THE KENT STREAMS 47 



a ten miles' course joins the Stour by Ashford. 

 Mr. Pike, of Maidstone, who has stocked a good 

 deal of Kent water w^ith trout, and has a long 

 and intimate knowledge of the various streams, 

 writes to me with enthusiasm of the Stour. He 

 describes it as "a magnificent trout stream," and as 

 holding " some very big fish." " Trout run," he 

 says, 'quite ih lbs. average, and during the May- 

 fly season big fellows of four and five pounds 

 are to be had. Fish are very shy, and the dry 

 fly is necessary. Three or four brace is a good day, 

 but more are sometimes creeled." Among the 

 principal owners of the fishing are Lord St. 

 Vincent, of Godmersham Park, and Captain Hardy, 

 of Chilham Castle, who has a fine stretch of the 

 stream, and occasionally gives permission on the 

 strength of a sufficiently good introduction. For- 

 merly the tide flowed up as high as Fordwich, where 

 the stream is now rather sluggish and muddy, and 

 where there are a certain number of heavy fish. 

 Six miles lower down, at Grove P^erry, the water 

 becomes brackish, rising and falling with the tide ; 

 and a friend tells me that near here there are a few 

 large fish which turn their heads up or down 

 according to the flow of the tide. It is easy 

 to believe that they are very difficult to take with 

 an artificial fly. 



The Fordwich trout was formerly believed to 

 be a distinct species of the family Sabnonidce^ 

 and Walton had some strange tales to tell about 

 this fish. *' You are to know," he says to Venator, 

 " that this trout is thought to eat nothing in the 

 fresh water," — a statement^ which some much 



^ On this interesting subject, see the latest report of the 

 Fishery Board for Scotland, published in the spring of 1898. 



