MR. F. SUTTON ON THE PROTECTIVE INSTINCT IN FISHES. 443 
Almost all classes of fish are conspicuous by their absence. There 
are, occasionally, catches of some size at, \V hitlingham or Surlingham, 
but as a rule the fish are found lower down the river at Brundall, 
Buckenham, or Cantley. Increased traffic and boating no doubt 
accounts for a great deal of this scarcity in the upper reaches, but 
the fact is strongly brought out that the catching of fish ot this 
class is by no means so easy as it used to be. 
I have in my possession some fishing lines used sixty years or 
more ago by some of the most successful anglers ot that time. 
These men (one of whom left me as a legacy the whole of his 
fishing tackle) were the pioneers of angling at Cantley and 
Buckenham, and they have assured me that, weather being favour- 
able, they had no difficulty in securing not a few pounds of fish 
but hundredweights, not only Bream (that would be no wonder) 
but Roach, and the tackle used by them, now in my possession, 
was so coarse and heavy, that it would be an absolute farce to try 
and catch a Roach with such tackle in the same place to-day. 
Some people think that the fish are far less numerous now than 
then. I don’t believe it, at least so far as Roach are concerned. 
Bream I believe are curtailed in number, because for some years 
the large Bream practically disappeared from every part of the 
River Yare. How or why no one knows, and the mystery has 
never been cleared up. They are increasing now, and good catches 
are occasionally made, but nothing like the period of even twenty 
years ago ; moreover the fish are far more cautious, and although 
a mere tyro may occasionally get a haul of fish, it is practically 
only the angler who knows the habits and peculiarities of either 
Roach or Bream (more especially Roach) who can be successful. 
Nowadays, in order to secure fish, one must use the finest drawn 
gut for the lower part of the line, and hook almost invisible when 
in the water, and this applies specially to Roach, but is almost 
equally advisable for Bream except in very thick water. The state 
of the water as to colour and turbidity is also, nowadays, an item 
of greatest importance. One might as well fish in a pail as fish 
for Bream in clear water; yet at the time I have spoken of, long 
ago, there was evidently less necessity for this state of things than 
now. So far as my remembrance goes there was no appearance of 
the thick water in the neighbourhood of Norwich at that time, and 
such as is now absolutely necessary for success in Bream fishing. 
