LAKE AND POND FISHING, 123 



stored with good sized trout, though nothing but very pigmies 

 were to be met with in the brooks from whence they came. It 

 has indeed been shown from experience that the growth in fish de- 

 pends greatly on the contracted or large extent of waters in which 

 they are located, as well as the quantity of food with which they 

 are supplied. Carp which are kept in glass globes are found to 

 increase but very slowly in bulk, scarcely acquiring as many ounces 

 in their straitened dwelling, as they would have reached pounds in 

 a wide expanse of water. The same indeed has also been found 

 to occur where gold and silver fish, or even roach or minnows, 

 have been confined within very narrow limits. Professor Wilson 

 in fact mentions an instance of a minnow of about an inch long, 

 that he kept for two years confined in a small glass vessel, during 

 which time it did not perceptibly increase in size, though he con- 

 siders it would have attained twenty times that bulk in cubic 

 dimensions had it remained in its native stream ; and the trout 

 which I before alluded to* as stated havicg lived for upwards of 

 twenty years in the well in Dumbarton castle, never during that 

 time increased in size, which there can be little doubt he 

 would have done had he been permitted to range at large in the 

 stream. 



Trout may be fished for in ponds with the same baits both real 

 and artificial as are used for catching them in the streams, unless 

 you are prevented from so doing by weeds or obstructions of that 

 kind, which in standing waters are often found to interfere great- 

 ly with the angler's pastime. It is not often however that the 

 whole surface of the water is so coated over as to prevent angling 

 on the top with the artificial fly, and though in some ponds this 

 may occur, yet it rarely happens but that some space may be found 

 upon which a fly may be thrown. This observation is particular- 

 ly applicable to those spots cattle are in the habit of resorting to, 

 which however shallow they may be, are invariably the best parts 

 of the pond for fly fishing, let the other parts be ever so good. If 

 a pond is tolerably free from weeds, the most gravelly parts are 

 generally the best, and in ponds that are much clogged up with 

 them, there is often a clear space near the shore ; and here if the 

 angler throws in his fly, keeping himself at the same time well out 

 of sight, he will stand the best chance of sport. Indeed let the 



* Sup. p. 18 



R 3 



