GO 
THE PISHING GAZETTE 
[January 28, 1893 
and eels, from the beautiful and picturesque 
Lough Ennell. 
And, although I have never heard of nor seen 
a salmon caught in this lake, yet I believe it is 
not quite impossible of access to these fish, as the 
river Brosna, which flows through the lake to the 
Shannon, is from fifteen to twenty feet wide at its 
exit from the former, and at least three feet deep. 
There are, however, serious obstacles or obstruc¬ 
tions in the way, and which the inspectors of 
Irish Fisheries alone are empowered to have 
removed, but which will never be done, “owing 
to more pressing business.” The first of these is 
a most unsuitable and almost impassable fish- 
pass on the Brosna, at the jute mills in the town 
of Clara, about twelve miles from the lake. Tpon 
inquiry T found that large numbers of salmon 
and peal ascend as far as this fish-pass, and in 
the close season spawn in all the adjoining tribu¬ 
taries of the river, coming far up towards the 
centre of Westmeath—for instance, in one tribu¬ 
tary I counted a few days ago, for a length of 
stream of about two and a half miles, upwards of 
one hundred and twenty salmon spawning beds; 
but then this stream is well watched by the R.l. 
Constabulary of Streamstown and Uorseleap 
stations, as well as by the Westmeath Fish 
Preservation Society’s water-bailiffs. Some of 
these spawning fish were 201 b. w'eight and 
upwards. The next serious obstruction in 
the “ obstacle race ” to Lough Ennell is the mill- 
dam at Coola, near the (own of Kilbcggan, and 
about six miles from the lake; but the worst of all 
the difliculiies of ascent is a series of dams at the 
Ballinagoro Mills, a distance of three miles from 
the lake. I have often heard that enormous tlirouts 
have been seen spawning here, which 1 believe 
were salmon, and which could not reach Lough 
Ennell in consequence of these irregular rocky 
dams and the shallow water. There are trout 
considerably over eleven (by the bye, the Lough 
Ennell fishermen do not say “ iliven”) pounds in 
Lough Enmll. One was recently found dead on 
the shore weighing Klib., and has been set up 
by a local amatcui'. I would not insult “L. 
S. C.’s ” intelligence by suggesting that his tussle 
was with a large trout. I may mention that 
there are neither Salmo fero,i ’woy Cillaroo trout 
in the Westmeath lakes. It may also he con¬ 
sidered strange that f have never heard of a 
sttlmon being taken in Lough Derravaragh, 
although the Inny flows through it, and is a fail ly 
good salmon river a few miles below its outfall. 
1 have been often very itntch amused by the 
descriptions, such as given by “ L. S. Cr.,” of the 
fisherman’s vernacular. Take some instances. 
The lake’s fishermen here do not say “soide” 
for side, nor “roight ” firr tight, but they do say 
“ wather ” and “ throut; ” they do not say “ troy 
trailing,” it is “ thry throwlin,” and so on. I 
have also very often known writers on matters 
piscatorial to sa)’, with reference to the short, 
handy instrument used for administering the “last 
rites ” to a lusty “ throut.,” or allege that Pat said. 
Will I hand the “ praste ” to your honour ? 1 never 
heard the word so |)ronounccd. “ Phriest ” would 
bo nearer the mark. A gaff is never used on the 
Westmeath lakes; it is always a landing net. 
Cows’ horns are used for itrrprisoning a certain 
class of flies—bottles never. Dapping with the 
green drake is not considered here either a spirit¬ 
less or poaching business, for we a’do it. The 
line used is of very delicate texture, the gut cast 
fine, the hook very small, insomuch that it takes 
rather skilful manipulation to hook and jilay a 
largish fish in compar ison to the stout tackle used 
in artificial fly-fishing. 
Talking of big trout, I rmy here be permitted 
to mention that, amongst a number killed recently 
at Lough Owcl by otters, I saw two, the remains 
of which weigl'.cd 111 b. and l.'l.Db. respectively. 
About three jrouud.s of fish, in my judgment, had 
been eaten off each, so that these gi-and Owel 
trout must have been at least 141b. and KJlb. 
respectively. Fish up to this weight have 
bten^ taken by “throwlin,” as Pat says, “the 
nath’ral ba.t.” The above fish were males and in 
superb condition. 
One of the water-bailiffs iir charge at Lough 
Owel trapped a splendid female otter a few nights 
ago which measured exactly 4ft. Otters are 
numerous liei'c and doing considerable dairrage, 
and, as they arc never hunted, the water-bailiff's 
have instructions to destroy them. 
Mullingar. W. F. TiiOM.rs. 
WATERPROOFING LINES. 
De.^b. Sir, —Mr. Elsmore, in your issue of the 
14th, mentions “clarified composite candle” as 
a dressing for lines. On asking my grocer for 
this article, he said he did not know “clarified 
composite candles,” but gave me what he had. 
According to Mr. Elsmore, the candles should 
contain “not the faintest suspicion of grease;” 
but, on seeing me commence on my line, my 
housekeeper v arned me I should be “messing 
everything with grease.” Will Mr. Elsmore 
kindly say if the candle he recommends has any 
jiroper trade name.^ _ A. D. 0. 
LOCH TAY SALMON FISHING. 
Sir, —The opening day for 189:1 was on 16th 
inst., the loth being a Sunday, when no work 
of that kind is done in Scotland. The weather 
for many weeks previous had been most un¬ 
promisingly hard, and continued frost sealing up 
all the rivers, and rendering the passage of fresh 
fish from the sea an utter impossibility. All the 
native experts agreed in predicting that the 
season would be the worst on record. Such, 
however, 1 am glad to say, has not been the case, 
as a great many splendid fish have been caught; 
one lady caught over 100 pounds on the first two 
days, and many others have been fairlv, if not 
equally, successful. ’I'hat there are abundant fish 
of fine quality in the Loch is without doubt, and 
the strange thing is how they can look so very 
like new run fish, while the passage from the sea 
has been so long sealed by ice and the lowness 
of the rivers. 1 was out on the opening day at 
9 a.m., and did nothing till about 2 p m., when 
one of my reels gave out the welcome music. 
The run was very short, however, only about a 
couple of yards, and Duncan, my boatman, said, 
“Am feered it’s a kelt, sir.” I proceeded to get 
to closer quart ers with my kelt, and was soon able, 
from the violence and rapidity of his “ tugs,” to 
tell Duncan he was “No kelt.” Just at this time 
the wind, which had previously been modei-ate, 
rose to a gale, making the boat almost unmanage¬ 
able, and 1 had not as yet seen the fish, although 
I had him at times pretty close to the boat. He 
kept on with undiminished strength, running 
out twenty to thirty yards of line at a time and 
allowing me to recover it. 
All at once he came up amongst the waves, 
and began tumbling, twusting, and turning in 
eyeiy conceivable direction, and with such 
violence too, that I every moment expected my 
tackle to give way, and that I and my friend 
must part. My minnow being a very small, very 
old brown Aberdonian, increased my fears. My 
tackle fortunalelv held good, and, as we had been 
at it for nearly three-quarters of an hour, being 
on the wrong side of threescore and ten, I began 
to feel very tired, and to think if this powerful 
fish did not give in soon I must. I still kept a 
strong pressure on, and had the intense satisfaction 
of feeling that his resistance was over, and, taking 
advantage of a short lull in the storm, I brought 
him alongside, when he was cleverly gaffed by 
Duncan, a perfect beauty of 2:31b. We then set 
out on our return, and the violence of the wind 
was such that it took three hours and a half to do 
the four miles and a half that lay between us and 
our home.—Yours, &c., Leiter Eil.vx. 
MORE LOBSTERS FOR NEW ZEALAND. 
Dear Sir, —My friend, Mr. Purvis, the chief 
engineer of the Ionic, informed me that jou took 
a keen interest in the efforts that he is making 
with a view of acclimatising lobsters in New 
Zealand, and I promised him that I would write 
and advise you that he was continuing his experi¬ 
ments, and, on this voyage, was taking out thirty- 
three live lobsters. I got the editor of the 
I! esttrn Morn 'ng Nttes to make a note of this, and 
enclose a cutting from to-day’s issue of that 
journal. 1 am posting you another copy. 
I have also, as local correspondent for the 
hlillourne Argus and Australasian, communicated 
with the London eflice of these papers, and re¬ 
quested them to embody the information in a 
cable. I am not sure whether they will cable out, 
but, if not, it will go forward with their next 
letter.—I am, dear sir, yours truly, 
Frank Pim.LiPS. 
[We sincerely hope Mr. Purvis will succeed 
again, lie left his “log,” kept during his last 
voyage with lobsters, with us, and wo shall pub¬ 
lish it shortly.—Eli.] 
THE PROPOSED RUIN OF THE THAMES 
AS AN ANGLING RESORT. 
Dear Sir, —The Fishing Gazette of Dec. 31 
contained an admirable and most carefully-drawn 
comparison between the existing Thames Con¬ 
servancy Fishery Bye-laws and the proposed 
new set which have been issued by the con¬ 
servators for criticism. This lucid and full 
exposure of the injury proposed to be inflicted on 
the metropolitan river leaves nothing to add, and, 
in addition, there have been published in the 
Fishing Gazette of the 7tb and 14th inst., the 
manly and outspoken protests of various Thames 
fishery associations, and other communications 
on the subject, nearly all to the point, and especi¬ 
ally the capital notes of “Templar,” who is an au¬ 
thority, to mj’personal know ledge, second to none as 
regards the welfare of the Upper Thames fisheries. 
I myself claim the right to a very decided and 
clear opinion on these matters, having laboured 
without cessation for now' nearly thirty years to 
make the most of the Upper Thames as a source 
of pleasure and profit for all genuine anglers ; 
and as the question of the proposed new bye-laws 
does not seem to have received that full considera¬ 
tion fiom the general body of anglers which it 
undoubtedly requires (judging from the Fishing 
Gazette and other sjiorting papers treating of 
such subjects), I may perhaps be permitted a 
few words. 1 am writing now in my private 
capacity and i.ot as an officer of the Reading 
Association. 
1 will not again traverse the ground so well 
covered by the resolutions and letters to which I 
have alluded, except to say that every word of 
the resolutions arrived at—and, matk you, unani¬ 
mously—by the Henley and the Reading Associa¬ 
tions, has my cordial concurrence. I also agree 
in the main with the Richmond Piscatorial 
Society (Fishing Gazette, Jan. 14). 
My object in writing is rather to point out the 
po.^sible results of the vital question now before 
the great body of Thames angler.s, and to rai.--e 
my feeble voice in svvel iug the i-apidly increasing 
chorus of disapproval auent the jiretent proposals 
of the conservators. 
The suggested new bye-law,=, if they should 
obtain the force of lawq would undoubtedly, and 
in a very few years, absolutely ruin (the words 
arc none too strong) the fisheries of the grandest 
river in the south of England, and which is, more¬ 
over, frequented by a greater number of honest 
and deserving—and mainly poor—anglers, than 
any stream in the kingdom. This ruin of one of 
the few resorts still open to impecuniou-", but 
none the less keen and honest, sportsmen, would 
be brought about— 1 st, by the legalisation of 
wholesale netting, without restriction, except as 
to the size of mesh, which it is actually proposed 
at the same time to reduce from 2 in. to l^in.! 
2 nd, by absolutely stopping the beneficent opera¬ 
tions of the various angling preservation societies, 
which have done such incalculable service in main¬ 
taining the stock of fish in the rivers under 
circumstances of difficulty unknown to any 
save their executive officers. I myself have 
the honour of being on the working committee 
of two of these associations, each of which I 
helped as much as I could to form. I have 
yearly', monthlj', weekly, seen their woik, as well 
as that of the kindred associations; and my 
personal acquaintance with the views of the 
executives, and knowledge of their trials and 
often of the obloquy (ari.sing from misunder¬ 
standing of their single-minded efforts for the 
public w'eal) cast upon them, convinces me that 
they will bear no more. All these public- 
spirited gentlemen are now rightly smarting 
under a sense of disgust that the c mservators, 
after for pretty well a twelvemonth “ consulc- 
ing” them, should have launched a set of bye¬ 
laws calculated to undo all the good work of the 
past, and calmly ignoring all their practical 
suggestions for the benefit of the river. 
Why, in the name of decency, let alone of 
common sense, have these expressions of sound 
practical opinion, so anxiously sought (apjiarently), 
been so absolutely treated with contempt !■' The 
various committees of anglers who have given 
incalculable time and trouble, as well as their 
own money, to administer for the good of the 
juiblic the voluntary subscriptions collected by 
them, are surely the best persons to judge what 
is required in the inteicsts of anglers. And 
the interests of anglers mean also the interests 
