20 THE ANGLING CLUBS AND PRESERVATION 



in view were, generally speaking, to preserve and improve 

 the fishing from the Shrubbery to Monkey Island, that 

 is to say, the water between the Great Marlow and the 

 Windsor and Eton Districts. 



Prior to their establishment poaching and illegal fishing 

 were rampant in this district ; and I am informed, by those 

 who speak from personal knowledge, that netting on the 

 meadows adjacent to the river during flood time was carried 

 on wholesale, and large quantities of all kinds of river 

 fish, the greater part undersized, were captured and sold. 

 Wiring fish in the ditches, where they had retreated for 

 spawning operations, was also a very common practice. 



Ten years ago trout had become, comparatively speak- 

 ing, a very rare fish in these parts, and a young trout of 

 greater rarity' still. Angling was almost at a standstill, 

 and anglers were seeking other waters which promised 

 greater success. 



Several gentlemen belonging to London, and to the 

 locality of Maidenhead, feeling that a great deal could be 

 effected in the way of improvements at a comparatively 

 small cost, if a good system were pursued, took the matter 

 in hand. Support was solicited from the various classes of 

 the community interested in the results, and it ended in this 

 Association being formed. 



Their first step, after forming a good working committee, 

 was to make arrangements with the several riparian owners 

 in the districts, by which the Society obtained the rights 

 to drag their ditches and prosecute poachers, and I am 

 pleased to say that they found little difficulty in obtaining 

 these powers. 



The Society then took into its service several of the 

 fishermen of the district, and at their request the Thames 

 Conservancy granted deputations for each, by which they 



