THE JOLLY ANGLER. 13 



finest Rivers in England for the angler to try his skill in; 

 here he meets with every comfort in the shape of good 

 eating and drinking, at a reasonable price, as well as good 

 company, and generally good sport. The style of fishing 

 and great breadth of water qualifies him for any river in 

 the kingdom, either with the fly, troll, or worm. I con- 

 sider Mr. Cruikshanks, (who has in his time taken more 

 Chub and Trout from this river than any man living,) one 

 of the best fly anglers I ever saw. 



THE RIVER COLNE 



has a great abundance of Trout, Jack, Chub, Perch, 

 Roach, Dace, Eels, Craw, or Cray Fish, &c. from its 

 sources in the neighbourhood of St. Alban's, Park Street, 

 Colney Street, &c. down to Otterspool, Watford, Two 

 Waters, where the rivers join, Rickmansworth, Denham, 

 Uxbridge, and Iver, where is a large piece of water pre- 

 served for anglers, the subscription to which is high 

 enough to keep it select. From Iver, down to Dray ton 

 Mills, and on to Longford, you may still find some Trout, 

 with plenty of Jack, Perch, Chub, large Dace, Roach, 

 Gudgeons, &c. This River, from Uxbridge down, resem- 

 bles the Lea in many parts; the season for, and manner 

 of taking the fish is very similar, but higher up it is more 

 of a Trout stream, having some good mill streams tributary 

 to it. Some years back, I used to visit Old Parr, at 

 the sign of the Trout, near Iver, in whose neighbourhood 

 I have caught good Trout, Perch, Dace, Roach, and Chub, 

 and have seen some excellent Jack taken. I should not 

 be doing justice to this River without placing it next to 

 the Lea for bottom fishing, and decidedly before it for fly 

 fishing; the Trout being in some parts very numerous, 

 and the Dace growing double the size they do in the Lea 

 or Thames ; I never saw a Thames Dace weigh above eight 

 ounces, nor until I do see it, will I believe that they are 

 produced above that weight in that River ; I mean avoir- 

 dupois, not " Fisherman's weight." 



B 



