A HISTORY OF DORSET 



The Stour 



The Stour is almost entirely a coarse fishing 

 river, although at the mouth salmon ^ come up. 

 The pike fishing in many parts of the river is excel- 

 lent, and all through from VVimborne to Blandford 

 they are caught in considerable numbers and of a 

 fair size. Chub, perch, dace, and roach are also to 

 be found in plenty in most of the reaches. In 

 the tributaries of the Stour there is good brown 

 trout fishing, and Sir Richard Glynn has estab- 

 lished a fish hatchery near Fontmell Magna, 

 where he has gone in extensively for rainbow 

 trout. Captain RadclyfFe says : — 



The small strwrn here is particularly adapted for 

 these fish, whose peculiarity is that they will make off 

 down stream for the sea, but as there are a number 

 of small mills, with the assistance of iron gratings, the 

 downward march ot these fish is retarded. B/ 

 constant restocking of the highest mill dam pools a 

 really good supply of fish is kept up, and the}' grow- 

 very quickly and take the fly well. 



In the Tarrant, another tributary, there is 

 good brown trout fishing and the fish thrive 

 well and rise well. Unfortunately at intervals 

 this river runs quite dry, and constant restocking 

 is necessary to keep up a supply. 



SEA FISHING 



Angling for salt water fish on the coast of 

 Dorset has been for many years on the increase. 

 Poole Harbour is by no means a bad spot, but 

 for the most part all fishing there, both with 

 net and line, is carried on by professional fisher- 

 men. The Swanage coast, VVarbarrow Bay, 

 Arish Mell, and Lulworth Cove all offer oppor- 

 tunities to the sportsman, but by far the 



' Five or six yean ago a gentleman fishing near the 

 bridge at Blandford with a spinning bait for pike 

 took a salmon of 12 lb. This is one of the few 

 recorded instances of the capture of a salmon on a rod 

 in this river. As in the Frome, salmon come up in 

 the winter to spawn. 



best fishing is to be obtained at Weymouth. 

 There is an excellent anglers' club here, which 

 under the title of the Weymouth and Dorset 

 Sea Angling Society is federated with the 

 National Council of Sea Anglers. The presi- 

 dent of the society is Mr. S. H. Wallis, a 

 very practical angler, winner against 184 com- 

 petitors of the Corporation Cup and Gold Medal 

 at the Folkestone Festival in 1906, when he 

 beat the whole record of the south coast, his 

 biggest fish being two congers respectively 

 30 lb. and 22 lb. and a pollock whiting of 

 13 lb. The honorary secretary is Mr. J. Rogers, 

 and there are about 300 members. The, fishing 

 grounds extend over more than ten miles of 

 good rocky bottom, and there is excellent conger, 

 bass, whiting, pollock, and mackerel fishing. 

 The largest conger caught on line weighed 

 421b., and bass have been caught up to 13 or 

 141b. This is the only place in England 

 where bass fishing can be followed all the year 

 round, and as many as 1 00 in a day have been 

 taken by one rod. In the Fleet waters they take 

 the fly well, and on one occasion two rods took over 

 ten dozen good fish there. The mackerel afford 

 excellent sport, and the record for them was 1 00 

 dozen taken on the line by Mr. A. Brown 

 sailing single handed, his fore sheet hauled to 

 windward. Unfortunately the fishing is being 

 considerably hurt by netting in the backwater, 

 which is one of the finest breeding grounds 

 imaginable. This netting is carried on to an 

 enormous extent with no close season, and 

 bushels of the brown shrimp have been taken out, 

 so that this epicurean morsel for choice fish is 

 nearly exterminated. Now and again a shark 

 visits the water, and on one occasion a large one 

 was hooked on a trot and towed the angler out 

 to sea at a great rate, having to be cut loose for 

 fear of a capsize. 



The fishing at Weymouth is carried on both 

 from the quay sides on shore and also from 

 boats ; the local fishermen are good guides. 



GOLF 



It can hardly be claimed for Dorset that the 

 county is a golfer's paradise. There is but little 

 golf in the county, and none of it is of the true 

 seaside quality, although the Dorset Club makes 

 a gallant effort to provide real golf for its 

 numerous supporters on its famous course at 

 Broadstone. 



Within the county there are no more than 

 seven recognized golf clubs, and it argues a lack 

 of enterprise and enthusiasm for the game in 

 Dorset folk that so much of the magnificent 

 turf of its downs and so vast an area of its 

 characteristic sandy heath is unutilized for the 

 royal and ancient game. Dorset is, however, a 



sparsely-inhabited county, and it is possible that 

 the courses it has are sufficient for the needs of 

 its players. 



It was not until the beginning of the last 

 decade of the nineteenth century that the wave 

 of enthusiasm for golf, which was sweeping like 

 a torrent over England, reached our county ; 

 and to Bridport belongs the honour of having 

 instituted the first golf club within its borders. 

 In February 1 891, the West Dorset Club 

 opened a nine-hole course with a circuit of 

 about one and a half miles on some sixty acres 

 of fine down turf on the slopes of the west cliff 

 at West Bay. The hazards here are gorse, dis- 



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