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THE EISIIING GAZETTE 
[January 7, 1893 
ilofes antr (J^ttertes 
^YE are glad to see, from an article we pub¬ 
lish this week, that there is some chance of the 
long-standing question of the Don salmon 
fisheries being taken up at last. 
A Correspondent last week said that, according 
to a member of the Scotch Fishery Board, “ the 
salmon stand on their heads, with their tails out 
of the water, during a thunderstorm.” To this 
extraordinary statement we put a footnote to this 
effect: “ Surely if this was said it was in joke.— 
Fd.” Another correspondent sends these lines : 
No “joke.” When thunder rends the air, 
The “ winged tribe ” do disappear. 
The “ saumon” knows what he’s about, 
.4)1(1 digs for ii'orms with hungry snout; 
Then, should the water shallow he. 
His quivering tail of course you see.—Q.E.D. 
An Americ.4N National Salmon Paiik.-^Mt. A. 
Nelson Cheney, angling editor of Shooting and 
Fishing, Jio&ton, U.S.A., writes to us as follows : 
“ You will recall Livingston Stone’s paper read 
before the American Fisheries Society this year 
(I think you printed it in the Fishing Gazette), 
advocating the setting aside of an island in 
Alaska for a salmon-breeding park. The island 
he selected was Afognak, which he describes in 
his paper to-day (Dec. 24, 1892). President 
Harrison has issued a proclamation reserving the 
island for the purpose of fish-culture on the lines 
suggested by Stone.” 
POACHING ON THE TWEED. 
Mr. John Meldrlm Dryens, Congregational 
Manse, Innerleithen, writes: 
The letter which you did me the honour to 
publish in your issue of the 31st ult. was the 
utterance of a minister anxious to condemn any 
course of conduct which demoralises. People at 
a distance have no idea of the extent of poaching 
on the Tw'eed. In this and the neighbouring 
village, a very large number of persons are 
publicly known to poach. In November, one 
gang of poachers were sending to Galashields, 
Leeds, and other places, something like twenty- 
two salmon a night—an average of nearly 121b. 
a salmon ! Men walk through the streets just 
now in broad daylight with a salmon in each hand. 
Last February it was the commonest sight to 
see dozens of fishers fishing with a leaded hook. 
They hooked the salmon, run it to the bank, and, 
if foul or diseased, many just cut a square bit 
with the hook out of the salmon, and then threw 
it back ! Sportsmanship is limited to a few. 
It is needless, however, to remind you that 
there is something to say for the fishers. I am 
one of them. The Tweed Act, being a private 
Bill, cannot be amended, and so redress of griev¬ 
ances is impossible, which has much to do with 
the hatred of fishers for those laws. Bad laws 
make bad citizens. 
If two bailiffs care to say you were fishing 
illegally they can summon you, and you have to 
prove you. are innocent. This is a glaring in¬ 
justice. There are several bond fide cases of 
bonest fishers being convicted because they could 
not prove they only fished fair fiy. The bailiff’s 
word was accepted before theirs. Unless honest 
fishers fish in twos or threes they are at the 
mercy of the first bailiff. 
Then if the convicted one pays the fine, the 
money goes to the Tweed Commissioners. If the 
prisoner goes to jail, the county has to pay for 
his keep for the month or six weeks. There is 
something wrong here. The bailiffs, undoubtedly, 
are not wise. They have tremendous powers, and 
they use them too severely. If a known poacher 
is seen at the water-side they can—and do—sum¬ 
mon him. Ilis known bad character gets him 
convicted. 
Then they multiply convictions. Not only is a 
man, if found with a salmon, convicted of poach- 
ing the salmon, but he is convicted again for using 
the illegal instruments for catching the salmon. 
So that it is £2 fine and £T 14s. expense in the 
two cases—a total of £7 8s. This is carrying the 
law beyond the point of justice. 
^ It will be a God-send for all concerned if the 
Government will pass, as they half promise, a 
Salmon Act for Scotland. It might be the dawn 
of a better day. 
ANNUAL SERMON FOR 1892. 
“ For men may come and men may go, 
But I go on for ever.” 
The great singer is gone. He who sang of the 
“ Brook ” so that we can fancy that we hear its 
“ chatter over stony ways,” its “ babble on the 
pebbles,” as we sit by our fire in the bitter winter 
weather, has crossed the great river of death. 
His voice, which ought to be dear to every angler, 
is hushed. But the “Brook” still “steals by 
lawns and grassy plots,” still flows to “ join the 
brimming river. ” 
You and I, dear brother anglers, for whom 
“ the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars 
be not darkened,” are looking forward to the 
coming time when we shall seek the “ Brook,” 
hoping to take 
“ Here and there a lusty trout. 
And here and there a grayling.” 
But may I suggest that the “ Brook ” was 
guilty of a poetical licence when it said “ I go on 
for ever.” All things have their end in this 
world. The “ Brook ” may go on for millions of 
years, but it must die. And he who sang of it, 
and you and I who fish in it, will be no nearer to 
our end than we are now, when every brook that 
we have ever seen shall have been for ages a 
thing of the past. 
So let us be good anglers. Never kill under¬ 
sized or unseasonable fish. Never use minnows 
or worms when we have leave only for the fly. 
Never transgress rules if we belong to an angling 
club, or if we have leave from generous owners 
of water. Never bring the “craft” into con¬ 
tempt ! I have known good fishing closed to the 
public because some having transgressed rules. 
Tight lines to you all who fish in the winter, 
and good sport when the lusty trout shall rise in 
the spring. Do not kill him before he is in good 
condition. Or should there be a special limbo for 
unsportmanlike anglers hereafter, you may find 
yourself in a bad place. 
My wife tells me that nothing would bribe 
Charon to allow such an angler to fish as he 
crossed the Styx. C. Hevit, Hon. Chap., F. O. 
THE BIG CONWAY SALMON. 
The great event along the Conway during 1892 
was the capture of a 4.Mb. salmon. It was taken 
by Mr. Bertie Blackwall, son of Mr. John Black- 
wall. The latter gentleman has gained the well 
merited reputation as being one of the keenest 
and most accomplished salmon anglers in North 
Wales. He has topped the score for many 
successive seasons, and for more years than 
one can quite recollect, he has held the proud 
position of being “ King of the Conway.” Beyond 
this, Mr. John Blackwall has rendered valuable 
assistance to the salmon fishing cause, and has 
for a long period worked energetically for the 
general interests of the fisheries of the district. 
I have been favoured with some particulars of, 
and some verses on the capture of this 4.51^ 
salmon, which may be of interest to your readers. 
Mr. Bertie Blackwall was fishing on Nov. 7, 
with a medium-sized fly. Silver and Blue, and a 
long cast of single gut. The fish was taken in 
the Wall Pool, close to the road, and as the day 
happened to be that of Trefrew Fair, there wei’e 
a lot of people about, and a “full gallery” wit¬ 
nessed the capture of this monster “ after a tre¬ 
mendous fight” lasting something over two hours. 
Mr. Bertie Blackwall was greatly bothered by the 
shouts of the people who were congregated on 
the banks. They liberally supplied liim with all 
sorts of nonsensical advice, what to do and what 
not to do; but I understand he never lost liis 
head (although very nearly done up at the 
finish) and played his fish all through in admir¬ 
able manner. I am told that Iffr. Brandreth, who 
happened to be present, gaffed the fish very well 
indeed. The fish was a red male, and had 
evidently been in the river for a long time. In 
length it measured fiOin., and in girth 27in. 
The following lines describe, 1 thiuk, very 
graphically the capture of this large Conway 
fish. Although the author writes under a nom 
de plume his name will be readily guessed. 
Henry Feennell. 
THE BIG CONWAY SALMON. 
Come fill up the bowl, and pass round the glasses. 
Drink Bertie’s health ! my brave boys, and fair lassies— 
For King of the Conway, he’s undoubtedly crowned. 
With his grand “ Record Fish ” of full forty-five pound. 
On the 7th of November, in the beautiful TT'nff 
Of Conway’s fair streams, the fairest of all. 
The great fight was fought—This young fisherman bold 
Eclipsed all the deeds of the heroes of old. 
The water was right—there was a good chance 
See 1 the line is sent out as straight as a lance. 
Then a boil like a whale’s as he comes at the lly — 
By Jove I he is in him—they all of them cry— 
But Bertie’s all there, he is perfectly cool. 
As the fish rushes madly away xip the pool. 
He gives one furious leap, as he feels the sharp steel, 
Was there ever such music P—Hark ! Hark ! to his reel. 
For fully two hours the fierce struggle went on. 
Till the boy was quite faint, his strength nearly gone. 
But cheered by the crowd, a gallery quite. 
He determined to die, or win the big fight. 
But Ah I the great strain was beginning to tell, 
And the old rod bent double, was working him well, 
'The tackle was grand, it was not the lad’s, 
The rod, line, and reel, were’all of them dad's. 
The fly was by Bogan, of famed Bally Shannon, 
The best man who ever dressed hook for a salmon ; 
All his flies are superb, but I assure you ’tis true. 
There is nothing on Conway like his “ Silver and Blue.” 
So with one more last run, one last desperate plunge. 
The fish found it quite time to throw up the sponge. 
And friend Brandreth, in the water right up to his 
waist. 
At the very first chance “ nately gaffed the big baste.” 
Then the shouts, and the cheers, and the rush on the 
brink. 
Nearly finished poor Bertie, who wanted a drink. 
While they woke up the echoes in old Gwydyr Wood, 
As their lusty Wo-whoops ! rang out o’er the flood. 
But, my Muse, mourn a moment, grieve a little with me, 
I was away at a meeting, so thus you will see 
I lost the fish, and the fight, as well as the fun. 
And my records of glory were paled by my son. 
It is always the same, and perhaps well for us all. 
The young go to the front, the old to the wall; 
Don’t mind it--but cheer them along the rough way, 
Remember ! “ Old Sportsmen ” we're all had our day. 
So ended the fight, the monster was dead. 
He was not a bright fish, but decidedly red— 
He’s gone to be stuffed, so all I can say. 
Is, come over and see him at no distant day. 
Fill high the bowl! and I’ll give you a toast: 
Here’s good luck to us all—'To the sport we love most. 
May we all fish again, and may each of us see 
A still mightier fish in Eighteen Ninety Three. 
My story’s been told, my last say has been said. 
The whiskey is finished, so I’m off to beJ 
With one hurrah ! for the rod, for the salmon a cheer, 
A Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year. 
Murdtj. 
An Am.xteur Sea Fisher’s Club.—A series of 
articles on “ Pleasure Clubs,” is appearing in 
Pleasures, and Mr. F. G. Aflalo lias revived the 
subject of a sea-fishing club. His contention is 
that there is need for such an organisation of 
amateur sea fishermen as will ensure them obtain¬ 
ing proper accommodation and efficient services 
at certain popular resorts, and indicates how 
much could, in his estimation, he accomplished 
for the guinea a year subscription of a hundred 
members. 
The most approved methods of artificial ice 
making and cold storage will he exhibited at the 
World’s Pair. These processes will be shown in 
a very fine building, 130ft. by 25.i>ft., and five 
storeys high, with observatories at the corners, 
and a lofty tower at the centre. About eighty 
tons of ice will be manufactured daily', three 
methods being employed, namely, the plate 
system, from filtered water ; the can system, from 
condensed steam filtered and purified; and the 
can sys’em from de-a?rated water. Three different 
processes of cooling rooms will also be shown. 
The section from one of the hig California red¬ 
wood trees, which the government wull exhibit in 
its building at the World’s Fair, has arrived at 
the Fair grounds. Eleven freight cars were re¬ 
quired to convey it across the continent. It 
measures 30ft. long by 23ft. in diameter. The 
section is hollowed out, and when placed on end, 
divided into two stories and lighted, as it will he, 
it will form a rustic house large enough for a 
family to live in. 
