A BOOK OF FISHING STORIES 



angling has reached such dimensions and intensity that it 

 would be prudent to meet it by the creation and development 

 of the means of satisfying it. I am old enough to remember 

 when it was a very rare thing to be asked for leave to fish, 

 whereas now such requests are incessant. It seems churlish 

 to refuse the majority of these requests ; it is impossible to 

 make the applicants understand that, in order to ensure sport 

 for anybody, it is necessary to regulate and restrict the number 

 of anglers admitted to the waters over which one may have 

 control. Does it not therefore seem advisable to increase the 

 area of such waters and to place some of them under the 

 management of local angling clubs, the members whereof 

 should contribute the funds necessary for upkeep and stocking ? 

 There are very few districts, except in the wilder parts of the 

 Highlands, certainly no districts within easy range of any 

 town of 3000 population and upwards, where there would be 

 any difficulty in forming such a club. Such an arrangement 

 would have this advantage, that, although the club would find 

 it necessary to protect their rights just as jealously as any 

 private owner and to restrict the number of fishers to the 

 extent and capabilities of the fishery, the committee of manage- 

 ment would not incur the same degree of odium and envy 

 as falls to the lot of any landowner attempting the same thing. 

 It will be known that the club pays a rent for the fishery, and 

 that the members bear the expenses ; and an association of 

 this sort is not exposed to the imputation of selfishness in the 

 same degree as an individual. 



These reflections may seem to the reader to embody a 



140 



