59 



The size, quality, and quantity of trout are naturally 

 dependent on the supply of food in their river, and that in 

 its turn rests mainly upon two things, the rapidity of the 

 current and the general temperature of the water. A 

 shallow river rushing quickly over rock or gravel gathers 

 less nutrition for the fish and produces fewer aquatic plants 

 and molluscs than a slow stream trundling quietly along 

 over a soft muddy bottom. It is very common to hear old 

 Yorkshire anglers lament the decadence of the fishing and 

 the diminution in the size of fish since they were boys fifty 

 years ago : something of this probably belongs to one of 

 those fond hallucinations with which the rose-tinted 

 spectacles of Memory are apt to torment the lean and 

 slipper'd pantaloon, as he looks lovingly back upon " the 

 greenest spot on Memory's waste " ; but at the same time 

 it is obvious that the modern system of drainage has 

 undoubtedly affected the rivers, and in all probability the 

 fish. In old days a very moderate " fresh " would keep the 

 river full for a week. Percolating through the natural 

 channels in the land, and gathering miscroscopic nutrition 

 as it went, the rain found its way gradually and slowly to 

 the river ; but in these days the downfall is carried off the 

 land through pipes, as quickly as possible, bringing a 

 'sudden fresh, which falls just as suddenly. It is quite 

 possible that as in this way the supply of natural food has 

 been diminished, so the trout have been adversely affected 

 as regards their natural growth. 



Then again it must be remembered that almost all the 

 Yorkshire streams have their rise on wild, cold moorlands, 

 high up bare hillsides, many of which approach 2,000 feet 

 in height, and that snow is often lying deep in the ravines 

 and gullies up there as late as the middle of April. 

 Melting very gradually, the snow sends down to the rivers 

 a constant accession of cold water which retards the 



