A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



ANGLING 



In this county are neither salmon, sea trout, 

 nor the fish peculiar to deep lakes, such as char ; 

 but with these exceptions nearly every fresh- 

 water fish of importance to the angler occurs 

 either in the Thames and Coin in the south, in 

 the higher waters of the Great Ouse on the 

 north, or in the extensive sheets of water on 

 private properties. Until within the last few 

 years, Buckinghamshire could boast one of the 

 most remarkable trout streams in the kingdom, 

 namely the Wye or Wick, a little stream which 

 rises near West Wycombe, and, flowing by 

 High Wycombe, enters the Thames. There is 

 not probably in England a stream of the same 

 size which produces, naturally, such large and 

 well-conditioned trout. Unfortunately of late 

 years, the industries on its banks have so polluted 

 the Wick that the fish have been destroyed to a 

 very great extent. The baskets made in former 

 years by Mr. James Englefield serve to show its 

 merits. In 1 88 1 he killed thirty-four brace, 

 aggregating io81b. 3 oz., the two largest weigh- 

 ing 3 Ib. 14 oz. and 4 Ib. 2 oz. respectively ; in 

 1882, thirty-six brace weighing 108 Ib. 1 1 oz.; in 

 1883, sixty-four-and-a-half brace weighing 149 Ib. 

 15 oz. ; in 1 888 forty-three-and-a-half ; and 

 1889, forty-one-and-a-half-brace respectively. 1 

 So high was the reputation of these Wick trout that 

 they were in great demand for the purpose of 

 stocking other waters, and many hundreds have 

 been placed in the Thames and elsewhere. 

 Pollution, chiefly from mills, has seriously affected 

 the Coin from a little above Uxbridge to its 

 junction with the Thames. It is naturally a 

 clear and very beautiful stream, prolific in trout 

 and most kinds of coarse fish which grow to a 

 considerable size. Grayling have been intro- 

 duced of late years by the Friendly Anglers' 

 Society, and proof that they are breeding has 

 been forthcoming in the capture of some young 

 fish. The principal places on the Coin are 

 Iver, Colnbrook and Wraysbury. Fishing rights 

 over much of the river are held by London 

 angling societies the True Waltonians, the 

 Friendly Anglers, the Piscatorial Society of 

 London and the Walford Piscatorial Society. 

 The Coin enters the Thames just above Staines. 

 It was at Delaford on the Coin that the ill-fated 

 National Fish Culture Association had a fishery 

 a good many years ago. White fish (Corregoni) 

 and rainbow trout (Salmo irideus) were imported 

 from America, but breeding operations were 

 conducted on a very small scale, and produced 

 no result of any importance. There is also a 

 good deal of fishing in the Misbourn, a little 

 tributary which rises above Great Missenden and 

 enters the Coin just above Uxbridge, flowing 



1 The FieU, Jan. 1902. 



by Amersham, Chalfont and Chalfont St. Peter. 

 At Shardeloes it expands into a considerable lake 

 which is well stocked with fish. Mention must 

 also be made of the Thame, the upper portion of 

 which flows through this county. It rises near 

 Stewkley, but it is not until Aylesbury is reached 

 that it begins to yield angling worthy of men- 

 tion. Next comes Cuddington and Thame, the 

 town giving its name to this tributary. For a 

 short distance the stream divides Buckingham- 

 shire from Oxfordshire, in which latter county 

 are its lower reaches, and its mouth at Dor- 

 chester. In parts it abounds in coarse fish, pike, 

 perch, roach, chub, &c. The Grand Junction 

 Canal runs from near Aylesbury to Leighton 

 Buzzard, and an arm of the canal links Bucking- 

 ham to Stony Stratford. These waters hold the 

 usual coarse fish in quantities greater or less and 

 have a reputation for large tench. 



Hard by Staines the Thames begins to border 

 the county. Up to the City Stone the fisheries 

 are the property of the City of London, having 

 been presented to the ancient corporation by 

 King Richard I who informed that body he 

 did so 



for the health of his own soul and for the soul's 

 health of King Henry his father and for all his 

 ancestors' souls and for the common weal of the City 

 of London and of all his realm. 



A condition of the great charter was that all 

 weirs (i.e. fish traps) were to be utterly put down 

 in the Thames and Medway save only by the 

 sea coast. Thames fisheries have always been 

 considered of great importance. So long ago as 

 the reign of Henry IV, we find a statute 

 relating to the navigation, in which some protec- 

 tion was ordered to be given the fry of fish. Of 

 the general character of the angling from Staines 

 upwards, so far as Bucks is concerned it may be 

 said that barbel and bream grow scarce as we 

 ascend the river, while all other kinds of fishing 

 improve, trout being numerous only at those 

 places where they have been introduced or where 

 some trout-holding tributary enters the river. 

 The trout of such rivers as the Thames cannot 

 breed naturally to any extent in the main 

 stream ; their eggs are washed away by floods 

 and the young fry are devoured by coarse fish, 

 more especially by pike, perch and eels. The 

 Thames trout is, of course, the most notable 

 fish in the river ; there is probably a larger stock 

 of these fish now than ever before. This is due 

 to the efforts of the various preservation societies 

 which, on the Upper Thames, have spent over 

 14,000 in improving the fisheries. Much of 

 this money has been devoted to the purchase or 

 breeding of trout. Thames trout fishing begins 



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