178 SALMON FISHING 



Mr. F. W. Henry obliges me with a specific 

 statement about the flood gates. "About twelve 

 years ago," he writes, " there was a natural waterfall 

 where Lough Derg drops into the Shannon at the 

 Killaloe ; but, in order to regulate the height of the 

 water in the canal, the Board of Works built a weir 

 instead. This had a very bad effect, from which 

 the fishing is slowly but steadily recovering. It is 

 now possible suddenly to raise the river as much as 

 five or six feet by opening gates, and then by 

 shutting them to make it fall to the same extent. 

 In time of rain the water is frequently made to rise 

 suddenly ; which, as any one acquainted with fishing 

 can realise, puts a stop to sport. The river some- 

 times goes up three feet in a morning ; then the gates 

 are shut, and it drops by night. The flood gives fish 

 time to get up into Lough Derg from Killaloe, but 

 not time to get from Castleconnel to Killaloe. The 

 heavy fish killed on the Shannon are very many. A 

 system of employing the professional fishermen as 

 bailiffs during the winter months to watch the small 

 streams where spawning goes on has, happily, come 

 into vogue." 



The FEALE, flowing through County Limerick 

 and County Kerry, has been falling off. Mr. C. Mark 

 Montserrat, Kilmorna, attributes this mainly to the 

 continuous destruction of fish and fry by poison. 

 It was for many years customary to find the river 

 poisoned with spurge, and occasionally lime was used. 

 The injury was enormous. Another cause of the de- 

 cline was the destruction of spawning fish in November 



