276 TROUT FISHING 



several years, though I believe it knew trouble 

 incidental to the later years of the War (it was not 

 alone in that), and it may be cited as a satisfactory 

 example of what can be done. I am quite sure that 

 its story could also be told of other small streams 

 if they were treated in a similar manner. It is 

 important to realise that its improvement does not 

 only consist in the introduction of trout, but also 

 in the establishment of a good show of fly, both 

 duns and sedges. This is presumably due in part 

 to the introduction of suitable weeds, of which 

 I believe good store was brought from the Itchen. 

 Another experiment in the creation of trout 

 fishing which is of interest is the making of a fishery 

 by what may be called force majeure. The Thorney 

 Weir water at West Drayton has afforded the most 

 notable instance of this. The Colne used in old days 

 to be one of the finest trout rivers in the south of 

 England. What it was like is shown by the chapter 

 in Sir Humphry Davy's Salmonia which describes 

 Mayfly fishing at Denham. But there has been a 

 sad falling off since then. During the twenty 

 years or so that I have known it myself I should 

 never have described it as a trout stream, though 

 it has always held a certain number of trout. 

 Latterly it seems obvious that abstraction of water 

 combined with a good deal of pollution has made 

 the chances of trout worse than ever. The prob- 



