RIVERS OF THE DISTRICT 23 



purposes in the evening. Other useful flies are 

 dottrell, with yellow body ; black gnat ; the 

 willow-fly for the end of May and throughout 

 June ; waterhen with purple body ; and corncrake 

 with yellow body. 



For night fishing, the same sized hooks should 

 be used and the wings of the flies dressed from the 

 quill feathers taken from woodcock, starling, corn- 

 crake, or nightjar's wings. These winged flies are 

 greatly improved by introducing a little hare's lug 

 dubbing under the shoulder. 



On the lower reaches of the Mint No. I hooks 

 may be substituted, especially towards the middle 

 and latter end of the season. It may here be 

 mentioned that the lower reaches of the Mint 

 from the village of Meal Bank to its mouth, a 

 distance of two miles contain much bigger fish 

 than the higher portions of the stream. 



Excellent sport may be had on the Mint with 

 Pennell tackle, the best time for this class of fishing 

 being the day after a spate, when given the fish in 

 a feeding way, baskets of from 50 to 100 can 

 often be made. The finest gut must be used, and 

 the worm always cast up stream. A No. 3 sneck- 

 bend hook at the end, with a No. 2 tied about 

 ij inches above, will be found the most serviceable 

 tackle. 



The upper portions of the Mint, and the tribu- 

 taries will be found the best for Pennell fishing. 

 There is, however, one great drawback, viz., the 

 large quantities of par locally pinks which are 

 found in it. The bed of the Mint is mainly com- 

 posed of fine bright gravel, with the result that 

 the greater portion of salmon and sea-trout which 

 enter the Kent make up it for spawning purposes. 



