HOW TO MAKE TROUT-FISHING 



pulled out many more. My limit was four brace ; accidentally 

 I exceeded it by one, and kept nine trout weighing 13I lb. 

 Still more convincing proof of how trout swarmed in the 

 Gade at that time was forthcoming just after I was there, when 

 the Hon. A. Holland Hibbert landed with the floating Mayfly 

 no fewer than eighty trout weighing 120 lb. in a single day, 

 a performance which, I fancy, has never been equalled in 

 English waters. Now, they tell me, it is hardly worth any- 

 body's while to go fly-fishing in the Gade of Cassiobury, so 

 utterly has the water been neglected. Mud has been allowed 

 to silt up the channel till the old deeps and runs have become 

 unrecognisable ; pike have been suffered to propagate un- 

 checked, and there are few trout left. 



To deal effectively with the evil of pike, all that is required 

 is perseverance with nets and snares, followed by incessant 

 vigilance to keep them down once they have been reduced to 

 a minimum. But while by a systematic campaign of this 

 nature the area and quality of trout waters might be very 

 largely increased, that in itself will not suffice to meet the con- 

 stantly-increasing demand on the part of the public. To do 

 that, new fisheries must be created, and I hope to show how 

 that may be effected to an extent almost without practical 

 limits. 



Wherever there is a perennial rivulet it is possible to store 

 its waters so as to harbour trout of good size. Of course in 

 highly cultivated districts this is not to be done except at 

 considerable expense, owing to the value of land which it 

 may be necessary to inundate permanently. But even among 



133 



