided mistake. I was 
 not long in changing my tactics. I bought no more 
 ready-dressed hooks, but invested in a small stock of 
 materials, and tied them for myself, using only three 
 small hooks and baiting in a different fashion. Then, as 
 a result of studying Stewact, two principles became fixed 
 in my mind to keep out of sight, and at all costs to use 
 fine tackle ; and I may say that from that day forward 
 a substantial measure of success was ensured to me. I 
 never met Mr. Stewart, but it is only fair to say that I 
 acknowledge more indebtedness for practical instruction 
 to his book than to any other, on the same subject, 
 that I have ever read. 
 
 I remember when there used to be a great deal of 
 prejudice against the triple hook, and even yet bait fishers 
 are to be met who cling tenaciously to the single one. 
 When fishing with the tackle I was once accosted by a 
 farmer, an angler of the old school, who inquired, "What 
 sport?" I had only begun and had nothing to show. 
 "What kind of hook do you use?" said he. I replied that 
 I was fishing with Stewart's tackle. As he did not know 
 what this was, I showed it to him, when he looked at it 
 scornfully, and broke out in the vernacular, "An' dae ye 
 expeck tae catch fish wi" thae daft-like heuks? I'm 
 thinkin' yc'll scawr [scare] mair than ye'll catch in this 
 watter," and with a look of contempt he strode on. He 
 had not gone many yards when the same "daft-like" 
 hooks somehow got fast in a fine, frisky trout, which
 
 208 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 began to make such a commotion in the quiet pool that 
 my sceptical questioner was fain to turn round and wait 
 till I had landed my fish; but he had not the grace to 
 come back and acknowledge that his judgment was 
 hasty and his observations rude. Many a round dozen 
 of the glen burn trout fell victims to the improved 
 tackle and increased skill we had acquired. We seemed 
 to feel that we had donned the "toga virilis" of fishing 
 life, and that all boyish modes of manipulation must 
 thenceforth be discarded. 
 
 Personally, my status at home was considerably 
 enhanced by the results of my newly-acquired skill. 
 The women-folk looked with less disfavour on my 
 carryings-on in the kitchen, when I was preparing bait, 
 and tenderly handling, to their horror and disgust, my 
 stock of worms, or utilising the fire and evoking there- 
 from fearful and wonderful odours, the effects of 
 profound chemical researches in the preparation of 
 stains, dyes, and varnishes, and the compounding of 
 various medicaments we had heard of for putting on the 
 bait to attract the fish. My rod was now allowed to 
 remain in the corner where I placed it, instead of being 
 knocked about by all and sundry, as "that boy's old 
 sticks which were always in the way," and the butt and 
 mid-piece were more rarely used at cleaning times when 
 there was a deficiency of carpet-beaters. My pastime 
 was regarded in a different light now. It was no longer 
 mere boys' play, tolerated to keep me out of mischief, or 
 frowned upon as a snare which tempted me away from 
 lessons. I had something to show for myself now when
 
 EARLY ANGLING DA VS. 209 
 
 I returned, my fish were greatly appreciated, and I 
 became a person of considerable importance in the 
 household. 
 
 At that time, in addition to the sport, my greatest 
 pleasure was to see the beautiful spotted creatures, and to 
 this day the sight of a fine dish of newly-taken trout, 
 whether my own catching or any other person's, causes 
 me intense delight. I suppose this is the case with 
 all old fishers. Since those early days I have cast a line in 
 many a river, and seen many a different variety of trout, 
 but, however you may explain it, I have never seen any 
 to compare with those of the bye-gone days. It may 
 not be true, though we all seem to think so, that the 
 skies were brighter and the fields of deeper green in 
 the sunny days of childhood, and it may be only a 
 delusion for me to suppose that the trout which came out 
 of the glen burn were more beautiful than any I have 
 ever looked at since. But I cling to the innocent delusion 
 all the same, and would rather not be awakened from 
 my youthful dream. Good old Izaak says, "God never 
 did make a more calm, quiet, innocent recreation than 
 angling!" I am always on the side of Walton. 
 
 My friend of early and later angling reminiscences, 
 did you never feel thankful that you had such a pastime? 
 If you think of it, I believe you will see cause. Have 
 you never felt mind and body refreshed and invigorated 
 by a day of silent communion with nature among the 
 lonely hills, while you followed the windings of the river, 
 disclosing to you new sights and sounds at every turn, 
 and drank in the pellucid atmosphere as from a crystal
 
 210 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 and life-reviving spring ? Did you never feel, when the 
 heart was over-burdened with anxious care, or weighed 
 down with grief, that a mysterious but healing virtue 
 seemed to flow from the practice of the gentle art? 
 The mind found an object with which it could pleasantly 
 engross itself ; care sat lighter ; foreboding became less 
 gloomy ; grief was imperceptibly assuaged. You saw 
 things in a different light, and found an open channel in 
 Nature by which you could look up to Him who is 
 Nature and who is yet infinitely and immeasurably 
 above it. 
 
 I have often moralised on the discipline of fishing. 
 Perhaps, my friend, you smile; but there is a discipline 
 connected with it after all, though this is more apparent 
 to the initiated. I have scores of times lost my best and 
 largest fish. I have been fast to a salmon for the best 
 part of a day, and after wetting and sweating, and 
 fumbling and stumbling, he has gone the way of many 
 another big one, with a smile at my futile efforts to 
 detain him, if so be that the majestic creature ever 
 relaxes so far. I have come home from the 
 fishing with my creel so weighty that every mile I 
 trudged seemed like two or three. Again, I have 
 returned without a fin, and though I tried hard to avoid 
 them, have been button-holed by half a dozen kind 
 inquiring friends, and have had to explain my want of 
 success six times over ere reaching the shelter and 
 seclusion of my own roof, with all the time an increasing 
 consciousness that I was but half believed, and that I 
 was set down as a poor hand. I have walked six miles
 
 EARLY ANGLING DAYS. 211 
 
 to my fishing ground on the last available day of my 
 holiday, and finding the water in splendid order, have 
 discovered to my dismay that I had left the reel 
 behind me. 
 
 But why multiply examples of discipline and dis- 
 appointmentcommon toall anglers? Enough! Wellington 
 is said to have declared that Waterloo was won on 
 the playing-fields of Eton and Harrow ; and I am 
 free to believe that in the patient perseverance and 
 frequent disappointments of our craft we may, though 
 unconsciously, have many a time been schooled to bear 
 the harder crosses and losses incident to the stern 
 battle of our life.
 
 AN ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 
 
 BY T. E. PRITT. 
 
 jjHIS it was that set me thinking. The Kilnsey 
 keeper had delivered himself one Anglers' 
 Evening of a memorable utterance: "I have," 
 said he, "been on this ground over thirty year, an' I've 
 seen a sight o' gentlemen in my time, and a deal o' 
 fishers good 'uns, bad 'uns, and indifferent ; an' I've 
 come to one con-elusion, an' it's this : Th' best o' men is 
 a bit leet gi'en at times." The philosophy of the keeper 
 extended, I fancy, to anglers only, the ways of common 
 men being outside the range of his observation. He 
 had that night seen half-a-dozen of us, heavy fathers, fat 
 and growing old, playing duckstone on the highroad in 
 front of the inn. To a man of sixteen stone weight, 
 after a hard day's fishing and a heavy dinner, this is an 
 exhilarating pastime, and brings out all a man's good 
 and bad points. But the air of the dales is irresistible ; 
 there is life and laughter in it. Have I not myself 
 beheld a grave judge of one of Her Majesty's minor 
 courts making horrible grimaces in the broad highway 
 for the delectation of the village children? Ah! yes; 
 when the moorland breezes blow the grime of great 
 cities off us ; when the telephone bell gives place to the
 
 AN ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 213 
 
 whistle of the curlew and the plover's cry ; when we see 
 the sky is still blue as it used to be, years ago, then the 
 angler is a boy again, 
 
 "Just at the age, 'twixt boy and youth, 
 When thought is speech, and speech is truth." 
 
 The keeper's words set me thinking. I, too, have 
 seen a number of anglers and have noticed many things. 
 I have observed that in a properly constituted man the 
 desire to kill something is inherent ; his quarry may be 
 salmon, or deer, or grouse, or rats, but the tyrant man 
 must triumph. The very housemaid exemplifies this 
 when she comes down on the innocent black beetle with 
 the disgusting crack that blots him out for ever. And I 
 am satisfied that every fisherman is a poacher by instinct. 
 Now a poacher, according to the dictionaries, is one who 
 kills game unlawfully, and that is hardly my meaning, 
 but no other word seems to fit the situation I have in my 
 mind. Given a clear opportunity, and what angler can 
 forbear taking a cast over to the far side of the river, where 
 the trout always rise better, and where that big fish has 
 lain so long, proof against every wile offered to him ? 
 That part of the stream belongs to Mr. Schaunt, who 
 will allow no one to fish it, and it would be untold delight 
 to catch his biggest trout and stuff" it for a trophy 
 caught in our water ! Men don't usually tell these things ; 
 they think them ; and only he who has closely studied 
 the ways of anglers for a long series of years, like 
 my friend the keeper, learns these interesting facts. 
 I recall two instances in my own typically innocent 
 career. Many years ago I used to fish for gold-fish
 
 214 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 in a certain Lancashire mill lodge, where the water 
 was warm and the fish plentiful. Ordinary tackle 
 with a small hook, and paste for bait, were all one 
 needed. The commercial instinct had not permeated 
 the gold-fish market at that time, and specimens which 
 would now realise from fourpence to tenpence each went 
 into my boy's basket like so many gudgeon, to the number 
 of five-and-twenty or thirty in the course of an afternoon. 
 One fine day, after many visits, I observed that a kind 
 of small iron bath had been put by the side of one of the 
 lodges. In this bath, through which a stream of warm 
 water constantly flowed, were about a dozen of the 
 largest, the fattest, and the goldenest gold-fish that ever 
 illuminated a boy's eye. They were selected beauties, 
 varying from half-a-pound to three-quarters each, and 
 were obviously the property of some avaricious con- 
 noisseur about the mill. I sighed and looked, and sighed 
 and looked ; and the old Adam was upon me. Creeping 
 close under the mill I dropped my bait in that bath and 
 caught every fish. Then I departed as fast as my young 
 legs would carry me, and have never since ventured in 
 that mill-yard. When I pass it sometimes, even now, I 
 fancy there may be someone on the look-out for me, 
 though it must be five-and-thirty years since this 
 happened. There are plenty of gold-fish there yet, and 
 I might go again some day, if only an assurance were 
 forthcoming that the man whose fish were thus annexed 
 was dead. 
 
 Another incident comes to mind relating to a period 
 twenty odd years later. It was my first salmon, that is
 
 AN A NGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 2 1 5 
 
 to say, it would have been, had not another fellow caught 
 it. We were fishing the Hodder, and had cast over every 
 likely bit on which we had permission to fish. There 
 was one magnificent pool in which both of us felt that a 
 fish was certain ; but we were absolutely prohibited from 
 fishing it. We talked it over, in our anxiety to get a 
 salmon, and agreed that under no circumstances could 
 we fish the forbidden water. So we arranged to try the 
 open river again, I starting at the bottom (where we 
 were) and working up, and he beginning at the top and 
 coming down ; and thereupon we parted. No sooner 
 was he out of sight than I began to covet the pool I had 
 no right to fish. I moved and seconded a resolution 
 that I should try it, and then proceeded to discuss 
 the question in solemn and solitary conclave. I argued 
 it from every point of view, and in the end concluded 
 that it would be a dirty trick to play on my friend, 
 with whom a binding agreement had been made, and 
 who was, as all anglers are, a man of strict integrity, who 
 would himself never dream of doing such a thing. Still, 
 Eve ate the apple, and I found it impossible in the end 
 to resist the peal that being a local name for grilse, 
 perhaps the joke may pass. Wherefore, I sneaked off, 
 feeling unspeakably mean, keeping my rod down lest my 
 now distant friend should catch a gleam of it going in a 
 dubious direction, or that I should be caught flagmntc 
 delicto and ordered off ignominiously. Ten minutes 
 brought me to the coveted spot, on the verge of 
 which stood a stone building used for storing fodder. 
 Behind this building I screened myself, put on a new
 
 216 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 fly, and generally rigged myself out for the purpose 
 of carrying on the nefarious plans which would 
 unquestionably land me a fish. All being ready, I 
 stepped out, and at the same moment the other fellow 
 also stepped out from the other end of the building. 
 The situation was complete but embarrassing. It was 
 practically identical with that of the boy who begged his 
 father to let him go to a circus. The stern parent could 
 not afford; the boy said he had saved a shilling and 
 would pay for himself. The father said a circus was not 
 respectable ; it was demoralising ; no decent man or 
 woman would think of entering such a place ; and his 
 wife backed him up in this opinion. An hour later, the 
 boy went on his own account, and was carried by a great 
 rush of spectators into the front row of the circus gallery, 
 and dropping into a seat, looked up at the man next 
 him to find he was alongside his father ; at the same 
 moment the guilty father discovered his son. " Say, 
 father," said the boy, anxious to get the first word in 
 such an appalling situation, " Say, dad, promise you 
 won't lick me and I'll not tell mother you were here." 
 
 Having expressed our astonishment at the depravity 
 of mankind in general, we tossed up who should fish 
 the pool. Of course he won, and in a few minutes was 
 fast in a fish of 81b. a fish which under happier circum- 
 stances would have been mine. I am not likely to 
 forget the glee with which I saw him in difficulties 
 with that fish, how it led him a dance, now up, 
 now down, the river, over sharp boulders and wire 
 fences, into deep gullies and out again on level
 
 ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 217 
 
 land; nor shall I forgive his delight when at length 
 I gaffed the fish and he fondly clasped the salmon 
 in his arms, exclaiming as well as his lack of breath 
 would allow him, " Thank Heaven there are not two of 
 you," just as the fond father nursing his first-born, 
 " darkly, at dead of night," thanked goodness he was not 
 twins. So, it seems to me, my Wharfedale friend was 
 right, and the best of anglers at least some of them 
 are lightly given at times. 
 
 That sets me off on another subject. Do fish feel 
 pain ? Don't, my good reader, shut up this chapter with 
 a sigh and a remark that now I am going to gnaw a bare 
 bone of contention. I propose only to relate some 
 personal experiences which leave me in a state of utter 
 perplexity as to whether fish feel pain or not. How can 
 we decide it ? With a truly marvellous optical system, 
 the brain and nervous organisation in fish appears to 
 be comparatively smaller than in almost any living 
 creature. Yet I have seen a trout at Hawnby, in 
 the North Riding of Yorkshire, show symptoms of 
 excitement responsive to the footfall of a woman who 
 fed him daily in a road-side well for the best part of 
 thirty years. Lean, black, and miserable, it seemed as if, 
 notwithstanding, some sense of gratitude existed in the 
 fish toward the hand that remembered him in such a 
 hopeless situation. And if memory of one kind, even 
 though but the memory of the cupboard, why not a 
 far-off remembrance of the river, and the rocks, and the 
 waterfalls? And if these things, why not but let us 
 look at the perplexing point.
 
 2i8 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 One fine August day, when the limestone almost 
 cracked under the heat of the sun, and the river was at 
 its lowest, I fished a little red worm up the Wharfe from 
 Netherside to Starbottom. Just above Kettlewell Bridge 
 there was a tiny pool of water between two moss-covered 
 flat rocks, and in this pool, into which a little stream of 
 water trickled from above, lay a trout of about half-a- 
 pound. My worm fell just in the neck of the little 
 stream, and the instant it passed into the pool the fish 
 took it. I struck, and lifted him out of the water a foot 
 or so, when he slipped from the hook and fell back to 
 his little hold. My worm fell a second time in the same 
 spot and again the fish took it without a second's hesita- 
 tion, and I basketed him. Now, was this insensibility 
 to pain or sheer hunger? Given a mouthful of cayenne 
 pepper, however hungry a man is, he does not yearn for 
 more. 
 
 So much for that ; now look at this. A year or two 
 ago a man of my acquaintance living at Howtown, 
 U 11s water, used to throw a worm to a trout that had 
 its location in the little beck that enters the lake just 
 at the steamboat pier in Howtown Bay. Every day 
 at dinner time, as he crossed the bridge spanning this 
 tributary, my friend dropped the fish a worm or two, 
 giving him occasionally a downright good feed. The 
 fish always took the worms readily and rarely seemed 
 to have enough. When this kind of nodding acquaintance 
 had existed for some months, the poaching instincts of 
 the man asserted themselves, and in an evil moment, 
 with a gross disregard of the laws of friendship, he
 
 AN ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 219 
 
 determined to catch and eat his acquaintance, and for 
 this purpose basely offered him a worm with a hook in 
 it. The trout took it in a moment, unsuspicious of guile, 
 and the man lifted the fish out ; but the fates were kind, 
 and after rising in the world a couple of feet or so, the 
 trout fell from the hook and was safe again in the stream. 
 How did the fish behave thereafter? Like my Kettlewell 
 trout, did he take another worm immediately ? Not a 
 bit of it ; from that day henceforward no worm his old 
 friend offered him was as much as looked at: the 
 acquaintance was at an end. Between these cases, which 
 are only two of many similar instances within the know- 
 ledge of old anglers, there is such a wide range for 
 speculation, that personally, I give the question up. No 
 angler would willingly inflict pain on any of the creatures 
 with which his sport renders it necessary for him to deal ; 
 it happens they are all cold blooded, or practically so, 
 and we may believe the wise men who tell us that the 
 senses of these inferior beings are proportionately dulled. 
 But the gentle angler is still gentle in the best sense when 
 he " flicks " the living minnow on the head before 
 impaling him. 
 
 The other thing in the train of thought into which I 
 fell, consequent on the keeper's philosophic reflection, was 
 the constant recurrence of libels on the whole race of 
 anglers, for which the Yankee elongator of veracity is 
 for the most part responsible. Hear Josh Billings: "The 
 man that ken swop horses or ketch fish and not lie about 
 'em is just as pious as any man ever got to be in this 
 world." And another irreverent joker of the same
 
 220 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 incorrigible land says, "The angler goeth out in the 
 morning and cometh back in the evening with the smell ol 
 whiskey upon him, but the truth is not in him." I asked 
 myself if the keeper meant that these things are true. 
 
 You, gentle reader, or simple, whichever you think 
 you are; you who know nothing of the mysteries of the 
 finest sport ever discovered by man discovered as yet 
 only in part ; you who could not, if you hooked one, land 
 a salmon under a week with a clothes-prop and a cart- 
 rope do not believe these things ; they are base libels 
 on a long-suffering race of men. For " sufferance is the 
 badge of all our tribe." The horse-dealer may be con- 
 ceded, but the angler never. The popular idea of a 
 fisherman is, that he is a harmless kind of fellow who 
 goes out in an atmosphere thick with fog, catarrh, and 
 rheumatism, and, selecting some wet sod by the river- 
 side where the wind sighs mournfully through the 
 bare trees, sits down quietly, drops in a bit of 
 painted cork, and waits until something happens. Some- 
 times it does and sometimes it does not happen, but 
 the angler rarely molests anyone and never complains. 
 He will watch and wait; he will come again to-morrow 
 and begin where he left off, with courage undiminished 
 and patience unexhausted. And remember that this is 
 the same man who cannot be got to go to church because 
 the pews are uncomfortable. There is no other sport 
 like it in existence. 
 
 Ah ! let the scoffer laugh his loudest, he cannot 
 drown the voice of the singing river, the throstle in the 
 grey dawn, or the lark at mid-day. Thank Heaven
 
 AN ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS 221 
 
 there are still running in this best of all lands streams 
 untouched by the polluting crafts of man, which leap, 
 and dance, and tumble as they did when gentle Izaak 
 trod the daisy-speckled fields and poured out his thanks- 
 giving that he lived. No man sees so much of Nature 
 and her moods and man-els as the fly-fisher if he does 
 but observe, and only an observant man can ever hope 
 to become an expert angler. What is the wonderful 
 story that the dainty Eplicmcra has to betray to inquiring 
 minds when it stands for a brief moment upright on the 
 water, a miracle of beauty invisible almost to our eyes, 
 but wonderful beyond belief under the microscope? 
 What is its history through its processes on the bed of 
 the river? What is its purpose in the great economy of 
 Nature ? Whence came the colour, the feathery delicacy, 
 the ever-varying shades ? 
 
 And when day is over let the lamps be lighted in the 
 inn or the farm-house, and let old men tell for the 
 hundredth time the mighty deeds of their youth ; let the 
 stimulating grog go round in moderation. I never yet 
 saw a merry party round a pump. 
 
 " An' he that scorns ale to his victual, 
 
 Is welcome to let it alone, 
 There's some can l>e wise wi' a little, 
 An' sime that are foolish with noan." 
 
 There are so few things in everyday life that are 
 worth telling just as they occur, that it is the angler's 
 privilege to touch up the daily incidents of his craft just 
 as an artist gives us effects which no eye but his could 
 see ; or, as the photographer, bland and affable, produces
 
 222 A NGLERS' E V EN INGS, 
 
 astounding marvels of unsuspected beauty in our oldest 
 friends. But the truth is in these things in spite of the 
 American jester, who speaketh but for himself. 
 
 Uncle Remus, I think, is responsible for the remark 
 that " licker talks mighty loud when it gets loose from de 
 jug," and it was under the aromatic influence of lemon 
 that I not long since heard a story about Sunday fishing, 
 which may conclude this rambling paper. Perhaps you 
 never went fishing on the Sabbath day : I blush to say 
 I once did, in company with four men, all well known on 
 the Manchester Exchange. I draw a veil over the scene. 
 It took place on the Scottish Eden, and culminated in 
 a riot which might have ended in civil war, and which 
 actually broke up the Local Association, and resulted in 
 our ignominious flight by a midnight train to different 
 parts of the land. Next week they had it in the local 
 paper : it was a just judgment on us, but what could 
 weak angling nature do when, after waiting a whole week 
 for a fishable water, the river came down magnificently 
 on Sunday morning ? Ah ! 
 
 But to the story. Two anglers Sassenachs you 
 may be sure had waited at Loch Awe for a breeze for 
 a whole week, and waited in vain. On the Sabbath 
 morn you know what kind of a morn it is in Scotland 
 there was a glorious ripple, the kind of ripple in which 
 a trout rushes madly to his destruction ; fish those 
 anglers must. But the man from whom alone they 
 could engage a boat was an elder of the kirk, and 
 he turned up the whites of his eyes "till the strings 
 awmost crackit again," when they suggested that he
 
 AN ANGLER'S CONFESSIONS. 223 
 
 should let them the boat for an hour or two. " He 
 could na dae it ; it was sair ineequity ; sic like a thing 
 had no been done on the loch within the memory o' man." 
 They offered him untold bribes of silver, and then of 
 gold, but he was obdurate until his eye rested on the 
 sovereign held out to him, when he thus delivered 
 himself: "Na, na, I'll no let the boat; I'm an elder o' 
 the kirk, ye ken, and a God-fearing man, and it's no 
 reasonable to expec' me to consent to sic like a wicked 
 proceeding ; but the boat lies there in the rushes and 
 the oars are in her ; just ye gang awa' doon and get 
 intil her and row awa' oot into the lake, and I'll come 
 doon and swear at ye ; but ye mun jist tak" no notice of 
 what I say, but row awa', an' I'll call for the money the 
 morn."
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY 
 
 AND UPPER PART OF LOCH 
 
 AWE. 
 
 BY THE REV. C. P. ROBERTS, M.A. 
 
 [N the Autumn of 1862 I met, for the first time, 
 a somewhat eccentric old gentleman, then 70 
 years of age, with whom I was slightly con- 
 nected by marriage. He had, in the course of an active 
 and successful career as an American merchant, accumu- 
 lated a comfortable fortune, and at the time of which I 
 speak had retired from the active pursuit of business and 
 devoted the greater part of the year to the active pursuit 
 of angling. For some considerable time past he had 
 made Dalmally, about two miles from the upper end ot 
 Loch Awe, his headquarters in Scotland, and in the com- 
 fortable and old-fashioned inn, not then dignified by the 
 name of " hotel," he used to spend seven months of the 
 year, from April to October. Not having any settled 
 residence in England or elsewhere, he used to invite his 
 friends to this inn, and there are not a few who first made 
 their acquaintance with the Western Highlands of Scot- 
 land, and gained their first experience of the charms of 
 Highland angling, as his guests. A cousin of mine had
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 225 
 
 paid him a visit, and returned with glowing accounts of 
 the beauty of the place, the excellence of the fishing, and 
 the hospitality of his host. I often wondered whether 
 it would ever be my luck to meet this uncle, and, if so, 
 whether he would take to his distant "nevvy." Well, 
 we met : it was somewhat difficult for one unaccustomed 
 to him to understand his speech, partly from the low 
 tone in which he spoke, and partly from the obstruction 
 which the cigar, which he was seldom without, formed to 
 the escape of what were meant to be words from his lips. 
 When he departed, I thought him a nice old man, some- 
 what eccentric perhaps, genial and good-natured ; but 
 he had not invited me to Dalmally ! However, our 
 hostess said to me, "Well, I'm so glad you've seen 
 Uncle T., and I'm delighted that you've got an invitation 
 to Scotland." "Nothing of the sort," said I, "he never 
 mentioned it." "Oh, but he did; he said that he hoped 
 to see you there next year. You didn't understand his 
 way of putting it. You'll be hearing from him next 
 summer, you'll see." 
 
 I confess that I thought a good deal about that old 
 man during the next few months. I wondered if he had 
 really said anything about it ; and, if he had, whether 
 he would remember it. But my doubts were set at rest 
 when, one morning in May, I received a letter asking me 
 to go up to Dalmally in the long vacation, and study for 
 a degree in angling. There were minute directions for 
 the journey, and the assurance of a warm welcome at the 
 end ot it. Only one answer was possible, and it was 
 sent. In due course I followed it, and in July, 1863,
 
 226 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 began my connection with the Orchy and Loch Awe, 
 which I have kept up ever since, four times as the old 
 man's guest in the years succeeding the first, and many 
 a time since on my own account. I trust that I may be 
 able to continue my visits there at intervals as long as I 
 can seek relaxation and enjoyment amidst varied and 
 magnificent scenery, amongst a race of Highlanders as 
 noble as the hills under which they live, and of peasant 
 girls as fair, in some instances, as the glens in which they 
 dwell, and amongst waters which afford sport at any time 
 of the year that one would ordinarily fix upon for a trip 
 to the Highlands. 
 
 It would perhaps savour of selfishness, a characteristic 
 which ill befits and seldom marks an angler, if I were to 
 heave a sigh over the increased and increasing facilities 
 for travelling which have opened out, to numbers of our 
 countrymen and countrywomen, charming spots in Scot- 
 land which formerly only the few could enjoy. But 
 though we anglers are essentially a sociable class, we 
 appreciate most in our fishing expeditions the society of 
 those whose objects and interests are identical with our 
 own ; we scorn the company of those who accept the 
 cynical definition of angling as a process carried on by 
 "a fool at one end and a worm at the other" of a rod 
 and line; and there is no creature whom to put it 
 mildly we love less than the tourist who "just takes a 
 walk up the river to see how that fellow who's gone 
 a-fishing is getting on," who probably walks close 
 by the margin of the stream as he makes his unwel- 
 come way, and thus scares away from your favourite
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 227 
 
 pools the fish which you know were lying ready for 
 your lure. 
 
 The tourist routes through the Western Highlands 
 of Scotland were, of course, in the summer months, the 
 same then as now ; but it was not until June that 
 the coaches began to run ; before that month posting 
 was the only means of travelling, and its expense deterred 
 nearly all but anglers and artists from penetrating to 
 glens, rivers and lochs to ply their art in spring. Rail- 
 ways now have changed all that. When I was at Dalmally 
 in April, 1882, there were two or three cheap trips from 
 Glasgow, and much as I rejoiced as a man to see a crowd 
 of city toilers revelling in the pure air of the country 
 I sighed as an angler for the former days of calm and 
 stillness, when the fisherman's voice was the only one 
 which woke the echoes by Kilchurn Castle. Yet even 
 anglers have reason to bless the Caledonian Railway. 
 The time which they are able to devote to an angling 
 expedition is usually not unlimited ; and the possi- 
 bility of getting into a North- Western express at the 
 Exchange Station at 10 a.m. and being deposited at Loch 
 Awe at 9 p.m., or travelling by the Limited Mail at 
 I a.m., and reaching Loch Awe at 1 1.30 a.m., may tempt 
 some who would grudge a longer expenditure of time in 
 travelling. To those who can afford the time and have 
 no disinclination to a sea voyage, I would strongly 
 recommend, especially in summer, the route by steamer 
 from Manchester to Greenock ; the boats are excellent 
 and the cuisine ; and if you choose a time for starting 
 which admits of the latter part of the eighteen hours'
 
 228 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 voyage being made in daylight, the sail up the Firth 
 of Clyde well repays those who can appreciate the 
 scenery. At Glasgow or Greenock you can take 
 one of the steamers which ply regularly to various 
 parts of the Western Coast or Salt Water Lochs which 
 run up from the Clyde. To my thinking, the most 
 picturesque route is that via Lochgoil Head, where you 
 can find a conveyance to carry you over a steep inter- 
 vening hill between Lochgoil and Loch Fyne. Passing 
 through Hell's Glen on its way to St. Catherine's, 
 crossing the head of Loch Fyne in a small ferry-steamer 
 to Inverary, you post or coach it 14 miles through the 
 charming Glen Aray, skirting Loch Awe during some 
 portion of the last six miles, and obtaining at intervals 
 some beautiful glimpses of its island gems. And if you 
 like to ascend a small hill on your right on which stands 
 " Duncan's Monument," erected in honour of a local bard 
 of that name, you get a bird's-eye view far away down 
 the twenty-six miles which Loch Awe stretches towards 
 the south-west, and a magnificent view of many-corried 
 Ben Cruachan across the Loch, as well as of the other 
 mountains and hills surrounding Glen Orchy, through 
 which the river Orchy runs past Dalmally, which, with 
 the whitewashed tower of its church, its comfortable hotel 
 and groups of bothies, you see nestling in the trees two 
 miles beyond and below you. 
 
 The river Orchy, which is the main feeder of Loch 
 Awe, comes from Loch Tulla, a small loch near to which 
 is the Inveroran Hotel, in the well-known district of the 
 Black Mount Deer Forest. The length of the river is
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 229 
 
 about 17 miles from source to mouth as the road runs, 
 without taking into account the windings of the stream, 
 which are not inconsiderable. As regards the division 
 of the water for fishing purposes, the upper half from 
 Orchy Bridge to the Falls is in the hands of the landlord 
 of the Inveroran Hotel, whose guests, I believe, fish free 
 of charge. Never having fished in this upper portion, I 
 have nothing more to say about it. Of the lower portion 
 I think I know every reach and every pool. Sir John 
 Lawes, at the time I write of, rented the shooting of Glen 
 Orchy from Lord Breadalbane, and had the right of 
 fishing three days a week on this lower water; the other 
 three days the landlord of Dalmally Hotel had. Sir 
 John, however, seldom exercised his right, and when 
 neither he nor any friend to whom he might have given 
 permission was there, the guests at the hotel could fish 
 every day. Another tenant now rents this shooting, and 
 the hotel has, I believe, the right of fishing the left bank 
 of the river every day. No charge is made for the 
 fishing, but as the best water is seven miles away from 
 the hotel, you have to take a " machine " to the Falls. 
 The salmon takes advantage of the length of the 
 river to display those eccentricities of character and 
 habit which we all know, but which "no fellah can 
 understand." The fish begin in March or April to 
 run up from Loch Etive, through the river Awe, which 
 drains Loch Awe, through four miles of the loch, and 
 into the Orchy ; until the middle of May they seldom go 
 beyond the falls, although there may be plenty of water 
 to allow of their ascending, and no obstacle to impede
 
 230 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 their progress, except their own incomprehensible 
 instinct. After the middle of May they seldom tarry in 
 the lower portion, but hasten into the Inveroran pools. 
 The best time to visit Dalmally for salmon fishing is 
 March, April and May, and to visit Inveroran, June, July, 
 August and September. You may in later months come 
 across a travelling fish resting on his journey upwards, 
 but the chances are against his taking the deceptive 
 refreshment you offer him on his halt. Another curious 
 illustration of the instinct of the salmon in returning 
 from the sea to the river in which they were bred, is 
 furnished by those of the Awe and Orchy ; although the 
 Orchy-bred fish pass through the river Awe, they are 
 seldom caught in it, and the Awe fish never ascend to 
 the Orchy. The fish of these two rivers differ in shape 
 somewhat, and are easily distinguishable by those who 
 have frequent opportunities of observing each : those of 
 the Awe are shorter and thicker than those of the Orchy. 
 Both are occasionally caught in the loch, and in 
 September good sport is got with them with fly from a 
 boat on the south shore. Netting the loch for them off 
 this shore, which was formerly regularly practised by 
 those who had the right, is now, I believe, entirely 
 discontinued. The best part of the Dalmally water is 
 that which runs through a series of continuous pools for 
 about a mile, commencing from the bridge below the falls. 
 You could hardly wish for better water when the river is 
 in good ply after a spate, easier to fish without either 
 "switching," "flipping," or wading; though a wise angler 
 will always be protected by waders, ready for emergencies
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 231 
 
 such as I myself have there experienced. The sport, too, 
 for the extent of the water, is hard to beat when the 
 spate happens to come on the right day of the week, or 
 with the proper force to allow all the fish to come up 
 from the salt-water Loch Etive, and to escape the nets at 
 the mouth of the Awe. 
 
 On Thursday, April 2oth, 1882, there had been heavy 
 rain for two consecutive days, which had prevented the 
 nets at the mouth of the river Awe being set, and 
 allowed waiting fish to run up. I went up with two 
 friends, and though the water was too high and rather 
 discoloured, we managed to bring back six fish. On the 
 next day, Friday, April 2ist, Mr. Montague Campbell 
 (who has a newly-built house on one of the islands 
 of Loch Awe) had permission from Sir John Lawes to 
 fish ; he went up with a gillie (an excellent fisherman too !) 
 at 8 a.m., and returned at 8 p.m. with the magnificent 
 result of sixteen fish, weighing in the aggregate 242^ Ibs. 
 I noted the weights as they were scaled, and they were 
 as follows: 18, 13$, ii, 13^,2 li, 13,22, u, 13!, 13*, 13, 
 21, 2i, 15, io, io|. Such a take in about half-a-mile 
 of water in 9 hours (allowing for journeys to and from the 
 falls) of bright clean-run fish, in magnificent condition, 
 with sea-lice adhering to many, is not bad testimony to 
 the prospects of sport in the Orchy, when the river is in 
 good order in spring. The old gentleman of whom I 
 spoke at first, once caught eleven to his own rod in a 
 shorter time than this. I went up myself with two friends 
 on two successive days ; the first day yielded eleven, the 
 second ten, to our three rods. The fish do not, as a rule,
 
 232 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 run large ; the average size is from 12 to 14 Ibs., perhaps 
 rather over, but in shape and beauty they are hard to 
 beat. You must not think that you are going to land a 
 " fushe " every time you go out there : many, oh, many 
 a blank day have I had ! But what true angler is dis- 
 heartened at that ? When your stay is short and your 
 time limited, you often go out without prospect of success 
 on the chance of falsifying the predictions of the knowing 
 ones, and even against your own real judgment : but 
 then if you want a salmon you must fish for him. I 
 said that the best portion of Dalmally water is seven miles 
 up from the hotel : there are, however, several good pools, 
 though some distance apart, in the intervening six miles. 
 I shall ever have a lively recollection of one of these 
 pools. I had gone that year with a friend, who was 
 somewhat out of sorts, and had been recommended to try 
 a trip to the Highlands to set him up. We walked up to 
 a likely pool, out of which I had landed a fish a day or 
 two before. I lent my friend my rod to fish over the 
 pool with the first fly ; no fish rising, I changed it, and 
 prepared to fish the water again after giving it a rest. 
 The pool lies at the end of a bed of shingle, down which 
 I waded to reach the lowest part which my friend had 
 been unable without waders to reach. I gradually 
 lengthened my casts, and with a long line prepared for 
 a supreme effort; the effort was made, the result was 
 startling, the fly had hooked something behind me; there 
 was a crash and a shriek! the third joint of my rod was 
 smashed into three pieces, and was dangling in the water 
 by the rings ; my friend behind me had his hand up to
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 233 
 
 his head, gathering force for the expletives which were 
 to follow. He had somewhat changed his position whilst 
 I fished the pool, which resulted in my fixing the point 
 of the hook, though not the barb, into the frontal bone 
 just outside the left eye ; a quarter of an inch more and 
 it must have pierced it. However, I think that I was the 
 greatest sufferer; he experienced no ill effects whatever 
 from the shock, in fact, I think it really did him good, for 
 it supplied a "Nerve Tonic" which he had gone to Scot- 
 land to seek, though hardly perhaps at the point of a 
 "Silver Doctor." But my rod was spoilt! I have been 
 careful ever since to warn spectators to give a wide berth 
 to the back cast of a salmon angler. 
 
 I should not recommend visitors to the Orchy to lay 
 in a large stock of flies before they go; indeed, it is a 
 mistake to lay in a large stock before you go anywhere, 
 unless it be to some very out-of-the-way place where it is 
 difficult to add to or replenish your stock. The gillies 
 at Dalmally can give you the best advice as to what flies 
 to use, and they are easily procurable there from any of 
 the well-known tackle-makers and dealers, or perhaps 
 even on the spot itself. The angler who is equipped with 
 large, medium and small sizes of the Popham, Canary, 
 Jock Scott.Thunder and Lightning, Butcher, and Doctors, 
 will not want many more to suit the waters of the Orchy. 
 
 I have said that Loch Tulla is the source of the Orchy ; 
 it was also, alas, the source of its ruin as a trout river. 
 The late Marquis of Brcadalbanc stocked this loch with 
 pike, little thinking of the disastrous results to the Orchy 
 and Loch Awe which would follow from the migration
 
 234 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 of these fish. It was once possible, I believe, to make 
 sure of a good basket of trout in the Orchy, whereas now 
 they are seldom fished for. A friend of mine, Mr. Oliver 
 Pemberton, of Birmingham, president of the Midland 
 Anglers' Association, once landed six jack out of a single 
 pool in the river; one can judge from this what the 
 effect of the presence of these fresh-water sharks has 
 been and is on the trout-fishing. I have whiled away 
 the time when there was nothing better to do and no 
 better fishing to be had, by spinning a minnow in the 
 scours and runs and in the streams about the Island, 
 three miles from Dalmally, and occasionally have fished 
 for trout with the fly; but though I have caught some 
 few, mostly good ones, from a pound to two pounds 
 weight, the result is hardly worth the effort. I remember 
 one old angler, however, who came from Glasgow and 
 was staying at Dalmally with his son, who used to go 
 out in the evening, and by worm-fishing up stream 
 managed to bring in some good baskets. I confess that 
 I am not an adept at worm-fishing for trout, and perhaps 
 it was my own lack of skill in this branch of our art 
 which made me fail where the Glasgow angler succeeded. 
 Very few, however, fish the Orchy for trout. Similar 
 disastrous results to trouting in the upper portion of 
 Loch Awe have followed from the migration thither of 
 the pike. You may get a rise or a run on your 
 minnow near the shingle beds not far from the mouth 
 of the Orchy, and at the confluence of the Orchy and 
 the Strae, and also off the sand-bank which extends from 
 the Castle promontory some distance into the loch
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 235 
 
 but these once favourite trout casts are only whipped 
 over as you pass by them, and offer no inducements to 
 tarry as once they did. The large bay to the south-east 
 of Kilchurn Castle, in which an old boatman told me that 
 he had often seen three trouts on the cast at once, is now 
 productive of nothing but pike and perch. It is not too 
 much to say that the trout fishing in this upper portion 
 of the loch is ruined ; you must go at least three miles 
 down before you have any chance of anything beyond a 
 casual trout, which has had a marvellous escape from 
 the enemies which have occupied his ground. 
 
 But though the pike have spoilt the trout fishing, 
 which now has to be sought lower down, the sport which 
 they themselves provide, at a time of year, too, when few 
 trout are to be caught anywhere, affords no slight com- 
 pensation for the damage which they have done, and 
 helps one to forgive the sad results from the thoughtless 
 action of the Marquis of Breadalbane. In a small 
 bay to the north of the mouth of the river Orchy, in the 
 large bay of Kilchurn Castle, which I mentioned before, 
 about half a mile down from the Castle promontory, 
 and at intervals down each shore of the loch, there are 
 large beds of weeds, which are favourite haunts of the 
 pike. In each of these localities I have had excellent 
 sport with them, the best of all in September. They 
 are more lively than any I have ever caught in English 
 waters, making very long runs and leaping out of the 
 water at times like a salmon ; if instead of fishing for 
 them with something like a pole and a cart-rope one 
 were to use an ordinary salmon rod, they would give
 
 236 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 almost as much trouble to bring to boat as a salmon 
 does ; and even with the short strong rod with stiff rings, 
 and line and gimp trace to match, which I always use in 
 spinning, it took me more than half an hour to secure 
 the largest which I have ever captured, which weighed 
 23|lbs. We had exciting work to get that fish in. I 
 had forgotten to take my gaff, and we only had in the 
 boat a large sea-fishing hook which I had whipped on to 
 a short handle as a substitute for a click ; with this we 
 had already secured two or three pike, the largest of 
 which weighed I5lbs. On getting the big one up to the 
 boat, I hooked my temporary gaff into his jaw, but it 
 broke short off, the point catching, I suppose, against a 
 bone my victim went off for another long run, and 
 appeared shy of again approaching the boat. However, 
 after a bit more fighting he came again close under the 
 gunwale; I had given the old gillie who was with me a 
 clasp knife to open which I had in my pocket one with 
 a blade about five inches long, with sharp dagger- 
 shaped point, and a spring catch which secured the 
 blade when open. Guiding the fish into a conve- 
 nient position, I stooped gently down towards him, 
 holding the rod in such a manner that I could give him 
 line in case he started for another run; he was too 
 exhausted after nearly half-an-hour's fight to make off 
 at the mere glance of his enemy, and so I succeeded in 
 driving the blade of the knife up to the haft in a slanting 
 direction behind his gill into what I thought would be 
 his most vital part. I was terribly afraid that this shock 
 to his system, coupled with the somewhat nervous state
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 237 
 
 in which I was in as I wondered whether the plan would 
 succeed, would make him bolt off with a rush, and 
 perhaps result in his escape, but I was gratified to see 
 that I had fixed him properly ; he gave a bit of a flap on 
 the surface with his tail, and became a dead weight on 
 the rod. I drew him up close, put my finger and thumb 
 in his eyes and landed him triumphantly into the boat ! 
 He was the largest pike that had been caught for some 
 years in the loch, and I think that there was only one 
 up to that time it is 15 years ago now which beat 
 him. We had a good haul that day: 23 J, 15, n, 9^, 
 8, besides smaller ones, formed a bag which ought 
 to satisfy all but the most greedy angler. The largest 
 pike I had seen caught there previously was taken by 
 my friend Mr. Pemberton it weighed i61bs., and took 
 the bait in a way which I should not have believed had 
 I not witnessed it. He was spinning with a trout about 
 6oz. weight, and casting the bait some distance from the 
 boat; he had gradually extended his casts to about 25 
 yards, and as the bait was dropping into the water, a 
 pair of jaws were opened about a foot above the surface, 
 and literally closed upon it in the air. To fix the steel 
 was the work of a moment; he jumped three or four 
 times out of the water like a salmon, and was finally 
 secured after twenty minutes' fight. 
 
 When I lived in my native county, Warwickshire, 
 I had good pike fishing always at my command, and 
 pretty fair facilities for trouting ; there was no lack of 
 natural bait, too, for both kinds of fishing I used to 
 borrow the miller's cast net to catch gudgeon, roach and
 
 238 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 dace for the former, and spent many pleasant hours in 
 catching minnows with a worm and tie-line for the 
 latter. Experience and habit have, perhaps, made me 
 partial to the use of natural baits for spinning and trolling, 
 and I must confess that I look upon artificial baits as only 
 something to be used as makeshifts when the natural are 
 only very difficult or impossible to be got. At Dalmally 
 there is a small burn which runs into the Orchy just 
 below the hotel, and I always supply myself from it with 
 a stock of burn trout for spinning for pike in Loch Awe ; 
 the capture of them with a small fly or a worm itself 
 affords sport which I by no means despise. There 
 is to me something much more exciting in standing 
 up in a boat and continually casting your bait and draw- 
 ing it in than in lazily sitting in the stern holding the 
 rod and waiting for a fish to take it. You can drop your 
 bait, too, amongst openings in the weeds, and cover 
 likely ground which by trailing behind you must miss. 
 In spinning for trout in a loch you must, of course, trail 
 behind, but even then I fancy the natural bait in 
 preference to the artificial, and this natural bait I 
 formerly used in Loch Awe. Just above the Orchy 
 Bridge, which carries the road to Oban, there is a 
 gravelly shallow which edges off into deep water towards 
 the bridge. Standing in this shallow, many and many a 
 silvery salmon parr, about the size of a very large minnow, 
 have I in days gone by captured with the aid of a midge 
 fly, and used for spinning in the loch for trout. The very 
 proper restrictions now placed on taking these fry have 
 diminished for me the interest I once had in trolling, for
 
 FISHING IN THE RIVER ORCHY. 239 
 
 neither with " phantom " nor "angel " can I get the same 
 success I once had with the parr tail. However, many, 
 I dare say, will not agree with me; but to those who 
 have a preference for artificial baits, spoons and other 
 lures, I say, " Keep them, but give me the natural." 
 
 I should exhaust your patience, which I have already 
 tried too long, if I said much about the perch-fishing 
 in the upper part of Loch Awe, so I will merely 
 observe that good takes can be got if you happen to 
 hit upon a shoal on the sand-banks at the mouth of 
 the river, in the shallower parts of Kilchurn Bay, or in 
 the deep water off what was formerly called " Duncan's 
 Rock," on the north shore, where now stands the new 
 hotel of Loch Awe ; though it is probable that the latter 
 once favourite spot has been spoiled by the steamers 
 which ply to and from the landing place. I once 
 anchored the boat in Kilchurn Bay, near to a submerged 
 cairn, at its upper end. My friend and myself obtained 
 rather over six dozen perch, eight of which weighed no 
 less than 2lbs. each. We did not catch them all at this 
 one anchorage, but the bulk of them, and all the largest 
 were captured there. Little skill is required to beguile 
 these silly fish, the slightest bit of worm is sufficient if 
 they happen to be in a taking humour, neither do they 
 give much sport when hooked
 
 MANX STREAMS. 
 
 BY STANLEY KNEALE. 
 
 |N Lancashire we all know where the Isle of Man 
 is: an island rich in history, antiquities, legends, 
 and natural beauty, set in a sea which has 
 been its very life from the days of the Vikings to the 
 present matter-of-fact igth century. To quote from 
 one of the greatest novelists of the day, my country- 
 man, Hall Caine, " The sea is always present with Manx- 
 men ; everything they do, everything they say gets the 
 colour and shimmer of the sea. The sea goes into their 
 bones ; it comes out of their skins ; their talk is full of 
 it. They buy by it, they sell by it, they quarrel by it, 
 they fight by it, they swear by it, they pray by it." 
 So it is only natural that I should begin this paper by 
 speaking of it. 
 
 Before I try to give you an idea of the Manx streams 
 from an anglers' point of view, may I quote my country- 
 man's beautiful description of the Island of Man. 
 " Seen from the sea it is a lovely thing to look upon. It 
 never fails to bring me a thrill of the heart as it comes 
 out of the distance. It lies like a bird on the water. 
 You see it from end to end, and from water's edge to 
 topmost peak, often enshrouded in mists, a dim ghost on
 
 MANX STREAMS. 241 
 
 a grey sea ; sometimes purple against the setting sun. 
 Then as you sail up to it, a rugged rocky coast, grand 
 in its beetling heights on the south and west, and broken 
 into the sweetest bays every where. The water is as clear 
 as crystal and blue as the sky in summer ; you can 
 see the shingle and the moss through many fathoms. 
 Then the mountains within, not in peaks, but round fore- 
 heads. The colour of the Island is green and gold ; its 
 flavour is that of the nut. Both colour and flavour come of 
 the gorse. This covers the mountains and moorlands, 
 for, except on the north, the Island has next to no trees. 
 But, oh, the beauty and delight of it in the spring ! Long 
 broad stretches glittering under the sun with the gold 
 of the gorse, and all the air full of the nutty perfume. 
 There is nothing like it in all the world. Then the 
 glens, such fairy spots, deep, solemn, musical, with 
 the slumberous waters, clad in dark mosses, brightened 
 by the red fuchsia." 
 
 Such is Man as seen by a Manxman, and in the 
 spring. But in the summer months, when thousands of 
 people from this county and other parts are swarming 
 over that little Island, it is spoilt for the angler ; he 
 loves the quiet music of the streams and not the wild 
 war cry of the irrepressible tripper, who comes driving 
 down the glens in clouds of dust, throwing stones into 
 your favourite pool, hurling satirical remarks at the poor 
 angler, and chasing away the poetic and delightful halo 
 of thoughts which surround the trout fisher. 
 
 Many are the days I have had spoilt thus; but, 
 fortunately for me, some years ago, I was able to fish the
 
 242 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 stream in all seasons and weathers; all day and every 
 day that was suitable, wandering forth in the morning 
 and spending solitary days in some of the wilder glens, 
 among the hills; meeting no one but, perhaps, a shepherd 
 and his dog, and the weather-beaten mountain sheep. 
 Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the rivers in 
 the Island is the entire absence of such fresh-water 
 fish as the pike, perch, roach, grayling, and other fish 
 described as coarse. I suppose that, as in the Welsh 
 rivers, the rapid nature of the streams, with gravelly or 
 rocky bottoms, would prevent their thriving very long, 
 even if they were introduced. However, in the lower 
 parts of the Sulby (the most important river in the 
 Island), where for three or four miles the river runs deep, 
 and in nice gravelly pools and glides, grayling might be 
 introduced with advantage, that is if they are not 
 detrimental to trout. The latter are found in great 
 numbers in every stream in the Island, with the excep- 
 tion of some few that have been poisoned by lead 
 mining, that curse of many rivers in this country. Why 
 a man should be allowed to poison another man's fish 
 any more than his sheep or his cattle is difficult to 
 understand; yet he seems to do it with the greatest 
 audacity, and with hardly a remonstrance from the 
 
 injured side. 
 
 The Sulby, which is the largest and best trout river 
 
 in the island, flows into Ramsey Bay. The lower part of 
 the water is brackish for about two miles, the salt water 
 ascending with the spring tides nearly up to Loughen-e- 
 Zeigh (the goose pond), about three miles from the sea.
 
 MANX STREAMS. 243 
 
 All this lower part, and even higher up, abounds in the 
 spring months with small white trout, as they are there 
 called. There has been much discussion as to the species 
 to which these fish belong ; whether they are the young 
 of the salmon sewin or white trout. A specimen of them 
 was sent to Mr. Day, and he at once recognised it as the 
 sewin. They appear in the river in the greatest numbers 
 in March and April, returning to the sea in May. An 
 old Manx saying is: "The first flood in May takes the 
 white trout away." They are also caught near the 
 mouths of the rivers in the autumn ; though usually of 
 a larger size they are not so numerous as in the spring. 
 They are, for their size, decidedly " game," rising very 
 freely and fighting hard. They generally average in the 
 spring about seven or eight to the pound, occasionally 
 approaching a pound each in weight. I have often 
 filled a basket which held eight or nine pounds in a few 
 hours, catching as many as twenty out of one pool. 
 Some of the larger-sized require a good bit of manage- 
 ment when hooked; they spring into the air, strike 
 the water with their tails, and make a great com- 
 motion, until after two or three minutes play they 
 are landed. And they certainly are most beautiful 
 and delicious fish. They are most plentiful in the 
 brackish pools, and in the two or three miles of deep 
 water above the town, where the river glides along in 
 one continuous pool, varying in depth from two or three 
 feet to ten or twelve ; the gorse-covered hedges, which 
 in many places run along the river banks, are rather 
 troublesome to the angler. All this three or four miles
 
 244 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 of still water can, of course, only be fished in a breeze 
 which has to be pretty strong to get over the high 
 hedges and banks, and round the bends. On a suitable 
 day in spring one is pretty sure of a basketful of fish, 
 white or brown, on this part of the Sulby; and although 
 the brown trout are also small, you occasionally get a 
 half-pounder, or even larger, to quicken the pulses. You 
 require all your skill to steer clear of the long weed, 
 which is rather troublesome on this part of the river, 
 and successfully land up the high bank. At one time I 
 never used to carry a landing net, and many is the good 
 trout I have lost through not having one. In one 
 instance I lost a large sea trout I mean large for the 
 locality perhaps about two pounds. After a desperate 
 fight for about ten minutes (I had only a very light fly 
 rod) I had coaxed him to the bank, played out as I 
 thought, and was just bending over the high bank trying 
 to get my fingers round his gills, when he made a 
 sudden spring, nearly hitting me in the face, dropped 
 back on the water, and floated away, hardly realizing 
 at first that he had got half my cast ; when he did, he 
 made a bolt and disappeared, a wiser if not a happier 
 fish. 
 
 About half-a-mile above Ramsey is a bridge, just 
 beyond which, on your left hand as you face up-stream, 
 the tributary Aldyn joins the Sulby. Many a basket of 
 good trout have I had from that little stream. But lately, 
 whenever I have visited it, the water has always been very 
 low. Very few parts of it are suitable for fly ; up-stream 
 fishing with worm answers better, especially on the lower
 
 MANX STREAMS. 245 
 
 part. About two miles up there are some nice little pools 
 which contain good trout. A great many salmon run up 
 this little stream after a freshet ; I have seen the small 
 pools quite packed with them. This was in the autumn, 
 when they were making their way up to spawn ; but very 
 few of them get back to the sea ; they get caught in the 
 dams or small pools, and find their way into the cottagers' 
 houses. This is the case, more or less, with all the rivers 
 on the island. At Sulby Bridge, I have gone into 
 numbers of cottages and seen smoked salmon hanging 
 up, and the inmates have told me they never feel right 
 without a bit of smoked salmon in the house. Most of 
 these are spawning fish, and quite unfit for food. 
 Since the Salmon and Fresh Water Fishing Act of 
 1882, river inspectors have been appointed, and a 
 more strict watch is kept; rod licences are also necessary. 
 The licence for salmon and white trout is i, and for 
 trout 75. 6d. yearly ; a weekly licence for trout is 2s. 66. 
 When first these licences were imposed, there was much 
 indignation among the small landowners along the river, 
 who did not see the force of having to pay for the right 
 to fish for their own and their neighbour's fish. At 
 Sulby they formed a "Trout Association," every member 
 of which was bound to prosecute (for trespass) anyone 
 fishing on his land with a licence, but it was all right if 
 you had not one ; on the other hand if you were without 
 a licence you were liable to be prosecuted by the 
 Fisheries Board. This caused a good deal of ill-feeling, 
 and indeed does so yet; it almost stopped fishing for 
 some time. I used to get over the difficulty by taking
 
 246 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 out a licence and leaving it at home, and when I happened 
 to be asked by one of the Association if I had a licence, 
 saying, "I hadn't one !" taking care not to add "with me." 
 Perhaps the method had its moral shortcomings, but I 
 had no sympathy with an association whose members 
 instead of agitating for a repeal of what they considered 
 an unjust law, stopped the fishing altogether. 
 
 The Sulby above the junction of the Aldyn consists 
 of a long deep glide, fairly wide, an easy casting distance 
 in most places, and getting narrower as you get higher 
 up. This water for about two miles can only be fished in 
 a breeze; above it the water gets broken into sharp runs, 
 and nice gravelly pools ; just the place for grayling. This 
 is not very good fly water, being covered with willows 
 and other trees. From here to Sulby Bridge the river is 
 more open, and there are some very nice runs and 
 stretches of fly water. On the other side of the bridge 
 you get to Sulby Claddagh, a flat common, covered with 
 low gorse, bramble and bracken, through which the river 
 runs. Here, on a bright day in spring, you are almost 
 dazzled by the golden blaze of the gorse, the blue sky, 
 and the sun on the white-washed cottages. There are 
 pictures whichever way you turn; it is a paradise for 
 artists, and is much frequented by them. The Glen 
 Moar Inn is near and comfortable; a capital place to 
 stay at if you intend to fish this water and the 
 glens above. On the Claddagh there are no high 
 trees overhanging the river, but plenty of room to get 
 your flies clear out behind, except for low gorse bushes 
 here and there. It used to be my favourite bit of the
 
 MANX STREAMS. 247 
 
 river; there are broken runs and a few dams and pools ; 
 of course, as with all small streams, you want a fair 
 quantity of water to be coming down, but especially in 
 this part, as in the dry weather the water merely 
 percolates through the loose stony bed. Many a good 
 basket of trout have I taken from this part of the Sulby, 
 considering it a poor day unless I had two or three dozen, 
 and sometimes getting as many as five or six dozen, 
 weighing about eight or nine pounds. This Claddagh 
 is just at the entrance to Sulby Glen, or more properly, 
 Glen Moar (the big glen) and is called Gob-na-Volly 
 (the mouth of the valley.) 
 
 After entering the Glen, the river becomes more 
 wooded, and you come to some old starch mills, not 
 worked now. Below these there is a very good pool, 
 which used to contain some capital trout ; they seemed 
 to fatten on the refuse from the starch making. If I did 
 not get a few good trout out of this pool, I always knew 
 the day would be hopeless. From this point you go up 
 the river for about four miles, all fair fly water, rocky, 
 with good pools here and there, which become larger 
 and deeper and more overgrown as you go higher up to 
 Tholt-e-Will. Here the river takes a bend to the right 
 for about a mile, with good pools, which are rather 
 difficult to get at. The trout in these deep and dark 
 brown pools are much darker in colour, and are not well 
 fed fish, but you find them up to a fair size, }lb. and Alb., 
 and even bigger. I have caught numbers of i Ib. trout ; 
 but fish of this size are only rarely met with. After 
 Tholt-e-Will the river bends at right-angles to the left,
 
 248 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 and about a mile up divides into two streams of equal size, 
 the one on the right coming down Druidale, and the one 
 on the left from Crammag Glen, rising some three miles 
 away between Snaefell and Benny-Phott. In this glen 
 there are some good deep pools, and very often when the 
 river is low you get better sport here than lower down, 
 as it is fed more by springs. Although the river lower 
 down is continually fed by small tributaries, its bed is 
 broader, and the water loses itself in the loose stony 
 bottom. It is really quite surprising what capital pools 
 you come across by following an insignificant little 
 stream to its source among the hills. These are the 
 salvation of the trout in the small rapid streams of the 
 island ; but for these the fish would be swept away by 
 the frequent floods. The scenery up these glens is most 
 beautiful, and there are numbers of small glens where 
 even in the summer you are not likely to meet a fellow- 
 creature the whole day. Of course, out ot the tourist 
 season you can have nearly the whole river to yourself. 
 In the summer months the Sulby, from Tholt-e-Will 
 down to Sulby Bridge, is very much over-fished; and 
 since the road down the glen runs near the river, and is 
 a favourite one for visitors driving over the mountains 
 from Douglas to Ramsey, there is little enjoyment in 
 fishing. 
 
 The first salmon I ever caught it has not been 
 my good fortune to catch many was on the Sulby river, 
 in a pool below Ellenbane. I was strolling along up- 
 stream, fly-fishing for trout, taking a nice little fish out 
 here and there, when I came to one of my favourite
 
 MANX STREAMS. 249 
 
 pools, where, if the trout were in anything like a taking 
 mood, I was always sure of a few good ones, when, 
 in front of me, just at the edge of the eddy where 
 the water came into the pool, I saw a swirl, and the flash 
 of a silver side, that sent my heart into my mouth ! I 
 had only a light trout rod, and nothing but trout flies ; 
 however, selecting one of these a large Red Palmer, 
 with some tinsel round the body I went down stream 
 a few yards, walked across so as to get on the bank 
 opposite to where my silver friend was evidently feeding, 
 and casting across the stream, letting my fly swirl through 
 the eddy at the head of the pool, in the second cast I 
 felt a tug and was fast in a fish. Before I had time to 
 realize it, a fine fresh salmon sprang out of the water. 
 Fortunately I was fishing from the winch, otherwise he 
 would have broken me at once. I thought he was off; 
 but no ! After many repeated springs, I began to steady 
 myself and wind in so as to feel the fish. I had certainly 
 hooked a salmon, but how to land him was the difficulty. 
 Of course, he had nearly all his own way; I just kept as 
 much strain as I thought my trout cast would bear. 
 Very fortunately for me, the fish seemed to like the pool 
 he was in, which was about twenty yards long, shallow 
 at the head and with a long clear shallow at the tail which 
 he did not seem to care about ; if he had taken it into his 
 head to rush over the shallow and down stream, I could 
 not possibly have held him for many seconds, as the river 
 below was so overgrown by willows and trees that it 
 would have been impossible to follow. He began leading 
 me up and down the pool, just as he pleased. A short
 
 250 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 distance above the pool the river is crossed by a foot- 
 bridge, over which there were occasionally some passers 
 by, who seeing that I had got hold of a large fish, watched 
 to see him landed until they grew tired of waiting. That 
 fish seemed to me like the brook, it went on for ever, 
 up and down the pool for upwards of two hours, and I 
 dreading all the time that the gut would fray. Fortunately, 
 as I afterwards found out, the fish was hooked in the lip, 
 so there was nothing to come in contact with the gut. 
 I had no gaflf or even landing net ; at last, seeing a 
 boy passing, I hailed him, and got him to cut a willow 
 stick which was forked ; one of the ends of this he cut 
 short and sharpened, leaving the other as a handle. With 
 this primitive gaff I knew there must be no missing. 
 After many attempts I managed at last to bring the fish 
 to the side of the pool under the shelter of some floating 
 grass, and just within reach of my willow gaff; then with 
 a tremendous strike I dragged him up the bank, breaking 
 my rod top in so doing. But what did it matter? 
 There lay on the grass a beautiful salmon of seven 
 or eight pounds. This may not seem very large to 
 salmon-fishers, but to me in those days he appeared a 
 perfect monster, and I was rather glad than otherwise 
 that he would not go into my basket, but had to be 
 carried home, a visible trophy of my skill to all 
 passers-by. I did not at all like having that fish cooked, 
 but setting-up was not so much in vogue in those days, 
 so he was boiled, and pronounced excellent. 
 
 Of the rivers on the south of the island I know very 
 little. I have caught trout on the Silverburn, which
 
 MANX STREAMS. 251 
 
 finds its outlet in Castletown Bay, and which, like the 
 other streams, abounds in small sewin in the spring. 
 The streams Dhoo and Glass, which, uniting near 
 the town of Douglas, give it its name, both contain 
 trout. At Laxey there is a good stream, the 
 poisoning of the lower part of which by the lead mines 
 prevents salmon and sea trout from coming up; you can 
 see the lead-coloured water for some distance out in the 
 bay, of course poisoning everything with which it comes 
 in contact. In the Glen above the mine, there are plenty 
 of small trout, rather dark in colour. Further along the 
 coast you come to a delightful little glen called Balla- 
 glass, in which there are large numbers of trout. Some 
 years ago this stream was poisoned by mining, now 
 it is no longer so, and the trout have become as plentiful 
 as ever. At the bottom of the Glen there has been 
 recently erected a large building for the manufacture of 
 bellite, but this has been stopped by the House of Keys, 
 who think the explosive too dangerous for them to allow 
 its manufacture to proceed. This Glen is very much 
 wooded, and there are not many places where you can 
 get a fly comfortably on, but down nearer the sea it gets 
 more open. There is a large brackish pool at the 
 junction with the sea, which generally contains any 
 number of trout and sea trout. Last summer, when 
 fishing there, with a good breeze to ripple the pool, in 
 two hours I caught about forty nice trout; they were 
 silvery, game, well-fed little fish. This beautiful glen is 
 not much frequented, being out of the beaten track. A 
 friend of mine fishing there, some years ago, caught a
 
 252 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 splendid trout (brown) weighing about 2lbs. At the 
 north-west side of the Island there is a partly natural 
 and partly artificial trench which drains the greater 
 portion of the flat land and meadows of the north, 
 finding an outlet near the sea at a small hamlet called 
 Lhen Moar, which is the Manx for " big meadow or 
 swamp." This stream varies in width from about eight 
 to twelve feet, and is of a uniform depth of three or four 
 feet ; it has a peaty bottom, much overgrown with weed, 
 water-lilies, and so on, which are cleared out about twice 
 a year when they begin to choke the stream up. The 
 spring, when the winter frosts and floods have cleared 
 the weeds out, is the best time to fish this water, as in 
 summer it often gets grown over, and the places for 
 putting a fly on are few. The Lhen Moar is about eight 
 miles from Ramsey. There is a mill there which is a 
 convenient place at which to put up a conveyance. From 
 this mill down to the sea the stream is very narrow, but 
 pretty deep, and it contains some big trout and some- 
 times sea trout. The best wind to fish it in is one 
 across ; you should fish straight upstream, as; standing 
 some distance from the bank, you are out of sight of the 
 fish. One fly is quite enough ; the stream being narrow, 
 more would be in the way. About half a mile above the 
 mill, its trench, running along the edge of a large swamp 
 (a capital place for snipe in the winter), is more open, 
 and when there is a good water it flows almost level with 
 the banks. Farther on the banks get higher, and it is 
 very difficult to keep out of sight of the trout. Fly is 
 the only thing you can successfully use, on account of
 
 MANX STREAMS. 253 
 
 the bottom weed ; and a good strong breeze is essential. 
 Use one fly and a strong cast, as the trout are large, 
 dark-coloured, and hard fighters, making a desperate 
 splash and struggle when they feel the point of the hook. 
 You mustn't give them an inch, but get them into your 
 net as soon as possible, otherwise they at once get into 
 the weed or under the overhanging bank, against which 
 they saw your cast, and are oft at once. You lose a 
 great many fish in this way. They are very uncertain 
 risers, and you never know when they will be in a 
 taking humour; but if you happen to be there on a 
 favourable day (sometimes to all appearances the most 
 unlikely) you will have some capital sport. On a very 
 fine day I have killed twelve trout averaging over fib., 
 and lost as many more. They are not very particular 
 about flies, but like them rather large and rough with 
 a suspicion of tinsel ; just such flies as we should use on 
 the tarn at Horton. On a fine spring day this is a most 
 delightful four miles of fishing. The white cottages 
 which skirt the meadow, the gorse and the sweet smelling 
 flowers which are beginning to blossom, all have a charm 
 for the angler. But it is also a very disappointing place. 
 I remember starting off one morning on what promised to 
 be a good breezy day,in the early summer, and, on arriving 
 at my destination, the mill, I found a dead calm, with a 
 blazing sun. As there is no broken water, fishing was 
 out of the question, so I walked down to the sea and 
 enjoyed basking in the sun on the beach, watching the 
 sea-birds circling over the blue water and golden sands. 
 That was all very well, but I had come to fish, and I hate
 
 254 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 
 
 being baulked, so I thought if I could find a worm or 
 two I might manage to hook a trout. But a worm was 
 as difficult to get as a trout. There had been a long 
 spell of dry weather, and the ground round the lower 
 part of this stream is very sandy and dry; however, I 
 managed to get a couple of small ones by digging with 
 the spike of my rod, and creeping to a hole much over- 
 grown so as to shelter me from the observant trout, 
 I lowered the worm, not knowing whether it was lighting 
 on a bramble or in the water. I suppose it must 
 have been the latter, because I felt a tremendous tug 
 that nearly pulled the rod out of my hand, and I was 
 fast in a good trout But how to get him out was the 
 difficulty. I could not reach him with my net over the 
 bramble ; there was nothing for it but to guide my fish 
 round a bend between many brambles and gorse bushes 
 to a favourable spot. After fifteen minutes, I landed 
 the finest brown trout I have ever caught in the Island, 
 about i Jib. Big trout always seem to lie in the most 
 difficult places. I managed to get one or two more 
 small ones, but worms were scarce, and I did not care 
 much about that kind of fishing, so I had to wend my 
 way home without having put a fly on the water ; still, I 
 was partly consoled by the thought of my big trout. 
 There is a small stream running through Ballaugh Glen 
 in which there are plenty of trout, but like all small 
 streams it is difficult to fish with no width of water to 
 get a fly on properly. 
 
 Then there is the Rhenass (the ridge of the water- 
 fall) known to the tourist as " Glen Helen." I cannot
 
 MANX STREAMS. 255 
 
 understand why people should change names full of 
 
 association and description for utterly meaningless ones. 
 
 Imagine, for instance, changing the name of a beautiful 
 
 little waterfall near Ramsey called " Braid-foss " (the 
 
 waterfall of the ravine), a most descriptive name, into 
 
 Niagara, a name which makes it ridiculous; this is 
 
 just one instance of many hundred changes of names in 
 
 the Island. But to return to the Rhenass. The stream 
 
 rises between the two mountains called Sart Fell and 
 
 Glen Maggie, just near the source of the Sulby, but runs 
 
 in a different direction for four or five miles to St. John's, 
 
 where it becomes the River Neb. From the point where 
 
 it is joined by the Foxdale river to the sea, it is poisoned 
 
 by the Foxdale lead mines. All the stream above the 
 
 junction is filled with small trout. In most of the Manx 
 
 streams I think there are too many trout for the quantity 
 
 of food ; they rarely grow to any size, and the rivers are 
 
 so scoured by big floods which rise and fall rapidly 
 
 (caused by the extension of draining, not only of the 
 
 arable, but also of the mountain lands) that the moss and 
 
 insect life are washed away. The fishing has very much 
 
 deteriorated since first I knew it, when with very little 
 
 skill you could generally fill your creel. Two or three 
 
 years ago 30,000 Loch Leven fry were distributed in 
 
 the various streams of the Island ; some were put in the 
 
 reservoir of the Ramsey Water Works and in other small 
 
 ponds. I have not heard of many being taken ; there 
 
 is no doubt it would have been better to put in yearlings, 
 
 and in smaller number.
 
 SEA-TROUT FISHING IN ABER- 
 DEENSHIRE. 
 
 BY GEO. H. NORRIS. 
 
 |HE angling paper in its best and purest form 
 deals with three distinct subjects : (i) the 
 angler's drinks ; (2) the humours of the 
 angler's gillie or boatman; (3) the grandeur of the 
 scenery in which the angler takes his pastime. The 
 catching of fish is, indeed, sometimes alluded to, but 
 such reference to the actual sport should there be any 
 are dubiously received, and are not essential. The 
 humorous gillie or boatman is as indispensable as the 
 comic countryman in the melo-drama. Year after 
 year has the writer searched in vain for this indispensable 
 constituent, and he would indeed have doubted his very 
 existence but for the confidence he places in the veracity 
 of Punch and of his fellow anglers. Faint, yet pursuing, 
 the writer and a brother angler, having discovered that the 
 men of Aberdeenshire were the proud possessors of the 
 largest heads in Scotland, arranged to spend a short 
 angling holiday at Newburgh, a little coast town in that 
 county. As the fishing there was mainly from a boat 
 thus involving the presence of a boatman and was by 
 trolling, a form of sport peculiarly conducive to the
 
 FISHING IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 257 
 
 production of humour, the outlook seemed extremely 
 encouraging. The summer in Manchester had been cold 
 and wet, and it seemed more desirable than usual to leave 
 that smoky old city. 
 
 To anglers, the preparations for a fishing campaign 
 are in themselves a pleasure. It is with gleeful antici- 
 pations that they put in order their rods, flies, and 
 trolling tackle, and " Bradshaw" itself for a time becomes 
 a glorified volume full of interest and entertainment, 
 quite unlike the puzzling and irritating "Bradshaw" of 
 business. It was on Thursday, the 22nd of August, 
 1889, that we left the Exchange Station, Manchester. 
 The journey is a long one, and it was not until about 
 eleven at night that we reached Aberdeen. This is not 
 an attractive town. Built of massive blocks of granite, it 
 is imposing in its solidity, but is cold and grey and 
 depressing rather than impressive It would seem hardly 
 possible that one with lively wit could live within that 
 granite city ; but that the humorist does exist some- 
 where is evident from a remarkable stained glass window 
 in the hotel, upon which is depicted, in heroic size, the 
 Blessed Saint Andrew bearing his cross, and beneath 
 this strange device "Nemo me impnnc laccssit" Thus has 
 the artist, with the intention of genius, represented that 
 wonderful combination of the spiritual and the carnal 
 which our countrymen North of the Tweed have so 
 often proved to be practicable, notwithstanding all 
 theories to the contrary. 
 
 Having discovered that there was a station about 
 seven miles from Newburgh, we despatched a telegram
 
 258 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 to the landlord of the Udney Arms (the anglers' hotel), 
 to meet us there with a trap. The railway journey and 
 drive to Newburgh were not very interesting. The 
 country is made up of a series of low hills or undulations, 
 and there is little wood or water to give it variety. 
 There was just one pretty sight on the drive. At a 
 little hamlet on the way, preparations were being made 
 for a school pic-nic, and bands of small children were 
 pouring in from all sides dressed in the gayest frocks, 
 and with faces as round, rosy, and shiny as the Jersey 
 apples in the basket of an itinerant fruit woman. We 
 reached the Udney Arms just before lunch time. The 
 inn is clean and comfortable, and the landlord intelli- 
 gent and obliging. Of Elsie, who combined the offices 
 of parlour-maid, house-maid, boots, stocking-mender, 
 drier, and floral decorator, for each guest had a 
 buttonhole at dinner the writer cannot speak but 
 with feelings of the liveliest emotion. 
 
 While lunch was preparing we arranged for our boat, 
 got out our tackle, and went down to the river to survey 
 the scene of the coming campaign. The river Ython is 
 tidal at Newburgh and for a considerable distance above. 
 There are, so far as the writer knows, few places where 
 sea-trout take freely in the salt water ; Newburgh is one 
 of these. The only other which he can at this moment 
 recollect is the Kyle of Tongue, in the North of Suther- 
 landshire, where sea-trout of considerable weight are 
 taken upon the troll. The Ython estuary forms at the 
 mouth a narrow channel between two sand-hills, but 
 above, at high-tide, broadens out into the dimensions of
 
 FISHING IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 259 
 
 a fairly-sized lake, and it is in the lake-like portion of 
 the river that most of the fishing is done. On each 
 side of the river are sandy dunes and low hills, and, 
 although the place cannot be termed picturesque 
 in the ordinary sense, still the river, with its little port 
 and shipping, and its quay and old storehouses rich in 
 their mazy garment of moss and lichen, has a peculiar 
 and quaint attraction, and the scene in the golden 
 evening light is full of quiet beauty. 
 
 After lunch, and before the boatman arrived, the 
 times and mode of fishing were discussed with the 
 landlord, who is a practical angler. The trolling is 
 done on the flow of the tide, and the usual course 
 is to take the boat out to the mouth, and then to 
 come in gradually with the tide, tacking to and fro so 
 as to cover as much water as possible, but keeping the 
 boat's head slightly up to the tide, so as to get a proper 
 spin on the tackle. If any angler intends to go to 
 Newburgh, he should first enquire from the landlord how 
 the tides are for fishing; as, during some portion of the 
 month, the times are so awkward that it is difficult to 
 obtain any trolling at reasonable hours of the day. When 
 the tide has almost run out, fly-fishing from the bank 
 begins and very good baskets are often taken in 
 this way. There is an old parson, hailing from the 
 south of England, who has spent his annual holiday 
 at Newburgh from such time as the memory of man 
 runneth not to the contrary. He angles every day 
 from the bank on each week day, and from the 
 pulpit of the local kirk on the Sabbath. This venerable
 
 260 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 divine is a most successful fly fisher, and there exist 
 fabulous reports of the quantity and weight of the fish 
 he has taken. He is not, however, communicative, and 
 seems to have an idea that by long possession he has 
 obtained an indefeasible title to the exclusive use of 
 the river and all its contents. But there is no doubt 
 that the old minister is a true sportsman and worthy 
 angler indeed he scorns to take a fish but with 
 a fly. 
 
 Having made up our traces a Devon minnow 
 at the tail and two artificial sand-eels, one white and 
 the other red, as droppers we started for the boat. 
 This was reached after a walk of about a quarter of 
 a mile across the links (for Newburgh includes golf 
 links amongst its attractions). The boat, which was a 
 small one, had a plank across her quarters, and upon 
 this we took our seats, facing the stern. This arrange- 
 ment is very convenient, as the angler can keep his 
 eye upon his line and act immediately a fish strikes. 
 The boatman pulled out from the bank and zig-zagged 
 across and across the flowing current of the incoming 
 tide in the broad portion of the river. About twelve sea 
 trout were the result of the afternoon's fishing. All or 
 nearly all of these fish were as bright as silver and sported 
 splendidly. The largest did not weigh more than a pound 
 the average weight was nearly fib. We were, however, 
 able to send quite a handsome parcel of fish south. 
 On no occasion did we bring home less than a dozen 
 fish, and once, including the fish caught from the bank, 
 we captured more than 30 trout. In each take were
 
 FISHING IN ABERDEENSHIRE. 261 
 
 included a certain number of bull trout, which, as fish for 
 the table, carried away the palm, both in flavour and 
 firmness of flesh. No large fish were taken ; the heaviest 
 we landed weighed about i^lbs. and the heaviest taken 
 by any angler at the inn during our stay scaled 2lbs. 
 
 The attractions of Newburgh are not confined to 
 fishing. The sport of mushrooming may be indulged in 
 when the trouting is slack. There is a spot on the left 
 bank of the river, just above the bridge, which, in a favour- 
 able season provides splendid sport for the enthusiastic 
 mushroomer. Recreation may also be found in the 
 curious game of semi-billiards, which flourishes in the 
 back premises of the Udney Arms, and at which the 
 landlord is an adept. The local golfing links have been 
 already alluded to. 
 
 One thing alone cast a gloom upon the otherwise 
 delightful holiday. We captured sea-trout and bull- 
 trout galore, but failed in the attainment of the chief 
 object of our visit the humorous boatman still eluded 
 pursuit. One morning, indeed, a new boatman turned 
 up wearing a most extraordinary Tam-o'-Shanter, the 
 work no doubt of skilful and loving hands. This Tam- 
 o'-Shanter, was a wonderful example of the knitter's 
 art, involving the dropping and taking up of stitches 
 innumerable, and appearing to have broken out into 
 no end of bobs and tassels ; it gave a ludicrous appear- 
 ance to the wearer. On seeing the gillie with his 
 comical head-gear, "Eureka!" we each mentally 
 exclaimed. It was nothing of the sort. That gillie 
 was an honest, God-fearing man, without a particle of
 
 262 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 fun, except in his bonnet and a peculiar use of the 
 diminutive termination. He lived just a "bittie" from 
 Newburgh, and it was just for a "whilie" that he lived 
 there. 
 
 The journey back to Manchester was rather a sad 
 affair, and was made additionally melancholy by the 
 temporary loss at Perth of a creel containing two French 
 pears, two novels, three pipes, two tobacco pouches, and 
 four specially selected cigars which had been reserved in 
 spite of all temptations to be consumed after dinner at 
 the Golden Lion, an excellent hotel at Stirling, where 
 we generally console ourselves on our way south. Some 
 days after our return the creel arrived with everything 
 intact except those cigars. Whoever took care of that 
 creel had a good nose for a cigar, and all honour to him. 
 
 Thus ends the paper, and the serious question 
 arises: how far does it conform to the theory propounded 
 in the opening ? Alas ! not at all. Where are the grand 
 descriptions of scenery and the historical allusions ? You 
 must still search for these in the pages of Murray, 
 which is unfortunately wanting from the writer's book- 
 shelves. Where is the humorous boatman ? You must 
 still search for him in the pages of Punch and the 
 veracious narratives of other anglers. Lastly, where are 
 the drinks ?
 
 ARUNDINES 
 
 PISCATORUM MANCUNIENSIUM.
 
 THE BONNIE BROWN TROUT. 
 
 Air "The Roast Beef of Old England." 
 
 WHEN hunting men dine, one is tempted to doubt 
 If they think other sportsmen entitled to shout, 
 But while I've a lung I'll be loyal to trout. 
 
 Chorus. Here's to the trout of old England, 
 
 And here's to the bonnie brown trout. 
 
 Compared with the fox, I will venture to tell 
 That the trout bears the contrast remarkably well ; 
 He has all Reynard's cunning, but none of his smell. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 You don't go and hunt him with hound and with horn, 
 Breaking down all the fences and trampling the corn, 
 And leaving the heart of the farmer forlorn. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 You don't find him stealing a cock or a hen, 
 Or abstracting a lamb or two out of the pen ; 
 He's a soul above playing such tricks upon men. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 His diet is modest; with glittering eyes, 
 He gives his attention to minnows and flies. 
 How patient his watch! and how graceful his rise ! 
 Chorus. Here's, etc.
 
 266 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 The hunting man's sport is upset by the frost, 
 And he stands by the fire and swears at the cost 
 Of the corn that's consumed in the weeks that are lost. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 Not so with the angler; the skies may be ill, 
 But his trusty old rod has no belly to fill; 
 His creel and his tackle are running no bill. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 So here's to the trout, sirs, and long may he rise 
 To quicken our pulses and gladden our eyes; 
 May he tighten our lines, and fight game till he dies. 
 Chorus. Here's, etc. 
 
 R. GODBY.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 267 
 
 THE SCIENTIFIC ANGLER.* 
 
 Air "Polly Perkins." 
 
 I'M a scientific angler, and make it my line 
 
 Observations of temperature with flies to combine ; 
 
 With barometer and thermometer, and heaven knows what 
 
 not, 
 A vast amount of information together I've got. 
 
 Cliorus. I tabulate and I fabulate with my note-book in 
 
 hand, 
 
 As complete a scientific angler as walks on dry 
 land. 
 
 In the crown of my hat there's a gauge for the rain, 
 Anemometers revolve about the top of my brain ; 
 With a net to catch Ephemerae my equipment's complete, 
 And I'm scientifically clothed from my head to my feet. 
 Chorus. I tabulate, etc. 
 
 A few years n^o the Manchester Angler*' At4ation nought to l,i.<m by the 
 of their member* a number of facts which they wishol ID tabulate, 
 relating l tcni|>cr alurc of air .m<I w.ncr. direction of wind, character of MIC.UII. state 
 of water, h.ilcli of flio, etc., ami their beaiiiiK upon |iorl. They Usual .1 note-book in 
 which to recunl the observations u\ proper .it. la. Thu explanation will make 
 Mr. (joilby'ii Into intelligible.
 
 268 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Water-flies have two orders, our note-book declares : 
 The Ncuroptera, or nerve-winged; the Trichoptera with hairs; 
 If an angler's bills are in arrear, the neuroptera he shuns, 
 For he scorns to simulate an interest in the family of Duns. 
 Chorus. I tabulate, etc. 
 
 I hooked a trout one day, and so hot grew the fight 
 
 That the thread in my thermometer went clean out of sight ; 
 
 I was very parched, and, sure enough, when the fish broke 
 
 my fly, 
 
 My sympathetic old barometer had marked " very dry." 
 Chorus. I tabulate, etc. 
 
 My custom is to enter up my notes every night, 
 And to specify what flies are on, whether " flat or upright ;" 
 But I often find it difficult, though I can't imagine why, 
 To decipher clearly in the morning the name of each fly. 
 Chorus. I tabulate, etc. 
 
 An example from my note-book may serve as a guide, 
 
 But the name of this angler need not be supplied ; 
 
 The wind and weather, fish and flies, it would seem, I've 
 
 forgot. 
 But the whisky's "character " was excellent, and the " state 
 
 of water " hot. 
 
 Chorus. I tabulate, etc. 
 
 One lesson from our note-book to heart we can lay, 
 Like the families of insects, we all have our day ; 
 We now are in the larva stage ; may we hope, like these flies, 
 When our time arrives for transformation, in perfection to 
 rise. 
 
 R. GODBY.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 269 
 
 MY ROD AND I. 
 
 MY rod and I are ancient friends, 
 
 Long years we've held together ; 
 Through life's bewild'ring odds and ends, 
 
 And most in cloudy weather. 
 And, angel-like, both keen and true, 
 
 In all good service ready ; 
 In blustering storm or cloudless blue, 
 
 Our friendship's firm and steady. 
 
 And oft my faithful rod and I 
 
 Have tramped with silk and feather, 
 When merry birds sang in the sky, 
 
 By woodland and by heather. 
 And when we part, as part we must, 
 
 And life-long friendship sever, 
 Old time may turn me into dust, 
 
 Till then we're friends for ever. 
 
 T. K. PRITT,
 
 270 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 HEY, HO, FOR THE TROUT! 
 
 Air " Lancashire Morris Dance." 
 
 HEY, ho, the lively speckled trout, 
 
 A lusty trout for me O ! 
 
 To rise at my fly, and to leap full high, 
 To rush and fling till my reel shall sing, 
 Ah, then I cry " none so happy as I." 
 
 Hey, ho, for the trout O ! 
 
 Hey, ho, the silver grayling bright, 
 
 Yes, he's the fish for me O ! 
 
 To flash in the light, in his dashing fight, 
 
 To rise and play on an autumn day, 
 
 He needs all your skill before him you kill. 
 
 Hey ! the grayling for me O ! 
 
 Hey, ho, the salmon is the fish, 
 
 A salmon clean for me O ! 
 
 If your steel he meet, how your pulses beat, 
 As he tears along on your tackle strong ; 
 How your heart doth fall as he goes with it all. 
 Hey ! a salmon for me O !
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 271 
 
 Hey, ho, the beauty barred perch, 
 
 The prickly perch for me O ! 
 
 Who bites with a will, and takes no bait ill, 
 A worm or a grub, minnow, dace or chub, 
 Whose fin's like a knife, and who fights for his life. 
 A red finned perch for me O ! 
 
 Hey, ho, the pike's the fish for me, 
 
 A slimy pike for me O ! 
 
 You troll by the weeds, where you're sure he feeds, 
 And he'll snatch your dace in your very face. 
 But then, when he's found, he's mayhap twenty pound. 
 Hey, ho, for the pike O ! 
 
 Hey, ho, the gudgeon is the fish, 
 
 But not the fish for me O ! 
 
 For you sit in a punt when for him you hunt, 
 And loll in a chair when the weather's fair, 
 With a worm on your bend, and a fool at t'other end. 
 Ah, no gudgeon for me O ! 
 
 Hey, ho, the jacksharp is the fish, 
 
 Ah, well, he once was for me O ! 
 
 With a worm and a thread, with no hat on my head, 
 Ah, happy was the day that I passed in play, 
 No care to annoy that dirty little boy. 
 
 I Icy ! the jacksharp's dear to me O !
 
 272 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Hey, ho, the lively speckled trout, 
 A lusty trout for me O ! 
 
 To rise at my fly, and to leap full high, 
 To rush and fling till my reel shall sing, 
 Ah, then I cry " none so happy as I." 
 
 Hey, ho, for the trout O ! 
 
 A. H.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 273 
 
 THE CONTENTED ANGLER. 
 
 Air Squire Bantam's Song from "Dorothy," 
 
 CONTENTMENT 1 give you, and all that it brings 
 
 To the Angler who's fully decided 
 To catch what he can, and be thankful that things 
 
 Are such as his luck has provided. 
 Some miss a good rise, and then swear at their flies, 
 
 Ever ready to seek an excuse ; 
 While others don't play their fish the right way, 
 
 Yet they wonder the creature breaks loose. 
 
 Chorus. But here's to the man who is keen on his sport, 
 Who never lets patience or temper run short ; 
 Contented and happy though nothing he caught, 
 We'll pledge him in wine, when fishermen dine. 
 
 One tries a wrong fly, and he yet wonders why 
 
 All the trout do not greedily take it, 
 Yet ask the same "fella" to eat your umbrella, 
 
 And note his head how he will shake it ; 
 Then why is it right, if his own appetite 
 
 Of the proffered umbrella fights shy, 
 To blame the poor trout if he turns up his snout 
 
 At a wholly incongruous fly? 
 
 Chorus. But here's, etc.
 
 274 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Some anglers, I fear (though I hope none are here), 
 
 Treat their sport in a manner half-hearted,, 
 And think they should see an exact . s. d. 
 
 For the guinea with which they have parted. 
 To such I would say, "With such feelings away, 
 
 That is not the true spirit of sport," 
 No sportsman is he who will measure his fee 
 By the price of the fish he has caught. 
 
 Chorus. But here's, etc. 
 
 R. GODBV.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 275 
 
 AWAY THEN TO THE BREEZY NORTH. 
 
 THE sun climbs high the azure sky 
 
 The snow hath left the hills, 
 The river gently murmurs by, 
 
 And music's in the rills ; 
 The lark pours forth his matchless song, 
 
 The thrush sings in the dale, 
 And echoes sweet the notes prolong, 
 
 Repeating the old tale. 
 
 Chorus. Away then to the breezy North, 
 
 Where anglers may delight 
 In gentle sport with .spotted trout, 
 Or with the Fcrox fight. 
 
 Away, then, let us haste away 
 
 To Scotland land of song! 
 Whose daughters are as lovely May, 
 
 Whose sons are brave and strong; 
 Upon whose hills the healthy breeze 
 
 Can soothe the brow of care, 
 Whose verdant dales and spreading trees 
 
 Are fairest of the fair. 
 
 Chorus. Away then, etc,
 
 2 ;6 ANGLER'S EVENINGS. 
 
 Away, then, let us haste away 
 
 To Scotland's limpid streams! 
 And with the early break o' day 
 
 Sweet as a poet's dreams 
 Whip pool or loch, or "wimplin" burn," 
 
 For captives to our creel, 
 Until at evening we return, 
 Content as anglers feel. 
 
 Chorus. Away, then, etc. 
 
 GEORGE DAVIES.
 
 ANGLER'S EVENINGS. 377 
 
 THE OLDEST OF CRAFTS. 
 
 Air " At the Fall of the Year." 
 
 I propose to invite 
 
 Your attention to-night 
 To a claim that as anglers we hold, 
 
 To take the first place 
 
 In the sports of our race, 
 As I'll show from the records of old. 
 
 And if I've no case 
 
 I will gladly give place, 
 But at present I have n't a doubt 
 
 That the earliest dish 
 
 That man ate was a fish, 
 And, in all probability, trout. 
 
 Chorus. Then here's to the sport, 
 May it never run short, 
 But ever have plenty of GO; 
 So fill up and shout, 
 Long life to the trout, 
 And the oldest of Crafts, yo, ho! 
 And the oldest of Crafts, yo, ho!
 
 278 ANGLER'S EVENINGS 
 
 Ichthyologists tell 
 
 Of a panic that fell 
 On the fishes some ages ago, 
 
 When with terror benumbed 
 
 Many thousands succumbed 
 To a sudden and terrible blow. 
 
 The professors declare, 
 
 With that sapient air 
 Wherein learned professors delight, 
 
 That the fossils they find 
 
 Make it clear to their mind 
 That this death was begotten of fright. 
 Chorus. Then, here's, etc. 
 
 But, taking to task 
 
 Our professor, we ask, 
 "Can you tell us the cause of this fear?" 
 
 Then he looks very grave, 
 
 And his answer is suave 
 As he says "Well, it's not very clear;" 
 
 But the angler steps in, 
 
 And he says, with a grin, 
 " If you cannot explain it, I can : 
 
 Twas some wag of a trout 
 
 That had let the cat out, 
 And announced the arrival of Man." 
 Chorus. Then, here's, etc.
 
 ANGLER'S EVENINGS. 279 
 
 In the matter of streams, 
 
 It undoubtedly seems 
 That Eden was very well off; 
 
 And that angling began 
 
 With the very first man 
 We assert though the critic may scoff ; 
 
 For how to kill time 
 
 In that beautiful clime 
 Must have bothered old Adam, no doubt, 
 
 Till he hit on the plan, 
 
 Like a sensible man, 
 Of tickling the Paradise trout. 
 
 C/iorus. Then here's, etc. 
 
 In the days of the Ark, 
 
 When the heavens were dark, 
 And the waters had covered the earth, 
 
 The jolly old trout, 
 
 Who was cruising about, 
 Must have thought it a matter of mirth. 
 
 For there, at his ease, 
 
 In the tops of the trees, 
 Regaling on excellent food, 
 
 He said, " To my mind, 
 
 'Tis a very ill wind 
 That serves to blow nobody good." 
 
 Chorus. Then, here's, etc.
 
 28o ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Now the patience of Job 
 Is the theme of the globe, 
 
 And that he was an angler is sure ; 
 For he says in his book 
 That you can't with a hook 
 
 The wily leviathan lure. 
 As to Jonah's ill fate, 
 Though it's sad to relate 
 
 How he to the fishes was thrown, 
 Yet we see in this act 
 The remarkable fact 
 
 That ground-baiting wasn't unknown. 
 Chorus. Then, here's, etc. 
 
 Then we'll drink as we ought 
 
 To so ancient a sport 
 Let your glasses be filled to the brim : 
 
 What sportsman can boast 
 
 Of a heartier toast 
 Than " The trout, and for aye may he swim ! " 
 
 May he rise in his might, 
 
 And with energy fight ; 
 (dint) And when his last struggle's o'er, 
 
 May he never regret 
 
 Twas an angler whose net 
 Brought him safely at last to the shore. 
 Ciiorus. Then, here's, etc. 
 
 R. GODBY.
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 281 
 
 WHEN SPRING FIRST DONS HER DAINTY 
 DRESS. 
 
 WHEN Spring first dons her dainty dress, 
 
 And decks her brow with flowers. 
 When birds their gentle wooing press, 
 
 From out the budding bowers ; 
 We'll seek the graceful flowing stream, 
 
 Where alder boughs entangle, 
 And care will vanish like a dream, 
 
 While we enjoy our angle. 
 
 And if the speckled beauties rise, 
 
 And sport attends our leisure, 
 We'll not complain of smaller size, 
 
 Denied a larger treasure ; 
 For why ! as every angler knows, 
 
 His art content hath taught him, 
 And as the gentle pastime grows, 
 
 New joys are ever brought him. 
 
 Then let us sing the angler's joys, 
 
 By lake, or loch, or river, 
 When free from city smoke and noise, 
 
 His nerves in rapture quiver ;
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 With gentle tug of spotted trout, 
 
 Or strain of salmon fighting, 
 Long time before the victor's shout, 
 
 Or victor's eye delighting. 
 
 GEORGE DAVIES.
 
 ANGLERS 1 EVENINGS. 283 
 
 WE'LL NEVER SAY DIE WITH A WHINE! 
 
 Tutu "The Old Brigade." Odoardo Barri. 
 
 WHERE are there joys like the anglers' true, 
 
 When they fish by the river's side ? 
 Wading its shallows carefully through, 
 
 To pools which smoothly glide. 
 Always ready and undismayed, 
 
 Always merry and wise ; 
 Danger scouting, and never afraid, 
 
 Seeking each speckled prize. 
 
 Qwrus. Then steadily, deftly, we'll handle, 
 
 Steadily rod and line, 
 Fishing along, singing this song, 
 We'll never say die with a whine ! 
 
 What is more sweet on a winter's night, 
 
 When the wind bloweth loud and cold ? 
 To sit by the fire when burning bright, 
 
 With cronies true and old : 
 Talking over what we have done, 
 
 And what we mean to do ; 
 Of some rare sport, or of some good fun, 
 
 And friendships warm and true. 
 Chorus.- Then steadily, etc.
 
 284 ANGLERS' EVENINGS, 
 
 We feel the loss of a trusty friend 
 
 We have fished with in days gone by, 
 But new ones will come a hand to lend, 
 
 With willing heart and eye ; 
 We'll share our pouch, or taste the flask 
 
 Of brothers when we meet, 
 With right good will of their welfare ask, 
 
 With right good will each greet. 
 Chorus. Then steadily, etc. 
 
 ALL these verses to be sung only to the music of 
 the first verse in " The Old Brigade." 
 
 IT would be well if the chorus after each verse 
 were sung once through by the soloist, and a second 
 time by the company, the soloist, of course, starting it 
 
 and helping if need be. 
 
 GEORGE DAVIES.
 
 ANGLER'S EVENINGS. 285 
 
 COME BRING YOUR RODS. 
 
 Air "John Peel." 
 
 COME, bring your rods to the sweet green fields, 
 O come, while the grey dawn the bright sun shields, 
 O come, share the joy that each streamlet yields, 
 And we'll all fill our creels of a morning. 
 
 Chorus. For the day is awake and the lark overhead, 
 
 The bold trout are moving o'er each gravelly bed, 
 Come ! Anglers, arise, ere the dewdrop be fled, 
 And the sun spoil the pride of the morning. 
 
 Just for to-day let us fish, while we dream 
 That Care is drowned in the deep, deep stream, 
 And Hope kills Fear with her soft sweet beam, 
 As we all fill our creels of a morning. 
 Chorus. For the day, etc. 
 
 Down where the mill-tail gently glides, 
 Behold how the March-brown gaily rides, 
 Lo ! there a " two pounder " with silv'ry sides, 
 Which we'll put in our creel of a morning. 
 Chorns. For the day, etc.
 
 286 ANGLER'S EVENINGS. 
 
 Our gentle craft is devoid of strife, 
 As a happy man and a loving wife, 
 And there is no boon like a quiet life, 
 Or a well-filled creel in the morning. 
 Chorus. For the day, etc. 
 
 T. E. PRITT. 
 
 ABEL HEYWOOD & SON, PRINTERS, MANCHESTER.
 
 [SECOND EDITION. PRICE 6s. CLOTH. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.] 
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 Papers read before the Manchester Anglers' Association. 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 " Let patience have her perfect work," by Col. J. I. 
 Mawson, C.E. Trout Fishing in Norway, by Abel 
 Heywood, junr. Part I. : Bergen to Laerdal. Part II. : 
 Laerdal to Christiania. The Anglers' Joy, by W.W. 
 The Mind of Fishes, by F. J. Faraday, F.L.S. Rod 
 Fishing off the Isle of Man, by E. G. Simpson. A Conger 
 Story, by Edwin Waugh. An October Day among the 
 Grayling, by David Reid. Note on the Grayling and 
 the Pollan, by Henry Simpson, M.D. Fish out of Water, 
 by Crabstick. Angling in the Irwell.by Edward Corbett. 
 Notes on the Chemical Constitution of Fishing Waters 
 and of the Irwell, by Charles Estcourt, F.I.C., F.C.S. 
 The Anglers' Flowers, by Craven. The Wensleydale 
 Yore and its Tributaries, by Thomas Harker. The Eden 
 at Armathwaite, by Fredk. Kenderdine. A Dream of 
 SpringTimeat Pen-y-Bont, by George Davies. The Lochs 
 and Rivers of Sutherland, by William Bantock. Notes on 
 the Natural History, Antiquities, etc., of Sutherland, by 
 
 P . An Intercepted Letter, by An Anglers' Wife. 
 
 The Raid to Kirkcudbright, by the Raiders. Chap. I. : 
 The Scene. Chap. II.: In Action. Chap. III.: A Nicht 
 at Lochinvar. Chap. IV. : At the Clachan of Fintry. 
 St. Boswell's and the Tweed, by Henry Vannan, M.A. 
 The Bibliography of Angling, by Charles Estcourt, F.I.C., 
 F.C.S. 
 
 "A singularly interesting collection of fishing papers." Allieiiitum. 
 
 " A number of papers so contributed by meml>ers of the Club, have 
 l>ecn published in a volume under the title of ' Anglers' Evenings,' and 
 very delightful reading the volume is." Stolsman.
 
 [PRICE 6s. CLOTH.] 
 
 ANGLERS' EVENINGS. 
 
 SECOND SERIKS. 
 
 With Illustrations by GEORGE SHEFFIELD and others. 
 
 CONTENTS : 
 
 " The Coach, the Coached, the Coachman," by George 
 Sumner, B.A. One Way to the Tweed, by Abel Heywood, 
 Junr. Tweedside, with a few Practical Hints, by John O. 
 Mackenzie. The Meres of Shropshire, by George Davies. 
 Three Fishers, by Arthur Hibbert. Toome Bridge, by 
 Henry Brownbill. A Day on a Staffordshire Mere, by 
 David Reid. H. L. Rolfe, " In Memoriam," by Francis 
 Francis. A Quarter of an Hour on the Wye, and the 
 Wherefore, by George Sumner. "We'll all go a-fishing 
 to-day, by George Davies. Paternoster, or Boiled Cockles, 
 by George Davies. A Week in Mid- Wales, by James 
 Lauderdale Wilson. Analysis of Fishing Waters : The 
 Kibble and Bollin, by C. Estcourt, F.I.C., F.C.S. 
 Certain Chronicles of Pen-y-bont. Part I., Chap. I. : 
 Introductory, by David Reid. Part I., Chap. II.: Our 
 Opening Day, by David Reid. Part II. : An April 
 Holiday, by E. G. Simpson. Part III.: "Glorious 
 Summer ! " by Robert Burn. " We'll Angle and Angle 
 Again," by Henry Lawes; arranged by Henry Stevens, 
 Mus. Bac. A Fishing Adventure in Japan, by Eberu 
 Ewodu. A Letter from Norway, by An Angler's Wife. 
 The Conditions of Vision in Fishes, by the Hon. Sec. 
 Fishes' Ee-seet ; or, Th' Angle o' Incidents, by Arthur 
 Hibbert. The Fens and Fen Slodgers, by Cecil de 
 Gonville. Pre-historic Fishing, by F. J. Faraday, F.L.S. 
 Rambling Recollections of Fishing Days on the Aberdeen- 
 shire Don, by H. Vannan, M.A. 
 
 " A more interesting, brighter, or more useful book upon fishing than 
 this series of experiences it would be difficult to find." Illustrated 
 Sporting and Dramatic Times. 
 
 " This second series of 'Anglers' Evenings ' is in many respects an 
 improvement on the fiist good as that was. . . Mr. George Sheffield's 
 four carbon sketches are real gems. . . . The papers are all of them 
 good." Fishing Gazette.
 
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