CLEAR WATERS 



in former years, when the fish were smaller, bore some- 

 thing of a family likeness to this one. One may won- 

 der, too, whether, when the food supply of the newly 

 submerged land is exhausted, the trout will decline to 

 their original size ! 



My local friends, the experts before alluded to, who 

 have fished these high lakes on and off all their lives, 

 corroborate this capriciousness of the fish, but they 

 have all a few great days to tell of, wonderful days, 

 and I am sure to tell of truly. It must be so. I have 

 never in my comparatively few ventures here been 

 fortunate enough to catch these tarn trout in such 

 consistent mood, and this is very tantalising when 

 you know how numerous they are. It is quite certain 

 that no ordinary fair fishing could ever make the 

 faintest impression upon any of these large tarns, 

 even if their inaccessibility did not make over-fishing 

 out of the question ; and it cannot be stated too in- 

 sistently that holiday visitors to Lakeland practically 

 never fish, nor even bring a rod with them. 1 If active, 

 their week or fortnight in a place is fully taken up with 

 various excursions. If otherwise, the tarns are far 

 outside their scheme of enjoyment. Even Ullswater, 

 though calling for no activity, is, as we have seen, 

 scarcely ever seriously fished by visitors from a distance, 

 and the becks, as also related, can only nourish quite 

 undersized fish, so scant is the food supply. The fish- 

 ing public of the Ullswater district is represented by 



1 To save any possible disappointments, however, it may be well to 

 state that Lord Lonsdale, who partly as owner and partly as recent lessee 

 holds the country east of the lake, has since 1912 absolutely closed Angle 

 tarn, Hayeswater, Brotherswater, and the becks running into the east side 

 of Ullswater. No permission is granted to either natives or strangers. 

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