42 An Angler's Paradise. 



when the submerged vegetation disappears, and before its place is 

 supplied by the aquatic forms so necessary in a lake where a good 

 stock of trout is to be maintained. All this was carefully con- 

 sidered at Vyrnwy, but notwithstanding the care which has been 

 taken to retain the necessary favourable conditions, the year 1892 

 saw a decided falling off in the fishing. It is only fair, however, 

 to the lake, to say that during 1893 the fishing improved again, 

 and the catch was greater than ever it had been before. It is, 

 therefore, quite likely that Vyrnwy may " beat the record " in this 

 respect, for I have hardly known an instance of a newly made 

 V lake that did not shew a falling off after the first results, which are 

 usually good. 



The summer of 1893 was unusually dry, and the result was 

 that the water level lowered, until in places a considerable amount 

 of foreshore was left bare. Upon parts of this a good crop of 

 vegetation sprung up, and on the rise of the water this was 

 submerged, and it is a noteworthy fact that some of the best 

 fishing ground is in the neighbourhood of this submerged 

 vegetable growth. A very important lesson is to be learned from 

 / this, for it teaches us clearly, that even the lowering of the water 

 in a reservoir, by which the banks are left dry, may be turned to 

 good account, by the sowing of a suitable crop of vegetation. 



It certainly may be made highly beneficial, by building a few 

 retaining banks, behind which water would remain, and which 

 might be made exceedingly valuable as food producing grounds, 

 and which would, to a large extent, tend to compensate for the 

 laying bare of the foreshore. 



The well known fishery of Loch Leven is another example 

 of what might be done by cultivating a piece .of water. Prior to 

 1830, this loch is said to have been upwards of 4,300 acres in 

 extent ; but during that year, a drainage scheme which was carried 

 out reduced it to 3,543 acres, lowering the level of the water 

 permanently some four and a half feet, and leaving a barren 

 margin. A few years later, the fishing of the loch was fouud to 

 have been seriously injured by these operations, and it was 

 calculated that it had been reduced quite one third in value. A 

 more natural result could not have been, and a large number of 

 our lakes have suffered in the same way, the tendency having 



