THE HERTFORDSHIRE STREAMS 77 



and the lower lengths of the Chess which flow 

 through the south-east of the county are not of 

 much note. 



The Ver, or Verlam, rises north of Redbourne — 

 according to the ordnance map, almost as high as 

 Markyat Street, in Bedfordshire. In its 

 upper reaches it is not a very bright trout 

 .stream, and I have more than once noted a kind 

 of curious and most objectionable scum constantly 

 rising to the surface, and covering the fly and 

 hook. It contains some good trout, though dace 

 and other coarse fish are rather too plentiful, 

 and restocking has been successfully carried on 

 by several owners and renters of water. The 

 evening is, as a rule, the best time for fly fishing, 

 but the trout do not often rise in the upper 

 parts very well to the natural fly. The small dry 

 fly is not nearly so good, as a rule, as a large 

 fancy artificial. I have never myself seen the 

 May-fly on the river above St. Albans, though I 

 have heard of it there. About the mills some very 

 heavy trout may occasionally be seen in the sum- 

 mer evenings, and the average weight of the fish 

 killed will scarcely be under ih lbs. Below St. 

 Albans, and at Park Street, and near its junction 

 with the Colne, the Ver is a much more taking 

 looking trout stream, reminding one in parts of the 

 genuine south country chalk stream. 



The Gade is scarcely, from an angling point of 

 view, one of the most attractive of the Hertford- 

 shire trout streams. It is easily dis- The 

 coloured, and is commonly regarded as Gade 

 a somewhat " sick " looking water. The Gade, 

 which is joined by a short tributary called the 

 Bulbourne at Two Waters, rises between Little 



