20 COARSE FISH. 



left to mark some of the baited swims (or those 

 supposed to be baited) for days and days together 

 and the swims are not fished ; meanwhile, the 

 angler who is a sportsman leaves that particular 

 spot alone, being perhaps debarred from trying a 

 really good pitch. It would be far more sports- 

 manlike in some cases were a give and take 

 principle acted upon, all parties endeavouring to 

 avoid offence, instead of, as in cases I have known, 

 deliberately giving it. To bait a swim one evening, 

 get up early next morning, and then find a punt 

 with one or more anglers fishing it, who, on 

 being told they are fishing a baited swim, refuse to 

 move, and use bad language, forms one of the 

 unpleasant incidents of Thames fishing. Leaving 

 rypecks in the navigable part of the river is illegal, 

 but they are often left in weir corners and back- 

 waters. 



Barbel run to a large size, but a twelve-pound 

 Size of fish is nowadays rare. A barbel of I2lbs. 



barbel 7 oz was taken in 1895 by Mr. Woolley 

 Kelsey ; another, 12 Ibs. I oz., in the same year, by 

 Mr. Blundell ; both the fish came from the Pisca- 

 torial Society's private water at Newbury, and the 

 weights of the fish are duly authenticated. 1 If you 

 land barbel up to six or seven pounds in weight, 

 you may consider you are doing very well, while a 

 ten or twelve pound fish is well worthy of preserva- 

 tion. It is rare to take a barbel of much under a 

 pound in weight. Once barbel come on the feed, the 

 sport is most exciting ; and I have often had my 

 hands trembling so much with the excitement that 

 I have hardly been able to put the worm on the 

 hook properly. 



1 The fish are now in the Piscatorial Society's collection. 



