SEPTEMBER, 1893. 



XVI. THE "FERRY SWIM" AND MR. HOPPER'S BIG 

 BARBEL WHICH HE LOST! 



" \ * TELL," said Witchdorter, addressing Mr. Hopper, 

 V V "^ y u or an y one e ^ se had ventured to tell me a 

 week ago that I, Witchdorter, should not drop my 

 line in the Ferry swim this visit, I should not have believed either 

 you or that other individual." Such were Witchdorter's words 

 as he and Mr. Hopper left Trent side after a most enjoyable 

 week's angling and outing on the old river but so it had been ! 

 Several reasons caused the desertion of this famous old swim 

 which in years gone by has contributed so much to the enjoy- 

 ment of the annual visit. No, one reason of itself sufficed for 

 such neglect of an old favourite swim, but probably good 

 sport in fresh waters (newly tried swims) was foremost in 

 inducing such base ingratitude on the part of Mr. Hopper 

 and Witchdorter. Nextly, [that's a real good word for 

 Dixon's Johnsonary] there was an awful amount of flannel 

 weed in the shallow swims (and the Ferry swim is only six or 

 seven feet deep), and lastly the swim is not what it once was ; 

 it has been diverted by dredging operations more into, the 

 middle of the river and the large weighing boat from which 

 Mr. Hopper has in years gone by fished and landed many a 

 barbel many of them 5-pounders and once an 8-pounder 

 is now quite on the edge of the current instead of being well in 

 the middle of it. The Trent Conservancy Commissioners 

 have put in a new weir about 60 or 80 yards above the weighing 

 boat and landing stage, and this new weir has caused the 

 " set " of the current to be more in the middle of the river than 

 it was formerly ; all right for navigation purposes, but, blow it ! 

 death to the angler's hopes. A weighing boat, by some called 

 the Ferry boat, is the large boat used at a ferry for taking 

 droves of cattle, conveyances, and even loads of hay or corn in 

 harvest time across the river, and is from 12 to 15 yards in 



