94 THE SCIENCE OF DRY FLY FISHING. 



danger of flooding. Mr. G. R. Bryant, the present 

 proprietor, whose house is seen to the right, and his keeper, 

 Mr. Clinker, scout the idea of such a danger. Floods are 

 practically unknown in this portion of the Itchen, due to 

 the rapid flow of its waters and the vicinity of its source. 

 The author suggested to Mr. Bryant that many of the weaker 

 fry must be forced by the rapid current against the lower 

 screens in these breeding canals or boxes, and thus destroyed. 

 "That," said Mr. Bryant, "is exactly what happens, and 

 we thus get rid, by natural means, of the small percentage 

 of weaklings, and retain none but healthy and vigorous fish." 

 To show the richness of the Itchen water at this place, 

 the following extract from a letter written by Mr. E. Valentine 

 Corrie will be found most interesting : 



Lower Chilland, 



July loth, 1900. 



"The weather was remarkably hot, and the heat only occasionally tempered by a S.W. 

 breeze, just strong enough to cause some ripple when it pressed against the run of the 

 stream. For two weeks previously, trout had been very difficult to take, and when I waded 

 into the shallow water immediately below Chilland footbridge, I scarcely expected more 

 than a brace or so of i^-lb. fish. The rise commenced shortly after 10. 30 a.m. , and trout came 

 well to a medium sized Olive. Very quickly I had three nice fish, and as I saw large numbers 

 of them taking up their feeding stations behind the bars of weed which had been left across 

 the wide shallow, and judged that an extra big day might be in store, I returned to the house 

 and directed that some of the fish cages, in which the Chilland Fishery trout are stored before 

 being sent on a journey, should be taken down to the shallow and placed in the water near below 

 the place where I was fishing. The rise of fly was never very strong, but continued all day, 

 and by 4 p.m. I had landed 14^ brace of trout averaging over i$-lb. apiece and placed them 

 in the storing cages ; of course, a great many fish of less weight also came to hand, but 

 were at once returned to the river. Of the 29 trout in cages, I liberated all females, only 

 retaining male fish that appeared to have reached or passed their prime. This work was 

 done at leisure after the rise of fly ceased, and I had ample time to sort out and knock on 

 the head fish which were better out of the stream. I think the most remarkable incidents 



