144 WA TERSIDE SKETCHES. 



pound salmon that arrived while the last meeting of his club 

 was being held was a little the worse for the journey from 

 County Mayo to London, but it had been slain by his 

 valiant self, albeit the members! lield their noses as they 

 vehemently admired it. So ong as our worthy friend lives 

 you may take odds he will spend his fifty pounds — he says 

 it is difficult to get through so much in those parts — in the 

 country of which he will never more ask " Is it safe? " 



The lakes of County Clare offer probably the best pike 

 fishing in the United Kingdom, and trout and salmon in the 

 streams ; Kerry, with the waters of Killarney, is too well 

 known to be more than mentioned ; the Blackwater, Lee, 

 and Bandon are sufficient of themselves to give Cork the 

 highest reputation ; and as for Limerick, why need go further 

 than the Shannon ? 



" Oil Limerick, it is beautiful, as everybody knows, 

 The River Shannon full offish beside the city flows." 



The Shannon, speaking roughly, is full of fish, and except 

 the famed salmon stretch between Killaloe and Limerick, is 

 free. White trout, brown trout, and monster pike and perch 

 abound in the Shannon waters. As long as I live I shall 

 probably never see such a sight as — if I remember accu- 

 rately — at Athlone. The train had stopped outside the 

 station on the bridge over the river just as it was clearing 

 after a flood, and bare-legged peasants were on the platform 

 with trays of spoil, great trout and perch, by the hundred- 

 weight, while below through the railings we could see the 

 boats drifting down stream heaped up with recently caught 

 fish. Take it all in all I doubt whether^there is a river in tlie 

 world for " all-round " angling to equal this splendid stream,. 



