13G 
NOTES FOR CLUB ANGLERS. 
\ KSTEKDAY (Friday) the Thames was bank-high and 
as thick as mad. There was a very strong stream on. 
Some capital roach from the Thames found their way 
to^ Southwark-street again on the 19th inst. in connection 
with the silver cup competition. There was a large 
gathering of angler.s at the Imperial to see the weigh-in 
I understand Mr. Biggs still leads. 
‘■‘Woolwich Angler” writes Thanks for the 
trouble you liave taken in trying to find my wrap. I 
wrote to the local stationmaster about it. but it has not 
been seen. The eggs reached home safely. I tried the 
bait you recommended, last Wednesday, with great 
success ; result, 101b, SJoz. of roach.” 
They liked it then ? I thought they would. Thanks ; 
when I am out for a constitutional that way I shall be 
only too pleased to call in and see my Woolwich brothers 
at the Green Man, Plumstead. 
An evening contemporary lately announced that ‘‘ a 
tolerably good quantity ” of dace had been caught from 
Deal Pier. It is a deal more likely that they were 
dabs. 
The London anglers have had some grand privileges 
granted them by the Great Eastern Eailway over their 
Cambridge and St. Ives lines. I am informed that the 
conipany have added seventeen new stations to the 
priviLge ticket list. This is indeed a concession, and 
the London anglers thank the G.E.R. very much. 
The Kimberley Angling Society at Dalston has 
decided to incorporate a Gun Club with it. This is a 
decided innovation in piscatorial circles. 
At the meeting of the Society for Promoting the 
Beading of Papers at Angling Clubs, held on Friday 
uigbt at the Citizen, Houndsditch, four new members 
were elected. The Hounsfield Otters applied for a 
]>aper. Mr. McDermott presided. 
A CouxTY Councillor and an an?Ier—Mr. Walter 
Emden- took the chair on Monday night at the annual 
reunion of the Central Association of London Anglers, 
and in a capital speech assured those present that the 
authorities at Spring Gardens had their interests 
thoroughly at heart. The vice-chairmen were Messrs. 
C. A. Mcdcalf and J. Kelly, and throughout the evening 
tho room was crowded. Au excelleut programme had 
been arranged by Mr. Wade, and the enthusiasm of the 
audience was maintained until tho last song of the 
evening. At midnight ” Auld Lang Syne ” was sung, 
and the amdience di-per.?ed, feeling, I am sure, “ that 
this night s company and song bad made them more and 
more in love with angling.’* The reunion was of the 
most happy character, and was attoudocl by many well- 
known anglers. 
Association on Monday night voted 
aI Is. towards Ibe annual river-keepers’ dinner, which 
m again being organized by Mr. W. H. Brougham, of 
the l.A.P.S. 
Rome nioo dishes of fish were weighed in at the Silver 
Trout Club on the 19th inst. Mr. Smalls headed the 
hst with 151b. of roach, Mr. Fletcher followed with 71b., 
iV. r. Duckworth scaled a roach of 11b. 6^oz. and six dace 
going 21b., from the Thames, and Mr. Curtice brought in 
a 5Jlb. pike. Last Tuesday a paper was read at the 
“ u ^ Hoyle upon “ Trout and Trout Fishing,” 
when there was a good attendance of members, and I 
bad the pleasure of being introduced to the “ Pelican,” 
otherwise Mr. Bradshaw, the hard-working secretary of 
the cluK whose reports appear in the Gazette each week, 
Mr. O. R. Mason took the chair, and was supported on 
either side by Mr. Hoyle and Mr. J. Kelly, of carp fame. 
Mr. J. P. Connellan, the ubiquitous member of the 
long name society,” was there, in spite of a bad cold, 
and in the course of the evening addressed the members 
on the aims and objects of the society. Mr. Hoyle’s 
paper was both entertaining and instructive, and the 
bilver Trouts accorded him a very hearty vote of 
thanks at its conclusion. He also exhibited a number 
of trout, dace, and grayling flies, and fly rods, and gave 
particulars bow to tfe a fly. I should add that Mr. 
Fletcher occupied the vice-chair, and invited Mr. Hoyle 
to read another paper at the club on a later date having 
reference to fly-tying. During the evening some ex¬ 
cellent songs were given by Messrs. Offord, Pettitt, 
Wright, &c.. added to which Messrs. Williams, Eskart, 
Loster. and Lovejoy contributed a string and pianoforte 
quartette, which was much applauded, and Mr. Haynes 
added to the amusement and entertainment of tho.se 
present with a series of political and other ‘‘ lightning” 
cartoons. 
Eext Tuesdaj’, as I have already annoniioed, is Mr. 
McDermott s day for visiting onr angling friends at 
Tonbridge to read his paper ‘‘Roach and Roach Fish¬ 
ing. The time-table is as follows :— 
Leaves Arrives 
Cannon-street. Tonbridge Junction. 
P ra. T.‘2 t p.m. 
I’f » . 7.:r. „ 
, Leaves Arrives 
Tonbridge. Cannon-street. 
10-10 . about 11.20 
THE PISHING GAZETTE 
As I write it is pouring in torrents, with every pros¬ 
pect of more to follow, and I have just received a letter 
informing me that I am down to act as a kind of referee 
to-morrow (Thursday) at a punt-fishing match on the 
Thames at Staines. The last occasion I convoyed a 
party of anglers up the river, I, desirous of pleasing 
everyone, innocently allowed, after partners had been 
drawn for, a gentleman to change places with a brother 
angler, in a punt provided with the necessaries of the 
day, because he bad left his steak-pie at home, and 
wished to assist in the consumption of a chicken the 
other angler had allowed to peep oat of his fishing bas¬ 
ket. For this error I was censured at the club-house in 
the evening. Now there is a prospect of another cen¬ 
sure, and n soaking into the bargain. I would rather be 
a football ” ref.” 
[Pebrtjary 25, 1893 
The meeting of the Anglers’ Association at the 
Foresters Hall, on Monday night, was attended by the 
representatives of between fifty and sixty clubs. Tho 
principal business of the evening was the reception of 
the report of the deputation which had recently waited 
upon the Thames Conservancy in regard to the proposed 
new fishery bye-laws for the Thames. Mr. J. B. Close, 
in response to a request from the chairman (Sir. SV. h’. 
Beckett, 'V. P.),told hoiv courteously the conservator.s 
had received them, and said the deputation had secured 
the enforcement of the riparian owner’s netting licence, 
which it had been proposed to abolish, and the con¬ 
servators had promised not to increase the size of mesh ; 
chub were to be eliminated from the live-bait list; set¬ 
ting night-lines for eels, except where private fishery 
rights were distinctly defined, would he illegal ; the 
gaff is to be permitted ; night fishing allowed, and rod 
and lino fishing permitted below London Bridge. In 
regard to the steam launch nuisance, the hoard promised 
to prosecute whenever any damage to boats, moorings, 
(tc., was caused, and no doubt, in the coming summer— 
now the anglers have received this official assurance- 
some of the pranks carried on by the water-flyers will be 
put an end to. Concerning tho sizes of fish, 'it appeared 
the Anglers’ Association wished for an all-round increase, 
but the deputation learned that another association—the 
Central Assooiation—had advocated the old standard, on 
a prior occasion. 
Mr. Close said: We were mot with the remark that 
another association of anglers had been before us and 
represented that the proposed bye-laws, as now issued, 
met with their entire satisfaction. It then became the 
duty of our spokesman to inform the conservators that 
wo were tho strongest body of anglers, and numbered, 
roughly, 4,000, as against the other associat’o-i, which 
could not at the most number over 1,500. 1 tliiiik the 
spokesman’s remarks created some surprise to the con¬ 
servators, who were not prepared to find Hiat we were 
so strong and influential a body. I am extremely sorry 
a differenoe of opinion should have c -opped n|), for it 
has been the great stumbling block to our getting au 
inorea.sed standard. I think it is a very great pity that 
the two a«sooiation.s cannot work togeliier amicabiy and 
so get an increased and better size of fish. (Hear, hear.) 
The conservator.s promised to reconsi.ioc the sizo.s of 
two fish, recommended by tho Anglers’ Association- 
one the jack of 22 inches, the other the roach of 8 inches. 
Another of the deputation—Mr. E. IMiirphy—re¬ 
marked ; I was very much struck -in fact, I was 
astounded—when the chairman of the board said they 
had received a letter from the other assooiation showing 
how satisfied they were with tho existing bye-laws. 
We had had a meeting here sometime before—the two 
committees met here in this room—and we each had our 
plans and sizes, and they fell in with ours and wo fell in 
ivith theirs, except in the case of one fish, and that was 
the roach. They wanted a 7in. roach, we wanted an 8in. 
roach. I call it a very unhandsome manner in which 
to treat another association. I think tho least they 
could have done after they had come to a decision 
was to have ^ written and told us their final views, 
instead of which it was left entirely until wa came 
before the Thames Conservancy, and the result was 
that we had to follow another association opposing 
ns in our very actions to do that which was right for the 
general body of anglers. I do think—I cannot express 
my feelings in the language it deserves—that they have 
acted in a most treacherous manner to us (Hear, hear.) 
But I think we have carried our points, and that the 
onus will rest with them. It is most monstrous that 
great advantages should be thrown overboird for, I 
cannot help calling it so, the aggrandizement of a few 
of che Central Association. (Applause.) 
The chairman said : I agree with what Mr. Murphy 
says with regard to the Central Association going behind 
our backs and making representations which don’t tally 
with our views. Mr. Ghiirney (secretary), in reply to 
another gentleman who waited upon 
the board, said they had not heard from the Central 
Association. Mr. Parker : If they agreed to our terms, 
beyond all doubt they should have written to us. The 
matter then dropped, and a hearty vote of tbanki was 
afterwards passed to the members of the deputation for 
their services. 
In regard to the statement that the Central .\.ssocia- 
tion had been to the board before the Anglers’ Associa¬ 
tion, I believe that is incorrect. The C.A wrote to the 
board, and went before them as a deputation just a week 
Mter the Forester’s Hall Committee had visited Tower 
Hill 1 understand they were of tho same opinion as the 
Anglers Association as regards the netting licence, the . 
size of net mesh, and the use of the gaff, but they went for 
the old standard except in the case of pike. It is said 
they were willing to have a 20in. fish. As regards the 
roach, the members dealaro it is now getting more diffi¬ 
cult than ever to get decent takes of these fish from the 
bank of the river, and they aver that if individual 
opinion was taken in the London angling clubs they 
would stick to a 7in. fish. “ How many clnbs,” said Mr. 
Wade, the secretary of the C.A., to me the other day, 
have raised their standard.' Not more than ten.” I 
pointed out that the matter of increasing the size of fish, 
as far as the Anglers' Association was concerned, had 
been discussed at the clubs when tho new bye-law-s weie 
proposed, and that they appointed delegates who voted, 
not unanimously, but in a majority, for the increased 
sizes. ‘‘ Well,” said Mr. Wade, “ ive shall stick to our 
views, and yon can depend upon it the Anglers’ Associa¬ 
tion will never get their 8in. roach.” Goosequill. 
CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF LONDON ANGLING 
CLUBS. 
The members of this flourishing association gathered 
together in large numbers at their headquarters, the 
Bedford Head Hotel, Maiden-lane, W.C., on Jlonday 
last, the ocoasion being* the annual re-union ani smoking 
concert. The chair was occupied by Mr. Walter 
Emden, of the County Councillor.s for the Strand 
division, who carried out ihe duties admirably, and won 
golden opinions from all present. In his opening- 
remarks, he alluded to the generous spirit in which the 
London County Council had taken up all questions 
relating to the health and recreation of the people, and 
assured his hearers that if at any time it was possible to 
further the interests of the London anglers, he would 
gladly render any service in his power. 
respected secretary of the 
l.A.P.S., was also present, and offered a few remarks 
of a general character, thanking the association for tho 
great interest they had always taken in river preserva¬ 
tion. Mr. C. A. Medcalf ably occupied the post of vice- 
chairman. An excellent programme had been arrano-ed, 
and was carried out under the direction of the secretary 
Mr, W^ade, and it was apparent by the very hearty 
reception given to all the artistes, that their talented 
services were greatly appreciated. iVhere all excelled, 
it may seem invidious to mention names, but a special 
word of praise is due to Mr. James Husk, Mr. Arthur 
Court, Mr. B. Butler, Mr. Symes, and to the many 
friends of Mr. T. Goodwins. Mr. A. Soar, of the Izaak 
Walton Angling Society, efficiently presided at tho 
piano. Mr. Ihos. Crumpleii proposed a very heaity 
lote of thanks to the chairman for his able conduct in 
the chair, to which the audience responded with musical 
honoiir.a. 
^ Mr. Emden replied in a few woll-ohoson words, thank- 
lug tboiii for theic kind recopfciou, ^ncl lisduriug tboru ho 
wou d always do his best tor the Central Association, 
further staling that ho should bo pleased to offer 
thro gh the c 'mraittee, a substantial prize towards ths 
lortheomuig competition, in aid of tho funds of that 
deserving iiistitnlion, tho Anglers’ Bouevok-ut an I Con¬ 
valescent Ho ne Fund, wuich is to take place at the Rvo 
House, on March 19, and, in addition, would place 'at 
the disposal ol the committee, another good trite for 
tho text season. 
Mr S. C Harding moved a vote cf thanks to tho 
artistes, and one of the most enjoyable evenings was 
brought to a close by the company joinging in sinking 
‘ Auld Lang Syne ” and the National Antbom. 
A special committee meeting was summoned to receive 
tho report of the members who had waited, as a depu¬ 
tation from this association, np:n the Thames Con- 
servancy. Mr. Medcalf reported that they had been 
received at Trinity-squaro with every kindness and 
courtesy, and it was gratifying to know that 
many important amendments that had been sug¬ 
gested by the delegates had been adopted by the 
conservators, the question of the netting by ripirian 
owners had been satisfactorily settled, and it was 
proposed to include in the modifieddraft tint the spaoial 
sealed licence of the conservancy would be necessary L) 
enable owners of private fisheries to net tiieir portions 
of the Thames, although it was pointed out by tho 
conservators that they were powerless to interfere with 
any of the existing private rights. Tioere was not to 
be any alteration in the size of tho mosh of nets, and 
night-lines for eels were to be prohibited. Night-fishing 
from the banka would be permitted up to a certain point 
of the liver. Tne question of the various classes of 
nsh allowed to be used as live bait had been reconsidered, 
and chub hid been withdrawn and gudgeon substituted ; 
the number of fish allowed to be carried as bait had 
been raised from twenty to fifty as requested. Special 
licences would be issued by the conservators to tisher- 
men, giving permission to net for bait only, and these 
nshermen would also be appointed river-keepors. Tho 
deputation from the Central had the satisfaction of 
correcting several misrepresontitions which had been 
made, and stated that they represented upwards of 
seventy angling societies, comprising nearly 2rK)J 
members; and although tho Anglers Association wa-i 
numeric illy a trifie stronger, they were apparently 
solely divided on the question of sizes of ti.sh. It was 
distinctly shown that we were representing a certain 
and absolute majority of the London anglers, who were 
of opinion that tnero was no necessity to increased 
the size of roach beyond 7 iucjies, especially as there 
bad been no desire on the part of the Loudon 
clubs in this direction in the pi.st. The question 
of the size of jack was also introduced, and it was 
thought there was hardly any necessity to increase the 
size, but in any case it ought not to bo raised above 
