472 SALMON AND TROUT. 



also that poaching is systematically practised, as the fish are 

 to be found in shallower water, when a slight knowledge by the 

 poacher of the habits of trout will enable him to take almost as 

 many fish as he wants. Greater loss occurs at this than at any 

 other season, as not only the parent fish, but all their offspring 

 are destroyed. Spawning grounds should be watched night 

 and day, and good solid obstructions should be so placed in 

 the river as to be effectual in preventing the working of nets. 



Hatches, or water-gates, frequently leave no place for fish to 

 hide, and if the poacher knows his business (as most of them 

 do) he has only to shut down the gate, and the pool runs all 

 but dry in a few minutes; the poacher pockets the fish, opens the 

 gate, and takes his departure as quickly and quietly as he can, 

 returning the next night probably to find another good haul 

 of fish. Proprietors of streams, and also their keepers, are 

 not always judicious in their attempts to ' secure ' the fish to 

 their own part of the water. 



Weeds, instead of being ruthlessly eradicated, as is too fre- 

 quently the custom, should be judiciously retained. With the 

 wholesale destruction of weed goes the principal part of the 

 fishes' food, and often the only hiding places the river affords. 



A stream is sometimes cleared of weed so entirely as to 

 resemble a well-kept carriage drive. The trout naturally seek 

 a more secluded part of the water, and will no more remain 

 where there is no cover, than would pheasants. If they stay, 

 they become shy feeders, and as soon as one fish is startled by 

 a footstep on the bank, he seems to communicate the alarm to 

 others, as if by electricity, and the whole rush wildly up and 

 down stream, causing mimic waves in the river for a hundred 

 yards or more. 



A certain number of fish are thus ' preserved ' to the river, 

 as the angler has not the slightest chance of getting within cast 

 of them. The proprietor's wish of course is, that persons who 

 have permission to fish should have fair sport : the fault lies 

 principally with the millers and keepers, who find it easier to 

 set a few men to clear the weeds right out, than to superintend 



