130 ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT FISHERIES 



be observed from its shores, that the lake teems 

 with good trout, and there are special reasons why 

 this should be so. The newly submerged portions 

 of the lake amount to 235 acres, an area rich in 

 natural fish food. This is an illustration of a fact 

 which has been long known, although, for obvious 

 reasons, it is rarely that it can be put in practice. 



WASTWATER 



Wastwater is perhaps the most impressive of all 

 the lakes. There is a solemn grandeur about it at all 

 times, but when lashed by a storm, with black 

 impending clouds, it suggests a veritable mountain 

 inferno. Lying at the foot of Scafell and Scafell 

 Pikes, Wastwater is three miles long, \ mile broad, 

 and 200 feet above sea-level. As Derwentwater is 

 the shallowest of the lakes, Wastwater is the 

 deepest, its mean depth being 134^ feet, its maxi- 

 mum 258 feet. On its left bank are the finest 

 " screes " in the whole of the Lake District. The 

 extremities of Wastwater present a greater contrast 

 than those of any other lake. At its head are 

 rugged masses of mountain presenting a magnifi- 

 cent front ; while much of its lower end is 

 embowered in woods. The lake has one small 

 rocky island, close to the right shore and near its 

 lower end. Over and Nether becks, having their 

 origin in mountain tarns, are Wastwater's principal 

 feeders ; the river Irt, rising on Scafell, is its 

 effluent. 



The lake contains trout and char ! the former 



1 " I am assured, if the wind does not fail us, we may 

 have a good chance of taking some nice trout, and perhaps 

 a charr. Trout and charr are the principal fish as constant 



