26 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



pike, arc now well looked after and cleared from 

 time to time of coarse fish. The rents of good 

 stretches of fishing water have gone up greatly in 

 all parts of the country, and landlords hit hard by 

 agricultural depression have, in many cases, made 

 up some of their losses by letting their streams to 

 clubs, associations, and private individuals. A 

 hundred pounds a mile is by no means an unheard 

 of sum for chalk stream fishing in a first-class and 

 easily reached river where the trout run large. 

 Preservation leads to re-stocking, which is a feature 

 of the greatest possible importance from an angling 

 point of view. There are those who view re- 

 stocking with small favour, and would rather, so 

 they declare, bear the ills we have than fly to 

 others that we know not of " Our old Lea fish 

 mayn't be beautiful," said a rare angler to me 

 recently, " but they shape far better than the fish 

 we have re-stocked with. I really think we should 

 have done better to leave it alone." That re- 

 stocking can be overdone few will deny who have 

 had experience of small waters packed with fish 

 which might reach a couple of pounds or so if they 

 had room, but which actually go out of condition 

 before attaining anything like that weight, and are 

 often found to be black and lanky even after the 

 may fly has come and gone. An over-stocked 

 small stream is indeed a rather pitiable sight. 

 Quite likely, too, my angling friend quoted above 

 was right in preferring an old native of the 

 Lea to any newcomer. It is hard to improve 

 on Nature's arrangements. But in these angling 

 days it is necessary to often supplement her 

 efforts, and hence trout culture has come to be 

 regarded as a great boon to fly fishermen, Some 



