SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Ulleswater, Wastwater, Ennerclale, Crum- 

 mock, etc., supply one or other of the rivers 

 above mentioned, and afford sport of various 

 kinds, and it is probable that by cultivation 

 this might be greatly improved. 



Salmon are plentiful in the Eden, for large 

 numbers are captured annually by the nets in 

 the Solway, in the tidal waters of the river, 

 and in its upper reaches so far as Armathwaite 

 Bay or Weir. Considerable numbers of these 

 fish are caught by rod and line from Arma- 

 thwaite downwards, and a few are killed in the 

 water between that village and the junction 

 of the Eamont with the main river, and in 

 the Eamont itself. 



It is difficult to obtain trustworthy returns 

 of the salmon captured by the nets in the 

 Solway and in the lower waters of the Eden, 

 but to give some idea of what sport the river 

 might afford, were it preserved for rod-fishing, 

 I may say that, in a recent good year for 

 salmon, over a length of twelve miles of water, 

 six miles of which were netted, more than one 

 thousand fish were taken in the spring season, 

 and the rods probably accounted for about one 

 hundred and fifty in addition. 



In the Eden there are both spring and 

 autumn runs of salmon, the precise dates of 

 which are determined by the rainfalls, and it 

 is scarcely necessary to mention that these do 

 not always occur at times best suited to the 

 open season for rod-fishing, viz. from 16 

 February until 15 November inclusive. 



Salmon are also fairly plentiful in the 

 Derwent, the Ehen, etc., but there is practi- 

 cally no spring run of fish in any of the west- 

 coast rivers ; a few odd fish may ascend earlier 

 or later, but July, August and September are 

 the best months for salmon fishing in these 

 rivers. 



Sea-trout and its grilse, the herling, ascend 

 most of the Cumberland rivers during the late 

 spring and summer months, but at the present 

 time these fish do not run up the Eden in 

 any numbers beyond a few miles above Car- 

 lisle. 



Bull-trout and grayling are both very 

 scarce, but the brown trout flourishes in 

 nearly all the rivers and in many of the lakes 

 of Cumberland, and although the average 

 weight is not great, they are very handsome 

 fish, and when in good condition show 

 excellent sport. An odd fish weighing from 

 4 Ib. to 6 Ib. is now and again captured in the 

 Eden, and no doubt a few such fish exist in 

 the deep pools in the Cumberland portion of 

 the river, but the average weight of the trout 

 killed by the rod in the middle and lower 

 waters would probably be rather under than 

 over ^ Ib., which is rather curious, as in a big 



river, exceedingly well supplied with food, one 

 would expect a higher average weight. 



A good many trout from i Ib. to 2 Ib. in 

 weight may be observed jumping the weirs in 

 the time of autumn floods, and likely enough 

 these might be killed during the season by 

 spinning, but this is not a method much 

 practised for trout in Cumberland. 



The rivers which discharge their volumes 

 by the west coast contain very few coarse fish, 

 but the Eden breeds a good many pike, and 

 vast numbers of chub (locally called the 

 skelly), while dace, eels, lampreys, etc., are 

 not uncommon ; but, as might be expected, 

 they are not much fished for where the 

 Salmonidas are fairly plentiful. It would be 

 much to the advantage of the ova and young 

 of the Salmonidae if the Fishery Board and 

 others interested were to make regular raids 

 upon these coarse fish, which in this county 

 are worthless. 



The Cumberland rivers, like all those 

 whose watersheds are partly under cultivation, 

 have altered much of recent years by reason of 

 the effect of the system of land drainage 

 which has been prosecuted by the farmers. 

 Year after year tracts of mire and bog dis- 

 appear, and crops of various kinds replace 

 heather, whins and bracken ; with the result 

 that the rainfall, instead of filtering gradually 

 through the soil and thence by way of the 

 becks into the tributaries and main rivers, now 

 runs off the channelled land as water from a 

 duck's back. Thus the volumes falling from 

 the clouds are retained in the rivers for a 

 much less space of time than was formerly the 

 case, and for a far shorter period are they 

 available for the requirements of fish life. 



A definite quantity of water will provide 

 the necessities for the existence of the 

 Salmonidae over and over again, if at regular 

 intervals it be recharged with the gas abstracted 

 and be permitted to free itself from that 

 returned. These operations are performed 

 naturally by the agency of falls and swift runs 

 which agrate the water, and by the action of 

 aquatic vegetation, so in many instances the 

 effect of land drainage in hurrying the rainfall 

 to the sea may be compensated for by opening 

 up the higher reaches of rivers and lakes, 

 where such exist. 



It can scarcely be doubted that this modern 

 treatment of the rainfall has considerably 

 influenced the salmon as regards the times at 

 which they ascend rivers, the Eden for 

 example, and if no fresh fields be opened up, 

 so as to permit the fish to distribute themselves 

 over a larger area of water, instead of being 

 crowded together within a space which has 

 become insufficient for their needs, it is 



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