I50 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



there is the Landowners' Salmon Fishing Associa- 

 tion. 



There is some fair sahnon fishing on the Exe, 

 though the fish are rarely up to the standard of 

 those of Scotland or Norway, and salmon fry or 

 samlets are sometimes as great a nuisance to the 

 trout angler as they are on the Welsh rivers. The 

 trouting on the water of the Lower Exe Associa- 

 tion is scarcely worth considering. Below Thorver- 

 ton Weir there are pike and other coarse fish, but 

 only dace, I believe, above. ^ In the Tiverton 

 water trout are plentiful, running about five to the 

 pound above and three to the pound below. Here 

 the duns and the March brown are the chief natural 

 flies, and the favourite artificial are the several blue 

 uprights, the March brown, the blue or olive and 

 the yellow duns, half stones, and gold and silver 

 twist patterns. Fly fishing is the usual method 

 of angling, though worm and minnow are both 

 resorted to at times. A good many Exe anglers 

 believe in fishing down-stream with several flies to 

 any other style, though up-stream fishing with a dry 

 fly is occasionally tried with some success. Lower 

 down stream, about Silverton and Thorverton, 

 trout are fairly plentiful, running about six or seven 

 ounces apiece, with here and there a fish of f lb. 

 Above Thorverton the river is pretty fast, a suc- 

 cession of stickles and pools, with occasional rock\' 

 places ; below Thorverton its pace is slower. The 

 stream is ordinarily a clear one, coming down rather 

 red in flood times. Wading is necessary in many 

 parts. The scenery of the Exe, though fine in its 

 desolate way in the upper parts of the stream, can 



' Grayling have been introduced, but I have not heard 

 with what success. 



