44 An Angler's Paradise. 



upon a knowledge of locality, and above all, of practical fish 

 culture of the most advanced type, to enable any individual, or 

 committee of individuals, to deal with them in a satisfactory 

 manner. 



Take the case of Windermere for instance, and we have 

 fronting us at once : the salmon fishery, the char fishery, the trout 

 fishery, and the coarse fish, including eels. In these matters 

 alone we find ample work for a local committee. That great 

 improvements can be made there is no doubt, and I, for one, long 

 to see the work well in hand, for a more hopeful case can hardly 

 be. There is the raw material to work upon in almost unlimited 

 quantity, and what a boon it would be, not only to the inhabitants 

 of the district, but to the crowds of visitors who go there to spend 

 their holidays, if the waters of this lovely country were really well 

 stocked with fish. 



Most of the rivers and becks of the district are very rapid 

 streams, with essentially stony bottoms, and the water beautifully 

 clear and transparent, whilst some are browned by the peat, 

 amongst which they have their origin. Some, I regret to say, are 

 poisoned by the foul matter sent down from mines or manu- 

 factories. The unpolluted streams are, in very many cases, 

 exceedingly adaptable, and the development of such as these is a 

 work of no mean kind. Many a beck, that now produces nothing 

 but the finest water and a few small trout, may be made a driving 

 power for scores of miniature lakes which would be controllable. 

 This is exactly what some of the natural waters are not, although 

 they too are capable of much improvement. 



iThe char fishery is well worth developing, although the fish 

 are not, perhaps, the most desirable from an angler's point of view. 

 Their flavour, however, is so excellent, and they are such 

 delicacies, that they might probably be made to pay for a part, at 

 least, of the cost of developing the fisheries as a whole. It has 

 , been asserted that they will only live in deep lakes. True it is, 

 1 that in such only they are usually found to occur, but in 

 ! experimenting with these fish, I have reared them from the egg, 

 j up to a weight of three pounds, in a small concrete tank not 

 exceeding three feet in depth. 



Char are exceedingly sensible to changes of temperature, and 



