ss CHAPTER IV. 
Referring to Lake Vyrnwy—Loch Leven—The English Lake District. 
[N the merry month of May, 1891, I visited the well-known 
Lake Vyrnwy, in North Wales. It was at that time a piece 
of virgin water, so to speak, and I had a good opportunity of seeing 
it under somewhat varied circumstances as regards weather, etc., 
so important a factor in any work one has to do where trout are 
concerned. 
The lake was made by order of the people of Liverpool, 
primarily for the purpose of obtaining an increased supply of 
water for drinking and other purposes. I fear I rather shocked a 
respected inhabitant of that wealthy city, who was evidently not 
an angler, and who expounded to me some of the advantages 
possessed by their already celebrated new waterworks, and then 
turning to me, asked for my opinion. “Why!” I said, “you’ve 
made the finest fish pond in the world!” 
And so it is, or may be, and if the reader will have a little 
patience, I will endeavour to describe this charming piece of 
water, and some of its surroundings. 
It is to be found in the parish of Llanwddyn, in Montgomery- 
shire, and is some twelve miles distant from the nearest railway 
station, Llanfyllin. The exact distance as laid out on the 
ordnance map is something less, but anyone who has driven 
over the road will, I think, agree that the local reckoning is not 
out of place, taking into consideration the elevations reached in 
traversing the wild hills that lie between the railway terminus of 
Llanfyllin and the magnificent sheet of water now known as 
Vymwy Lake. On the occasion of my visit, I travelled from 
Scotland through the night, and reached my railway destination, 
via Crewe and Llanymynech, about 9-20 a.m. I may say that I 
travelled in a special fish car conveying over twenty thousand 
