SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



15 oz. At Sudbury there are more anglers and 

 greater facilities. A basket of forty-seven roach 

 recently taken (1904) in three hours near Croft 

 Bridge weighed 57 lb. A deep swim known as 

 Sudbury Reach abounds with jack and roach, the 

 former running from 4 lb. to 18 lb. When the 

 weeds are troublesome very good sport is obtained 

 with caddis worms, using a fine-drawn gut line 

 without a float. In hot weather on the shallows 

 very good takes can be secured with the blow 

 line, a live blow-fly from the gentle being the 

 lure used. The swims from Sudbury to Bures 

 may be dismissed with the remark that they are 

 all good for jack and roach. Some fine perch 

 are taken, but these fish are not nearly so plentiful 

 as they were about 1887 ; of late, however, 

 there has been a decided improvement, thanks to 

 measures taken to check pollution. Being the 

 most accessible fishing station upon the river 

 from London, there is more angling at Bures 

 than at all other places on the river put together, 

 excepting possibly Sudbury. That justly cele- 

 brated piece of water known as Wormington 

 Mere, formerly called ' The Decoy Pond,' lies 

 about two miles down the stream from Bures, 

 upon the Essex side ; it is connected with the 

 river by a narrow cutting some 200 yards long. 

 This mere, which is about 10 acres in extent, 

 belonged to the Tufnell family for generations. 

 A deep fringe of tall trees and high-growing 

 rushes effectually prevents fishing from the banks. 

 Bream appear to be the most plentiful fish ; 

 50 lb. per rod is an average capture, whilst 

 400 lb. to 500 lb. for a boat is not a record ; 

 6 lb. is about the best weight for a single speci- 

 men so far obtained. The best season is from 

 the middle of August to the middle of October. 

 In the river, bream seldom come up beyond 

 Bures, but below that point to the sea, or where 

 the fresh and salt waters mingle, they are plentiful. 

 At Dedham, bream, jack, and roach are very 

 numerous. It is well known that fish have 

 increased in numbers during the last hundred 

 years, with perhaps the exception of perch. In 

 former days the bargemen, who were then more 

 numerous, carried large drag nets, and it was no 

 uncommon sight to see bushels of roach, bream, 

 and jack hawked about the streets of the Suffolk 

 towns by these men. Then, again, what were 

 called ' bush-fights ' were considered good sport. 

 Parties gathered from miles round to operate with 

 two drag nets. The nets would be brought 

 closer and closer together until all the fish were 

 gathered in a narrow space, when the fish were 

 taken by the cartload with a casting net. The 

 law has put a stop to such wholesale netting. In 

 every part of the Stour there are hordes of tench, 

 and a few carp have from time to time been 

 taken. Attempts at various times have been 

 made to introduce trout, especially between Sud- 

 bury and Clare, care having been first taken to 

 exterminate the jack ; but high floods allow 

 them to enter the water. 



Of the innumerable meres, decoy ponds, and 

 small lakes, artificial and natural, which dot the 

 county, it is only necessary to say that one and 

 all contain fish in large and small quantities. 

 From time immemorial Suffolk waters have 

 always been very rich in coarse fish, and the 

 remains of artificial fish-ponds can to-day be 

 plainly traced near most of the large houses of 

 note. Eels, bream, tench, carp, perch, pike, 

 roach, rudd, or some of them are to be found in 

 the waters at almost every village. Formerly 

 fish were plentiful in the waterways, as they were 

 taken only in the quantities necessary to supply 

 local requirements. But with the introduction 

 of railways the marshmen and wherrymen found 

 ready markets away from home, more especially 

 during Lent, for any quantity they could send. 

 Accordingly the waters were denuded with the 

 long drag or seine nets ; and old residents on 

 the marshland have seen tons of fish taken at a 

 haul, packed, and sent away to London. Most 

 injurious was the custom of netting the spawning 

 fish in the shallows and backwaters, until anglers 

 took steps to procure prevention of the practice 

 in 1857. In that year a memorial was presented 

 to the Norwich corporation, 1 praying that the 

 existing charter might be put in force, and that 

 measures should be adopted to stop the wholesale 

 netting. For the furtherance of this object a 

 private meeting was held at Norwich from which 

 the Norfolk and Norwich Angling Society sprang 

 into existence. In 1874 a meeting was held by 

 the society to consider a proposal to apply for an 

 Act of Parliament to regulate fishing in the 

 Waveney, Yare, and Bure. A substantial fund 

 was raised in Norfolk and Suffolk, and after 

 many more meetings and much work the Nor- 

 folk and Suffolk Fisheries Act became law on 

 12 July, 1877. On 27 April, 1878, the Norfolk 

 Fisheries Preservation Association was formed to 

 collect funds in order to carry the new Act into 

 effect. The principal duty of this Association 

 was the appointment of keepers, watchers, boat- 

 men and others employed by landowners as 

 water-bailiffs ; also the conduct of prosecutions 

 in courts of summary jurisdiction in the name 

 of the Board of Conservators ; the costs being 

 defrayed out of the funds of the association. 

 By 1879 forty-two water-bailiffs had been 

 appointed and many cases of poaching were 

 detected and vigorously prosecuted ; extra water- 

 bailiffs were appointed every year following. 

 In the same year at Lowestoft a meeting was 

 held under the auspices of the Waveney and 

 Oulton Broad Fish Protection Society, to hear 

 an address by Mr. Frank Buckland, advocating 

 the introduction of foreign fish to Suffolk waters. 

 From this meeting originated the National Fish 

 Acclimatization Society. In 1883 netting was 

 totally abolished except for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing bait. In 1890 the Waveney and Oulton 



1 Nicholas Everitt, Brosdland Sport. 



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