FISHES 



From the Bells of Ouseley to Lower Inglesham, the Thames, if we 

 omit one small portion, borders the county of Berkshire, a distance of over 

 a hundred miles. Into it flow many tributaries, and thus, so far as river 

 fish are concerned, the county is abundantly supplied. The anadromous 

 fish, namely those which ascend the river from the sea for spawning 

 purposes, are not present owing, it is believed, to the obstructions caused 

 by the weirs and locks, and to the pollution of the estuary. But of the 

 catadromous fish, the eel descends from the river to spawn in the sea, 

 the resulting young returning to the river recently vacated and never 

 revisited by their parents, pollutions and obstructions notwithstanding. 

 An elver can climb over nearly anything which is moist, and makes 

 nothing of a waterfall which would be fatal to the ascent of salmon and 

 sea trout. In the early years of the century Berkshire possessed in the 

 Thames a salmon river. In the second edition of Salter's Angler 's Guide, 

 published in 1 8 1 5, is the remark that the salmon is a fish which is seldom 

 taken by the angler in south Britain, although ' some are found in the 

 Thames,' which the writer believed were justly considered to be superior 

 to any bred in other rivers. He speaks of them being caught in the 

 Thames and Medway with such baits as a raw mussle or cockle taken 

 clear from the shell, and adds that in 1789, which would of course be 

 within his recollection, a salmon was taken from the river Thames that 

 weighed 70 Ib. and was sold ' at Mr. Howell's, the fishmonger opposite 

 America Square in the Minories, at one shilling per pound.' There is 

 no doubt that salmon were getting scarce in Salter's day. 



In May, 1901, the Thames Salmon Association, of which Mr. W. 

 H. Grenfell, M.P., is the president, turned into the Thames at Tedding- 

 ton 600 salmon smolts. Since that date smolts have been turned in to 

 the number of about 1,500 to 2,000 a year. Some years ago a large 

 number of salmon fry were turned in by Buckland and others, but 

 these small delicate fish were not of a size to insure or even render 

 success probable. The Thames Salmon Association intends to continue 

 turning in fish for five or six years, and if they find that any return from 

 the sea, salmon stocking will in all probability be carried out on an 

 adequate scale. It is just possible therefore that before long we may find 

 Berkshire possessing a salmon river of its own. The writer has seen an 

 old manuscript book kept by Mr. Alnutt, who lived towards the close 

 of the eighteenth century, and was a former clerk of the old Thames 

 Commissioners, in which were instructions how to fish for ' skeggers,' 

 namely with light float tackle baited with a gentle. ' Skegger' was a 



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