30 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



be unwise to introduce yearlings. It is very 

 different witK club, hotel,- and ticket waters, which 

 are \iery much fished ; there re-stocking is year by 

 year an increasing necessity. . I am convinced that 

 on trout culture the fate of the fly fisherman of the 

 south of England will in the future depend very 

 largely. As to the contention that trout artificially 

 reared on minced horseflesh and other food used at 

 the breeding establishments are not likely to rise 

 so well at the fly as wild fish, it is not one that can 

 be allowed for a moment to weigh against the 

 great benefits conferred on the angler by trout 

 culture. That artificially reared trout of, say, two 

 years old, fed almost entirely off horsemeat mash, 

 may if turned into a brook rise less regularly at 

 May-flies or March browns than the fish reared by 

 Nature, and may prefer grosser food — that this is a 

 not unreasonable contention may well be admitted. 

 In The Book of the Dry Fly (page 8 1) it is suggested 

 that this may possibly be one of the causes of " the 

 greater reluctance of the trout to take the fly" in 

 some waters. The possible evil, however, cannot 

 be set against the certain good ; and I for one be- 

 lieve in the day when hundreds of miles of water 

 in the south of England now neglected will be con- 

 verted by stocking into excellent trout streams. 

 To the south Country angler of the future will be 

 denied the rare delight of falling in with a piece of 

 long-overlooked water in which trout are few and 

 leviathan-like ; but, on the other hand, there will 

 surely be open to him by club, subscription, lease, 

 or hotel or season ticket, many excellent stretches 

 of water that are at present almost unworthy the 

 notice of the fly fisherman. We may be pessimists 



