134 "^^^ ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



The Pike. A Lea Pike is'a beautiful fish, and there are no handsomer 

 anywhere'excepting the pike from the Avon, although there may be many 

 much' larger. The Gresham Angling Society have in their museum a very 

 fine~pike that was taken a few years ago at Dobbs Weir — it weighed aGJlbs. 

 This is considered a large fish for the Lea. 



Walton says that Sir Francis Bacon ob.served the pike to be the longest 

 lived of any fresh-water fish, and it is perhaps the most ferocious inhabitant 

 of our rivers. It has a cruel look, reminding one of the shark. When fishing 

 the reservoir at Chesthunt a friend of mine hroked a pike and had almost 

 secured it, when another enormous pike seized the first fish and made off with 

 it into the weeds, and in spite of the angler's efforts the line eventually broke. 

 My friend some days after got the fish he first hooked, in a very swollen 

 state with some of the tackle still in it. 



Perch. My first Perch was taken when I was quite a voung boy at the 

 Lock by King's Weir ; it weighed nearly one pound, and I can vividly re-call 

 the pride and pleasure had in the capture. I am here reminded of the many 

 happy days of my youth spent at Broxbourne. The fishing inn, the 

 " Crown," was then kept by old Tom Want and his brother. An old writer 

 on Fishing, F. March (my copy is dated 1842), says of the " Crown " : — " I 

 cannot pass this house without calling and giving the old toast, ' May you 

 never know want but by name ' — but here there are two Wants, and the more 

 you know of them the better you like them." The house was in those days 

 what Walton called "an honest ale-house, where the sheets smelled of 

 lavender," and the gardens were charming, although not quite so grand as 

 Benningfield afterwards made them. 



The Chub. Sometimes called by Lea anglers "Large-headed Dace" — 

 certainly when . young the resemblance is somewhat close. My father was 

 quite an adept in catching this fish in the style so delightfully described in the 

 Compleat Angler. The sedgy banks of the Lea, with the overhanging old 

 pollard willows and deep holes under the banks, are well adapted to this kind 

 of fishing. 



The Dace of the Lea is a fine lively looking fish, and is taken up to a pound 

 in weight. Twelve to fourteen ounces are very good fish. Those in the 

 neighbourhood of Hertford, and taken with an artificial fly, afford excellent 

 sport, and require a keen sight and quick hand in securing them. 



The Roach. "Oh! he is only a roach-fisher " is often used as a term of 

 depreciation. But in reality among many ardent anglers the sport is looked 

 upon next to trout fishing, and certainly among the London fraternity it is 

 thought so much of that during the whole of the season they follow no other 

 — preferring it to every other kind of fishing. In one part of the water at Rye 

 House are still found Roach with black spots. Salter mentions them, and 

 Wheldon says: " At Black Pool, Roach are still taken with black transparent 

 spots upon them ; at the bottom of the hole there is a black peaty bog — the 

 spots may arise from this." The extraordinary fact is that although there 

 are other parts of the water of greater depth, the spotted fish are only caught 

 in this hole. 



The Carp is sometimes taken in the Lea. Possibly being a native of still 

 waters, they are carried by floods or the breaking down of sluices (as are 

 Tench and Rudd) into the river ; they then grow finer and fatter, but, it is 

 s.aid, thev do not breed. 



