IMPATIENCE OF ANGLERS. 25 



birth-places the produce would be enormous : for, as I 

 have said before, the salmon is not like any other fresh- 

 water fish, and takes little or none of the fresh-water food 

 after it has been once to sea ; and therefore does not live 

 at the cost of the other species of fish in the same river. 

 Though I am as fond of handling my fly-rod as any man, 

 I strongly recommend that no angler shall be allowed to 

 fish in any salmon river, to the destruction of the fry, or 

 kill any migratory species that have not been once to salt 

 water ; and further, that all fisheries be vigilantly watched, 

 to put down all unlawful nets and unlawful arts : assured 

 as I am that the proprietors of fisheries would soon find 

 out the advantages of all this care. The trout grows fast, 

 and is good food ; but in the Thames it is frequently taken 

 at a time of the year when it is out of season, and easily 

 captured, from the voracity of its appetite when recovering 

 from spawning. Thames anglers, impatient for their sport, 

 begin to fish by spinning a minnow or bleak in the month 

 of March ; and should they take a ten-pounder, which is 

 not uncommon, boast of having captured a fine fish, 

 whereas in fact it is only fit to be thrown away, being 

 full of worms and flabby of flesh. Were such a fish 

 left for three months longer, it would not only have 

 increased in weight, but it would have been worth some- 

 thing, as it would have been in season. The spawn 

 of such a fish would be about 6000 or 7000 eggs. In 



