CHAR— MODES AND TIMES OF CAPTURE. 235 



soon as the news got abroad many others took to angling for these fish, and all 

 had good sport. This continued until close-time, and some days hundreds of 

 quarrymen might be seen fishing, some in boats, others from the shore, while as 

 much as 45 lb. a day has fallen to the share of one rod, a bait having been almost 

 invariably used, although a few were taken with a fly. 



A correspondent of The Field, October 28th, 1882, remarked upon night fishing 

 for char with well-scoured brandlings and line tackle in North Wales. All is 

 done by feel, and, when a vigorous tug occurs at your line, the angler has to 

 strike ; at the approach of day the char begin to bite savagely, as dawn com- 

 mences the biting ceases, and the fish disappear as if by magic. 



Respecting the Windermere fishing for 1881 it was remarked in Land and 

 Water, November 26th, 1881, that " the char fishing was, as usual, very profitable." 

 There can be no better argument in favour of a close season and protection than 

 the great increase in the value of the char fisheries since such was applied and 

 protection afibrded to these fish. The fishing is free to all, and a great number 

 of the natives on the shores of the lake gain a good livelihood by supplying the 

 strangers and hotels with the fish. The mode in which it is generally carried on 

 by the fishermen as described in The Field, is with what is termed a plumb-line. 



Fishing with the plumb-line usually commences about the beginning of March, 

 and at that time the fish are got abont thirty yards from the surface and in the 

 deepest parts of the lake. As the weather gets warmer they gradually approach 

 the top, and although they are frequently to be seen on a warm day leaping 

 at the flies on the water, yet it is an almost unheard-of thing on Windermere to 

 cast for them with a rod. The plumb-line for char is made of strong cord, and 

 varies in length according to the number of baits which are to be put on it ; but 

 it is usually between forty and fifty yards long, and this is sufficient to carry five 

 baits. At the end of the line is a lead sinker, weighing about 1^ lb., having a 

 small wing fixed in it, which assists in preventing it from revolving, although it is 

 fixed to the main line with a strong swivel. To this line is attached at intervals 

 of six or seven yards, short lines, or, as they are called by the fishermen, droppers, 

 varying in length from six to ten yards, the shortest being that nearest the 

 bottom of the line. What is generally used at Windermere, is a " phantom " 

 made by the fishermen themselves, from sheets of metal coppered on one side and 

 silvered or coloured on the other, which can be procured from any coppersmith or 



encompassed it for so long. Little was known of its habits, and because some were ill-conditioned 

 and lean and others well fed and plump, it was long argued that two varieties inhabited the lake — 

 the case char and the gilt char ; some even argued there was a third variety-^he silver char. We 

 had, at the end of November, 1862, Dr. Giiuther writing for specimens of the Windermere char, 

 ' as they are just now, and for a short period only, in season.' They were then on the spawning 

 beds ! and it was when thus engaged that such destruction was played upon them. There was no 

 Act of Parliament for their protection ; they were kUled all the year round, and especially in the 

 late autumn and winter months, when they came on to the shallows. Still gregarious, they 

 spawned together in infinite numbers on the gravel beds near the shore or in the river Brathay. 

 From the beginning of November to the middle or end of January they were netted, ' hooked 

 foul,' and caught with a bait of salmon roe or worm. One net could sweep up a whole school, 

 and three hooks, tied triangle fashion and skilfully manipulated, might account for half a hundred 

 fish during a day. These were the halcyon days for potted char. The poor sickly fish were so 

 soft and flabby that they could not be eaten cooked otherwise. Some people now cry out because 

 they cannot obtain this dainty as freely as heretofore, and say that preservation has not made 

 char more plentiful. Generations of destruction cannot be remedied all at once ; but such people 

 should be reminded that even in 1860 char, when in season during spring and summer, realized a 

 shilling each all round at Bowness, irrespective of their size. They do not fetch more than that 

 price now. The spawning habits of the char have been said to be peculiar ; but we do not con- 

 sider them very much more odd than those of either Salmo salar or Salmo fario. Some spawn on 

 the shallows of Windermere, whilst others run up the Brathay for a similar object; but neither in 

 Eothay nor Troutbeck — both, to all appearance, likely breeding places — do they ever form their 

 redds. The Ennerdale char spawn both in the lake and in the Liza, a river that is one of its main 

 feeders. Most of the char in the Scotch lochs spawn therein, though there are cases where they 

 prefer a stream for that purpose, those of Loch Euniok to wit ; and in Wales, too, they usually 

 seek the shallows of the lakes when the period for depositing their ova and milt approaches. The 

 spawning season commences in November, and continues more or less, according to the season, 

 into February, seldom later ; and it has been noticed that those char which enter the tributary 

 streams are more forward in their operations than the fish that remain in the lakes." 



