RIVER PRESERVING AND RIVER POACH 'ING 71 



poisoned by lime, or of the use of explosives to 

 destroy the fish, against which proceedings heavy 

 legal penalties exist, the only other plans a poacher 

 can adopt are netting or setting night lines ; and if a 

 keeper is worth his salt, he should easily outwit any 

 one attempting either of these methods. 



Netting can only be practised openly ; and though 

 a keeper cannot be on his beat night and day, con- 

 stant watching will do much towards warning bad 

 characters away from the river. It is most necessary 

 for a keeper to possess a knowledge of the regular 

 poachers of the neighbourhood. 



It is not likely that every portion of the water 

 is available for netting purposes, but in those places 

 where such a proceeding is possible, a stout, square 

 stake firmly driven into the river-bed, ornamented on 

 all sides with strong up and down turned hooks, will 

 tear to pieces any nets which may be used. 



These stakes should reach to within some eighteen 

 inches of the top of the water and will interfere little 

 with the fishing, while they prove an almost insuper- 

 able bar to successful net-poaching. Night lines, on 

 a river carefully watched, produce such feeble results 

 that they are very little to be dreaded. 



In a word, a simple device, such as described 

 above, really meets all the requirements of the cast. 1 , 



