72 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



Anns. The surrounding country is pretty and well 

 wooded — good for cycling, driving, or walking. 



The Beane, or Beame, is also a good trout 

 stream. It rises near Stevenage, on the Great 



The Northern Railwa}% near the borders of 

 Beane Cambridgeshire, and flows due south to 

 the Lea at Hertford. In the upper parts of the 

 stream trout are by no means plentiful, but what 

 there are run large. I have before me a record of 

 eight trout averaging 3 Jibs., taken by an angler last 

 summer in the upper Beane. The May-fly comes 

 on in considerable quantities, but small fly is not 

 very effective. An alder is a good fly, but a more 

 gaudy fly, such as the Alexandra, is deemed by 

 some anglers the best of all. Re- stocking has been 

 resorted to by several proprietors of fishing, but 

 hundreds of trout have been destroyed by severe 

 droughts, and above Walkern the fish are con- 

 sequently far from being too numerous. The best 

 water on the Beane is perhaps at Frogmore, the 

 estate of Mr. Hudson, M.P. Here there are plenty 

 of trout, and the water is carefully preserved and 

 looked after. The fishing on the Beane is in 

 private hands, and there are no angling clubs, as 

 there arc on the Lea and Mimram. His^h banks 

 in places and a gravelly bed are characteristics of 

 the stream. At Woodhall Park the stream 

 expands into a lake, in which there are some large 

 fish, and five miles on it joins the Lea. Watton, or 

 Walkern may be made headquarters by the 

 angler. 



The Rib also flows into the Lea just below Hert- 

 ford. It rises a few miles from Buntingford and 

 after a course of some eight miles is joined by the 

 Ouin. It then flows to the Lea in a south-easterly 



