I20 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



slips away, leaving little but weeds and gravel ; 

 when they are down, good sport may often be 

 obtained. The stream is narrow at Puddletown, 

 but lower down it widens considerably, and becomes 

 a good dry fly water. Among the principal pro- 

 prietors are Mr. Charles Radcliffe, of Wareham, 

 Mr. Ashton Radcliffe, of Tolpuddle, and Colonel 

 Hibbert of Moreton. There are at the present 

 time no angling clubs on the stream, which is well 

 preserved by the riparian owners. Trout are 

 plentiful, running up to a good size — 3 lbs., 4 lbs., 

 and occasionally even 5 lbs. These big fish do not 

 often rise at fly out of the May-fly season, but 

 trout up to 2 lbs. and a little over rise well. For 

 dry fly fishing the olive dun, alder, sedge — which 

 is abundant on this stream — silver sedge, yellow 

 dun, and Wickham fancy should not be forgotten 

 by the angler, whilst the blue upright, red upright, 

 red spinner, silver twist, red palmer, and coachman 

 are among the lures of the wet fly fishermen. The 

 May- fly is variable on this water; some years it 

 hatches in abundance and is taken greedily by the 

 fish, but during the last two seasons it has been a 

 failure. There are some pike and dace in the 

 lower portion of the stream, but, besides trout, only 

 eels and minnows in the upper stretches. 



The Britt in the south-western end of the county 

 rises in a mill pond close to Beaminster, and is 

 The eight miles in length. It passes Bridport, 

 Bntt two miles below which town is the sea. 

 The little stream, like the Cerne, is somewhat 

 difficult to fish owing to its being much overgrown. 

 Trout are fairly numerous, and average under 

 rather than over half a pound. The blue upright 

 and other flies used for the Cerne will kill in this 



