A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



ANGLING 



From a fisherman's point of view, North- 

 amptonshire as a county possesses few features 

 to distinguish it from its neighbours. Stretch- 

 ing from east to west of the central midlands, 

 it is intersected by no stream of any note 

 except the Nene. The Avon and Stour flow 

 on its western boundaries, and the Ouse on 

 the south, but the county is essentially one of 

 small brooks. Besides trout, the pike, perch, 

 roach, carp, bream, and rudd, in fact all the 

 coarse fish common to the United Kingdom, 

 are to be caught. 



Of trout, the Northamptonshire streams con- 

 tain a store not surpassed by any other mid- 

 land shire. Every small stream holds them, 

 or has done so up to a recent date. There 

 can be little doubt that the fish is indigenous 

 to every brook in the county, though there are 

 instances, such as Weedon Beck, where the 

 native breed has been supplemented by 

 stocking. As the brooks grow wider and 

 deeper towards their junction with the Nene, 

 Welland, or Ouse, the trout become scarcer, 

 larger, and more carnivorous. As an instance, 

 until recent years the Tow above Towcester, 

 and even for some miles below the town, 

 held a good stock, and in parts does so still ; 

 but as it runs by Castlethorpe to the Ouse, 

 the quantity of pike and perch in the stream 

 precludes the existence of any great number 

 of trout. Spratton Brook, from its two sources 

 near Guilsborough and Cottesbrooke, used to 

 be famous for its trout, but the fish have been 

 practically exterminated by poachers. 



The small affluent of the Nene which 

 flows under the north-western line between 

 Weedon and Blisworth at Bugbrooke, is as fine 

 an example of the small midland trout stream 

 as can be found in England. Trout up to 

 4 lb. were present in large numbers, and would 

 take the fly well, but owing to poaching and 

 other causes this is no longer so. The only 

 security offered the fish against such depre- 

 dations lies in the depth and size of the 

 stream, a fact which avails nothing here, for 

 there are no real trout streams of great depth 

 in the county. 



The most important part of the county's 

 trout fishing is to be obtained in the large 

 reservoirs, founded, the one at Ravensthorpe, 

 and the other at Cransley, to supply North- 

 ampton and Kettering respectively with water. 

 Of the latter little need be said save that it is 

 much smaller and a poor imitationof the former. 

 Cransley, too, is considerably more fished, and 

 with every kind of lure, while only the fly and 

 artificial minnow, and the latter with reserva- 



tions, are permitted at Ravensthorpe. Fish at 

 Cransley are numerous, but shy : they have 

 been taken up to 6 lb. ; three or four fish, 

 however, in a day may be accounted a good 

 basket. At Ravensthorpe the fishing is still 

 very good. The reservoir, which is quite 

 9 miles from Northampton, having been 

 stocked with young trout four years previously, 

 was opened for fishing in 1893. 



Of the many anglers who have regularly 

 fished the lake the Rev. C. Brookes, the present 

 vicar of St. Sepulchre's, Northampton, has 

 killed more fish than anyone. During the 

 eleven years since the opening of the reservoir, 

 he has taken on the fly upwards of 1,100 trout 

 of an average weight of rather over 2 lb. 



During the four years subsequent to 1893 

 the trout steadily increased in size, until in 

 1897 they attained the remarkable average of 

 31b. 1402. Every fish is officially weighed 

 and registered in a book kept for that purpose, 

 and each angler's daily basket is limited to 

 eight trout. Mr. Brookes' best day was in 

 August, seven years ago, when he succeeded 

 in landing eight trout weighing altogether 

 38 J lb., his heaviest fish being 6|- lb. This 

 forms the record bag from the reservoir. The 

 largest fish recorded was caught by Captain 

 Breeks, of Weedon, and weighed just on 8 lb. 

 There is little doubt, however, that there 

 were fish in the reservoir which exceeded even 

 this weight. When it is remembered that 

 the majority of the fish were killed on the fly 

 it will be admitted that such trout fishing was 

 well worth the money expended on it. Since 

 1897, however, there has been a slow but 

 sure decline in size, till in 1901— 2 the fish, 

 though as numerous as ever, have only averaged 

 i|-lb. each in weight. 



Whether this is due to the appearance of 

 rudd in the reservoir is an open question. It 

 is certain that in 1 900, and the two succeeding 

 years, the reservoir offered probably the finest ;, 

 rudd fishing in the country. A few stray 

 specimens were caught in 1899, and in 1900 

 they were present in countless numbers. 

 They took the fly greedily, and if the fisher- 

 man were fortunate enough to strike on a 

 shoal of the larger fish, which run from f lb. 

 to 2 lb. each, an hour or two's casting w uld 

 give him a creel which he would find it diffi- 

 cult to raise from the ground. The best 

 catch ever made was eighty-six rudd, averaging 

 I lb. each, in three hours, all on the fly. In 

 the early part of the season of 1903 nature 

 declared herself against the overcrowding of 

 the reservoir ; a virulent epidemic made its 



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