454 NOTES ON FISHING WATERS. 



The best station for barbel is in the deep, about two hundred yards 

 above the bridge, from the middle of August to the end of October : 

 but, in the early part of the season, the best pitch is at the extremity 

 of the preserve, opposite the Duke of Buccleuch's boat-house, where 

 the dace are very numerous, and many barbel are also caught with 

 dace-tackle. In fact, the most general mode of fishing for barbel at 

 Richmond is with fine tackle, as the barbel, though plentiful, do not 

 run so large as higher up the Thames. The dace are very large in the 

 deep, and if a heavy barbel be hooked, he affords much more sport 

 with dace-tackle than with the ledger-line. 



The pitches recommended are for a clear water ; but after a fresh 

 (or fash as it is here called by the watermen), and when the water is 

 high, and somewhat coloured, the best stations are three or four yards 

 from the bank, on the Middlesex side of the river, and between the 

 bridge and the Duke of Buccleuch's. On the 4th October, 1835, when 

 the water was high, and rather discoloured by two or three days' 

 rain,* after twelve at noon, Mr. Hofland caught twenty dozen fish, 

 principally roach. His station was three or four yards from the Mid- 

 dlesex shore ; and during the same season, two gentlemen, in one 

 punt, killed a hundred and twenty -five barbel in one day, many of 

 them weighing from four to eight pounds each. 



To make the most of a day at Richmond, the neap tide should be 

 chosen, that is, when it is high water at London Bridge at six o'clock 

 A.M. It will then be high water at Richmond between eight and nine 

 in the morning, with but little tide ; you may commence at nine, and 

 continue to fish till seven, when it will be flood, and you will then 

 have the best hours' fishing of the whole day. If you visit Richmond 

 during a spring tide, i.e. when it is high water at London Bridge at 

 noon, you will be interrupted two or three hours by the flowing of the 

 tide, during which time the only fishiug is from the banks. The same 

 observations will apply to Twickenham and Teddiugton Lock, beyond 

 which the tide ceases to flow. From the bridge as far as the Duke of 

 Buccleuch's on the Richmond side, there is good fishing from the 

 towing path for dace and barbel; and in the months of October and 

 November, very good roach are taken there. From the western end 

 of the Duke of Buccleuch's garden to Twickenham ferry, there is an 

 excellent shoal for fly-fishing, where ten or twelve dozen dace have been 

 frequently taken in a few hours. 



THE INNS are of every possible grade, from the splendid to the 

 unpretending and comfortable, of the latter character are the King's 

 Head, near the bridge ; the Pigeons, near the Duke of Buccleuch's ; 

 the White Cross, near Cholmondeley Walk ; the Greyhound, and 

 the Roebuck ; and of the former, the Star and Garter, the Castle, and 

 the Talbot. Dinner accommodation may be had at Gainer's Dining 

 Rooms, close by the bridge. FISHERMEN, George Platt, William Platt, 

 Brown, Howard, Carter, James Hall, Edward Redkuap, and of whom 



* Having spoken of coloured water, I must here inform the young angler that 

 sport cannot be expected when the river is rising rapidly, and is of a white yeasty 

 colour, from the muddy waters of the Mole, and other tributary streams ; but 

 when it is clearing, and becomes a greenish grey, he will be well rewarded for his 

 labour. 



