s 
THE IHSIirXG GAZETTE 
[JANrARY 7, 1893 
thing which jou can do without! We took four 
rods, a fishing basket containing tackle, worm 
bag, box of gentles and landing-net (the handle 
being carried separate), and a good-sized game 
bag containing creature comforts, w’hich we 
appeared likely to be in need of on a day like this. 
Kfluipped with all these, on a fair division of 
labour principle, we set out, accompanied by my 
little spaniel Nell, who is a good little dog, and 
accustomed to the ways of fishing. When a mile 
from home the rain came down in sheet/, and the 
black appearance of the sky showed no signs of 
it.s giving over in a hurry. 
T had on a good “Buckland” waterproof, which 
kept the upper part of me dry, but my knicker- 
hocker stockings and boots soon got wet about 
the ankles. Arthur, who had no better protection 
than a covert coat caught it severely. 
No one seemed to be up at Exmouth when w’e 
walked in at 7 a.m. I wanted some tobacco, and 
Arthur tried hard to “ dig out ” (to use his own 
expression) a tobacconist; but, after ringing the 
hell, and hammering the front door of the shop 
for aliout five minutes, without producing any 
apjiarent effect on the inmates, we were fain to 
wend our way to the station. 
AVe took tickets to Topsham, which we reached 
at 7.30. Here I expected to find a can of live 
minnows, which I had ordered from Exeter the 
day before, but no, the}’ had not come. This ivas 
annoying after all the trouble we had been at to 
get here. However, I at once wired to Exeter, 
“ Send minnows next train sharp,” and there w’as 
nothing for it but to wait till next train, which 
was due at 8.4.A. 
The bait came by it all right, with a letter from 
the tackle maker, saying that he had not sent 
them by the early train because he thought we 
should not come out in such awful weather. 
We trudged through the streets of Topsham, 
where I got my tobacco, cros.sed the ferry, then 
passed over the bridge of the canal, and walked 
along the towing path towards the entrance of 
the canal, which is at a place called Turf. It 
was still raining, and blowing hard and cold from 
the east; about as bad a morning for fishing as 
we could have chosen. 
A mile of tvalking brought us to the basin at 
Turf, and here we began to fish. AV’e commenced 
by “roving,” with the live minnow for perch. 
'I’he depth of the water was about fifteen feet, and 
we fished within two or three feet of the bottom. 
At first the fish came freely’, and from 9.30 to 
10.30, we had fair sport, taking ten perch, of 
weights ranging from 3oz. to 8oz. each. 
Then the fish knocked off altogether. We tried 
bread paste in hopes of carp and roach, but only 
took two of the latter—small fish of 4oz. each, 
and brandling and gentles proved equally unavail- 
ing. 
At 1.30 our take amounted to fourteen perch 
and two roach, and then wc w'ent into the Turf 
Hotel, which is close to the basin where we had 
been fishing, for refreshment. This place is 
celebrated tor its whitebait, and is very largely 
jiati’onised by pleasure seekers on this account. It 
was the height of the whitebait season when wo 
visited it on the occasion in question, and a regular 
“ square meal ” we made. It is a very comfortable 
little place, lawn tennis court in front, and a lot 
of swings and rustic seats, dear to the hearts of 
holiday makers, about the grounds. A great 
place on Bank Holiday—needless to say the 
day to come fishing. Here ’Any and ’Arriet, 
having exchanged hats, disport themselves on the 
swings, while comical “ Cholly ” sings the latest 
music-hall song, accompanied by the tuneful 
concertina or merry’ banjo, and is quite satisfied 
that he docs it rather better than the great 
original singer who renders it on the London 
stage. 
'I'he landlord, Captain I’carce, knows a great 
deal about fishing, and has tickets for the use of 
visitors to the hotel. Ho told us some most 
interesting facts connected with his twelve years’ 
experience of the canal. 
Twelve years ago it abounded with jack, and 
takes of four or five fish a day were common. 
Xoic, it appears, there are no jack, or very few, 
though what has caused their disappearance is 
not known. The fishing about Turf is undeniably 
very good. Perch weighing between 11b. and ‘2Ib. 
are common, and occasionally a three-pounder is 
taken. 
Last summer a carp weighing IHb. t^bs taken 
just opposite the hotel, but the inost extraordinary 
capture was that of a clean-run salmon weighing 
l’21b. The way it occurred was this : The Slayor 
and some of the members of the Council of Exeter 
pay an annual visit to Turf, and on such occasions 
the seine net is shot in the canal. The perch, 
roach, carp, &c,, are returned to the watei-, but 
the eels are kept to make a sumptuous dish for 
the company. On one cccasion—I think I under¬ 
stood it to have been last year, but it may have 
been farther back—it was found, on hauling in 
the seine, that a fine 121b. salmon and a 81b. trout 
were caught. The salmon must have come up 
out of the Exe, and got into the canal when the 
lock gates at the entrance were opened. 
But the amusing part of the incident is, tliat 
the Topsham fishermen, having heard of it, were 
with difficulty restrained from prosecuting the 
Mayor and his followers for netting a salmon 
without a licence I 
A most deadly bait for perch is live, or even 
dead, whitebait. AVhen they are at all inclined 
to feed they will go for this ravenously, and the 
largest fish are taken with it. The worst of it is 
that the bait lives but a very short time in the 
canal water, so that, for the purposes of live 
baiting, a tolerably large supply of these dainty 
little fish is wanted. 
In the season, a couple of dozen or so of bait 
can be bought for very little from the fishermen, 
and the best w’ay to keep them is in a bucketful 
of tidal water. 
Still, a medium-sized silvery minnow takes a 
lot of beating, and with a good supply of these, 
one need not envy the possessor of white-bait. 
After dinner w’e again started fishing, this time 
with the white-bait as a lure, but the fish w’ere 
not on the feed, and we only got six more perch 
(none over 6oz.) and an eel which took a brand¬ 
ling, which we had hoped might attract a carp. 
AVe gave the eel to an aged rustic who w'as 
watching us, and who seemed to appreciate it 
hugely’. In the excess of his gratitude he reeled 
off a long rigmarole about a particularly “ vine 
yull” (fine eel) which. some friend of his had 
once caught in the canal, and which, from his 
description w’ould appear to have been about the 
size of an ordinary conger. 
Talking about large eels, a friend of mine who 
constantly fishes at Turf, had a curious experi¬ 
ence. He found a very large eel dead, near the 
bank. It had a double hook deep in its inside, and 
it had contrived to tangle and twine a long line 
round its body and head, in such a way’ that the 
W’ooden frame to which the line was secured, was 
close up to its nose. 
It was evidently a night line, and the frame or 
reel had been imperfectly secured to the bank, 
so that the fish had dragged it into the water 
and then tangled up the line in the way’ de¬ 
scribed. The eel was in a state of decomposition 
when found; its weight, when in health, would 
have been fully’ Gib. 
Some time ago, a w’riter in the Fish.ing (iar.ette, 
of March 19 last, described how a hooked trout 
was followed by its mate. I’recisely the same 
thing, in the case of a perch, occurred to us. 
I was using gentles, and hooked a perch of 
about Goz. AA'hile I w’as playing him, I noticed 
another of about the same size swimming round 
and round him, and it would not leave him until 
just before the landing net was used. AVould 
this conduct be attributable to sympathy, or to 
the natural inclination noticeable in fish and other 
animals to attack one of their kind when in dis¬ 
tress.® I have seen little sharks at Aden and 
Suez pursue one of their comrades who had been 
hooked, and was being dragged out of his 
element, in just the same way. Our day’s sport 
came to an end at 6 p.m., when we had to return 
to Topham to catch our train. 
Our catch amounted to only twenty perch, two 
roach, and an eel, and the biggest fish was only 
half a pound. It was, in fact, about as bad a day 
for fishing as wo could have chosen, but, in spite 
of all drawbacks, we both thoroughly’ enjoyed it, 
and returned home contented. 
The perch fishing is much better later on 
in the year, in August and September, and the 
roach and carp take more freely then than in 
July. 
The water about Turf is perfect for spinning, 
dark coloured, deep, and beautifully’ clean and 
free from weeds. 
1 have heard of good perch having been taken 
in this way with the natural as well as the 
artificial minnow, but no one seems to have 
sufficient faith in the existence of pike in the 
canal to try spinning for them. 
It is very strange, and opens up a wide field 
for conjecture, where they can have gone to, if, 
after being so plentiful as they are said to have 
been twelve years ago, the w’ater is now free from 
them. 
Some day I hope to put the question to a good 
practical test. 
From the entrance of the canal at Turf to the 
terminus in Exeter is about six miles. It is fish- 
able throughout, although the acknowledged best 
places are at Turf and near Countess AA’^eir on the 
Exe. Tickets can always be obtained without any 
difficulty by applying to the Town Council of 
Exeter, to whom the canal belongs. As already’ 
said, the landlord of the Turf Hotel has a certain 
number, and Mr. Prickman, fishing tackle maker. 
North-street, Exeter, w’ill always put intending 
anglers in possession of all information relative 
to getting permission, as well as to the how and 
where,to fish. 
LAKE PIKE FISHING IN THE 
MIDLANDS. 
Bv H. H. S. 
Ix Cctober, 1891, it was myr good fortune to 
obtain unrestrained, and, practically’, sole permis¬ 
sion, of Lord -, to fish the charming lake of 
some fourteen acres which nestles in the park of 
his seat in-shire. 
My permission lasted till March 23, so that, 
though frost might, and subsequently did, prevent 
fishing for weeks on end, it was certain that there 
would bo many days on which I could pursue my’ 
favourite winter sport. 
I was intensely delighted with my prospects, as 
the lake had been stocked, some thirty’ years 
previously, with pike and l oach from the War¬ 
wickshire Avon, and had not since been fished, 
save by Lord-’s eldest son, who, by no means 
an ardent fisherman, had, a month previously, at 
his one and only attempt, caught a fish of 111b., 
with an artificial minnow. 
The lake is in the form of a river, from eighty' 
to a hundred yards wide, with a nice stream run¬ 
ning through it, and on October 27, w’hen I made 
my first attempt, the water was considerably 
stained with the heavy rainfall of the previous 
few days. I was consefjuently not disappointed 
at an unpromising start, and four hours persever¬ 
ing live-baiting, with a large and lively dace (for 
is not a dace alivays lively, according to the 
writer of the day P) only produced a particularly 
gaunt pike, weighing 6^-Ib., and a three-ponnder, 
as handsome as the other w’as ugly, widen I care¬ 
fully replaced. 
Floods prevented my fishing again till Nov. 11, 
W’hen, with the weather all that could be desired, 
and the colour of the water greatly’ improved, 1 
secured six well-conditioned fish, weighing 81h., 
Ijlb., 101b., -lib., IHb., and Gib. Now although 
this would usually pass as an excellent day’s sport, 
I was by no means satisfied, as I felt sure that 
there must be very much larger fish in the lake 
than those I had yet interviewed. A'et my’ efforts 
were not rewarded during the next fortnight with 
anything out of the common, and I find in my 
diary that my best fish till Dec. 9 w’ere 111b. and 
II Hb., the latter, by the way, caught by a friend 
who accompanied me one day, and who had never 
previously killed a pike. I fancy’ that few anglers 
make such a successful beginning. 
On December 9, however, I got .some large 
dace and roach from the Avon (some of the roach 
nearly ^Ib. each), and, making an early’ start, 
drove over with anticipations of doing something 
big. It was a charmingly lino and mild day, the 
water was in the best possible order, and I had a 
well-stocked luncheon basket and a pleasant com¬ 
panion. AA’hat more could a man want to make 
him happy? Only one thing, and that I secured 
before the day was over. 
IMy’ friend was no fisherman, but, as he wanted 
to see a big pike killed, I said that I would drive 
him over, and do my best to oblige him, and very’ 
useful he proved before the day was over. 
I used two rods that day, on one I used gorge 
tackle (go not into paroxysms of pious rage, oh ! 
