SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



of the Thames fishing in Surrey would be 

 somewhat different to that which obtains 

 at the present day. 



Convents and monastic establishments, 

 or their ruins, are found on many of our 

 principal rivers, owing doubtless to the 

 necessities of the Catholic Faith in connexion 

 with fast days and fish eating. For instance 

 on the spot now occupied by Sion House 

 at Twickenham once stood Sion Convent. 

 Near here the little river called the Crane 

 flows into the Thames. It yields some 

 very fair coarse fishing, but attempts which 

 have been made to turn it into a trout 

 stream have not met with very marked 

 success. Of little interest from the angler's 

 point of view is the junction of the river 

 Wandle with the Thames at Wandsworth, 

 for now, alas, this once beautiful trout stream 

 is little better than a sewer in its lower 

 reaches. 



Of the Surrey portion of the Thames in the 

 neighbourhood of London there is little of 

 present day interest. Time was, as a picture 

 still in existence informs us, when the 

 citizens used to sit on the buttresses of old 

 London Bridge and fish with huge floats. 

 In those days an interesting fish known as 

 shad used to ascend the Thames for spawn- 

 ing purposes ; stray examples are still cap- 

 tured in the estuary many miles below Lon- 

 don, but the river does not appear to be 

 sufficiently pure for the fish to ascend, or it 

 may very well be that they are deterred by 

 the steam traffic. Time was, too, when the 

 young eels or elvers used to enter the river 

 in myriads every spring, but these mysterious 

 fish are now scarce in the Thames, for the eel 

 is a saltwater breeder, and once the ascent 

 from the sea of the infant eels or elvers is 

 stopped, the river becomes depopulated. 

 There were anciently more or less important 

 rights of salmon fishery connected with the 

 Abbey of Westminster. The rights may 

 still exist for all that is known to the con- 

 trary, but the fish have departed. Now and 

 again a wandering salmon or seatrout is 

 netted in the estuary many miles below 

 London, but none visit the precincts of the 

 old Abbey. 



Next to the Thames the Medway is per- 

 haps the most important river which touches 

 Surrey, but it only flows across the south- 

 eastern corner of the county, where it con- 

 tains a few coarse fish. A curious Surrey 

 river is the Mole, which after rising in Sussex 

 at Horsham, soon enters our county and flows 

 into the Thames at Hampton Court. It 

 probably derives its name from its burrowing 

 habits, for it breaks through the North Downs 



between Dorking and Leatherhead and for 

 a considerable distance vanishes completely 

 underground. In places it contains quan- 

 tities of coarse fish and affords very fair 

 angling ; here and there trout are caught. 

 If judiciously treated, portions of it might be 

 made into a very fair trout stream. But 

 of trout streams, the Wandle was once the 

 pride of Surrey and from a fly fislier's point 

 of view one of the glories of England — flowing 

 crystal pure and sweet, and producing trout 

 of great beauty, with small heads and well 

 rounded backs and bellies. Now, alas, except 

 near its source the stream is polluted to such an 

 extent that trout can no longer breed though 

 a stock is maintained by artificial means. It 

 is a great misfortune — few would condemn 

 us if we wrote ' disgrace ' — to Surrey that so 

 much of the Wandle has been turned into a 

 sewer for the disposal of the effluent from 

 Croydon and other places. 



Of some importance as an angling river is 

 the Wey, which rises in Hampshire and 

 enters Surrey below Farnham, where it yields 

 a few trout. Some miles below Godalming 

 a small tributary called the Tillingbourne 

 enters it. Very soon we come to Guildford, 

 then Woking, Wisley, and lastly Weybridge, 

 where the river is lost in the Thames. For 

 the most part it is a slow flowing stream 

 containing coarse fish, and is notable for bream 

 which used to be in great abundance in the 

 neighbourhood of Bramley. Another minor 

 stream enters the Wey at Weybridge. It is 

 called the Bourne and rises near Bagshot. 



There are, it need hardly be said, numerous 

 sheets of water in private parks and else- 

 where, all of which contain coarse fish, that 

 is to say pike, perch, roach, tench, carp, and 

 eels. Among the most notable are the 

 Frensham Ponds, about five miles from 

 Aldershot, lying in a hollow of the pine- 

 topped hills. This water is about three- 

 quarters of a mile in length and contains a 

 goodly number of coarse fish. In Richmond 

 Park are the well-known Penn Ponds which 

 are noted for carp. One of the feeders of 

 the river Mole is a lake known as Ifield Pond ; 

 it is situated near Crawley, and has been a 

 noted angling resort. Then not far from 

 the Thames at Weybridge is Oaklands Park 

 lake, beloved by the skaters of the district, 

 which is fairly well stocked with fish. Be- 

 tween Limpsfield and Godstone is a fine 

 sheet of water known as Oxted Pond, which 

 contains some large carp, and has from time 

 to time been stocked with trout. Not far 

 distant is the fine mill dam at Godstone 

 where the writer caught his first pike and 

 his first perch and learned to skate in days 



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