EXPERIENCES & REMINISCENCES. 149 



What a wonderful winter season this has been ! in fact there 

 has been no winter. In an ordinary season you may, after 

 October has passed, angle for gudgeon until you are blue in 

 the face, but they have bitten well up to the present time. In 

 the middle of November, on the Louth and Tetney canal, 

 McNab and Mr. Hopper, in addition to a splendid catch of 

 roach, landed 45 gudgeon, and as late as Saturday, the I2th 

 February instant, the same anglers landed in the same length 

 of water 42 splendid specimens of that species and 95 roach, 

 the latter being estimated by McNab to pull down the scales 

 at 2\ stones. Both the gudgeon and the roach were in splendid 

 condition. The Louth canal yielded very well in September 

 and October last, Mr. Hopper on one or two occasions landing 

 over 2 stones of roach in the day. The long pond or water 

 below the Outer Fen Lock has, Mr. Hopper is given to under- 

 stand, yielded a lot of small fish, but only occasionally has the 

 take of roach represented fair sizeable fish. Mr. Hopper's 

 biggest roach this winter season has been lilbs., but the canal 

 just mentioned was not responsible for it. 



The fishing resort known as " The Culvert " has not fished 

 well since last I5th June. It is little good fishing the river 

 there before September, and then only after a heavy fall of 

 rain, which brings up the fish from the lower reaches of the 

 river. As every angler knows, rain has been conspicuous by 

 its absence, and as a result the river in question has made a 

 very poor return to anglers who have visited it. There has been 

 an ugly rumour abroad that the river has been netted, and tons 

 of fish taken away to stock Yorkshire streams and reservoirs, 

 but netting could not capture the tens of thousands of roach to 

 be seen in the river last winter. The " Culvert " itself has also 

 fished rather poorly, the roach not running nearly the size they 

 attained last winter; in fact they have mostly been little 

 pottering beggars. 



Hob Hole has been disappointing also, Mr. Hopper under- 

 stands, and particularly in the matter of bream, except in June 

 and July when the Sheffielders got amongst them, but since then 

 they have disappeared and anglers have been unable to find 

 them the last five months of last year. 



