98 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



in his vicinity, gaining a practical knowledge of the fish 

 which he will in the future have to encounter. 



CONSIDERATION WHEN BREEDING 



It is of the utmost importance to secure strong and 

 healthily reared yearlings and two-year-old fish for all 

 streams, lakes, and ponds which are being restocked, 

 and the more nearly the conditions in which the fry, the 

 yearlings, and the two-year-old fish are reared, approach 

 those of nature, the better will the results be. Mr. Living- 

 stone Stone, a Fish Commissioner of the United States of 

 America,* guided by his own experience and that of every 

 trout-breeding establishment with which he had, either 

 as manager or commissioner, been brought into contact, 

 is strongly opposed to risking breeding ponds in the channel 

 of any stream or river, and advises the artificial construction 

 of ponds, fed by artificial races. These ponds, he thinks, 

 should be small and compact, lined with wood, and freed 

 from any danger of floods, etc. ; and he recommends the 

 use of water plants as affording shelter and food for the 

 trout. 



These ideas, sound as they undoubtedly are when the 

 dangers above enumerated are considered, have been 

 followed more or less by English pisciculturists, and 

 the logical consequence of these artificial surroundings 

 has been a loss of the many natural advantages of the 

 other method that is, of having trout pounds situated 

 in bye-channels of recognised trout streams. 



The want of the natural food carried by a good trout 

 stream, and the want of the plentiful supply of fresh 

 running river water, the reliance on artificial food, the 

 vicinity of the keepers, the feeble current, etc., all tell 



* Author of " Domesticated Trout," a book full of information and interest 

 to all fishermen, published by The Fishing Gazette, Ltd., 19, Adam St., 

 Adelphi, W.C. 



