CHAPTER I 



ENGLAND AND WALES 



Angling in England and Wales is to be viewed in a 

 somewhat diEferent light from angling in Scotland and 

 Ireland. In reference to England in particular, anglers 

 may fairly enough be divided into two distinct classes : 

 the one pursuing the bottom-fishing, and the other 

 making the salmon, trout, and pike their chief source 

 of amusement; the one class principally confined to 

 the metropolis and its extensive suburbs, and the other 

 located on the banks of the various rivers and estuaries 

 at the more distant parts of the kingdom. These two 

 orders of rod-fishers are very distinct and well-defined. 

 They have little or nothing in common, save the rod 

 and line, and the enthusiastic ardour for their respective 

 branches of amusement and recreation. 



The London anglers are a very numerous body; 

 much more so than most people would imagine. It 

 is only necessary to go to some of the usual places of 

 fishing resort near the city on holiday - times, and 

 witness the numerous groups of piscatorians huddled 

 together on perhaps a few acres of groxmd, young and 

 old, rich and poor, enjoying their pursuits with real 

 gusto, to be convinced of the very general predilection 

 of the mass of the people for rod-fishing. We have not 

 the slightest doubt but that if the entire number of 

 metropolitan anglers were mustered— those, we mean, 

 whose chief or only aim is to excel in bottom-fishing — 

 they would amount to full as many as all the other 

 English anglers in the mere rural districts put together. 



