THE DORSETSHIRE STREAMS 119 



receives the overflow and drainings of several 

 ponds during its course of nine miles or thereabouts. 

 The stream is narrow, clear, and rather The 

 rapid, and the banks, overgrown with Cerne 

 bushes and vegetation, make fly fishing difficult in 

 many parts. A large quantity of the water is taken 

 up at times for the purpose of irrigating the meadows, 

 but there arc plenty of trout of an excellent 

 quality, averaging i lb., and running occasionally 

 up to twice that weight. The Cerne contains no 

 fish besides trout, and it is not restocked. There 

 is no May-fly, and the favourite artificials are blue 

 upright, orange dun, yellow dun, March brown, 

 cowdung, and red spinner ; whilst the coachman 

 has been found killing on June and July evenings 

 about dusk. The usual method of fishing is with 

 the wet fly. There arc no clubs on this stream, 

 and the water is all preserved by the riparian 

 owners and occupiers. Godmanstone or Dorchester 

 may conveniently be made headquarters by anglers 

 who have permission to fish the upper or lower 

 lengths of the Cerne. 



The Piddle or Trent, a good trout stream, rises 

 not far from the centre of the county in a mill 

 pond near Piddletrenthide, and runs sixteen The 

 miles to Wareham. It passes by Puddle- Piddle 

 town (where it receives a tributary) Affpuddle, and 

 Upper Hyde. The Piddle runs for the most part 

 through a land of water meadows, and has some 

 pretty well-wooded scenery at various points. It 

 may be described as a chalk stream, and is very 

 weedy in its upper parts. About Puddletown the 

 stream has hatches, with deep holes, at intervals, and 

 it depends a good deal on these hatches how the 

 river will fish. When they are up, the water soon 



