114 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



Whitewater is happily untouched so far by the 

 .curse of pollution, and it is possible to include it 

 in our list of English trout streams. From Swallow- 

 field to Twyford is nine miles by the Loddon, but 

 this part of the stream need not be considered. 

 The trout are plentiful enough on the upper 

 Loddon, where the stream has been well stocked 

 and preserved. The limit is I lb. and occasionally 

 a fish as heavy as 4 lbs. is taken. There is a dearth 

 of water flies on this stream, and only in May-fly 

 time do the fish rise really well at the artificial. 

 There are no angling clubs on the Loddon, which 

 ten miles from its source flows through Strathfield- 

 saye the Duke of Wellington's place. 



The Loddon was the subject of one of the 

 sonnets of Warton, who was born near its source, 

 and who addresses it as his " sweet native stream." 

 Pope wrote of the " Loddon slow, with verdant 

 alders crowned," and several of Miss Mitford's 

 scenes were laid on the banks of this river. 



The Lyde is a tributary of the Loddon, rising 

 by Monk Sherborne and flowing by Pamber and 



The Sherfield Green, which place the angler 



Lyde j^g^y si-g^y g^^^ j^ flows through a loamy 



country, and is strictly preserved. Trout are 

 plentiful in the Lyde, averaging about i lb., the 

 largest fish scaling 3 lbs. There is a fair hatch of 

 May-fly, but a scarcity of other water insects. 

 The Lyde, which is a very small stream, is not 

 fished by any angling club. It joins the Loddon 

 a little below Sherfield Green. 



The Whitewater rises at Grewell, near Odiham, 

 and is swelled at Heckfield, eight miles down, by 

 a stream for Fleet Pond, a large sheet of water 

 which the main line of the London and South- 



