144 SALMONIA. 



out to be an immense chub — a villanous and 

 provoking substitute. And our islands, as far 

 as I know, may claim the superiority over all 

 other lands for this species of amusement. In 

 England it is, however, a little difficult to get 

 a day's salmon fishing. The best river I 

 know of is the Derwent, that flows from the 

 beautiful lake of Keswick ; and I caught once, 

 in October, a very large salmon there, and 

 raised another; but it is only late in the 

 autumn that there is any chance of sport, 

 though 1 have heard the spring salmon fish- 

 ing boasted of. At Whitwell, in the Hodder, 

 I have heard of salmon and sea trout being 

 taken — but I have never fished in that river. 

 The late Lord Bolingbroke caught many 

 salmon at Christchurch ; but a fish a week is 

 as much as can be expected in that beautiful, 

 but scantily stocked, river. Small salmon and 

 sea trout, or sewe?is, as they are called in the 

 country, may be caught, after the autumnal 

 floods, 1 believe, in most of the considerable 

 Welsh, Devonshire, and Cornish streams; but 

 I have fished in many of them without suc- 

 cess. The Conway I may except : this river. 



