WEST AND SOUTH-WEST COUNTIES 205 



to our taste, spoils a river for comfortable rod-fishing 

 with the artificial fly. Commercial traffic and rippling 

 and sparkling streams are two incompatible thitigs. 

 Altogether, however, the London angler will find 

 Dorsetshire a most delightful locality for his amusement ; 

 and the beauty of the scenery in the immediate vicinity 

 of its rivers, and the antiquarian remains to be found in 

 many directions, are great inducements at all times to 

 an enlightened angler. 



The county of Devonshire is calculated to afi'ord the 

 angling tourist considerable sport. It has many first- 

 rate waters for both salmon and trout, and is in many 

 other respects one of the most interesting localities in 

 England. We have the Tamar, the Plym, the Yealme, 

 the Avon, the Dart, the Exe, the Otter, the Syd, the 

 Teign, the Taw, and the Torridge. All these waters 

 possess similar angling capabilities. They all abound 

 with rippling and purling streams — such streams, in 

 fact, as a rod-fisher feels a pleasure in. throwing a line 

 upon. They all flow through a fine country, with 

 scenery rich and beautiful, and which fills the mind 

 with gladness and delight. There is a large portion of 

 these waters of Devonshire free and open, and the pre- 

 served localities are only studded here and there in the 

 angler's path. The railway to Plymouth runs through 

 a considerable part of the county; but the rod-fishing 

 traveller will find it more to his advantage and comfort 

 to depend upon his pedestrian powers, for he then 

 possesses a much greater facility of moving from one 

 river to another, and to fish the finest of their streams, 

 at the lowest cost of time and labour. 



There are many kinds of flies which have a local 

 reputation among anglers in these waters, which are 

 worthy of a stranger's attention. These predilections 

 are often founded upon fanciful notions and inaccurate 

 observations ; but it is not always advisable to treat them 

 with lightness or indifference. Men who fish particular 

 waters have always a great advantage over one who pays 

 them but an occasional visit. As far as our own 

 observation goes, and from what we have gathered from 



