March 4, 1893] 
SUPPLEMENT TO THE PISHING GAZETTE 
159 
previous few days, and very little trolling was prac¬ 
ticable. Again on Monday, the waters were unfishable 
owing to Sunday’s rain. Under such circumstances it 
is not surprising that anglers have had very little sport 
since my last report was despatched. On Saturday, 
Messrs. Winter, Marsh, and Stevinett were out on the 
Forty-foot, south of Bonington Bridge, and despite the 
unfavourable condition of the water, all of them took 
fish, the heaviest bag being secured by Mr. Marsh, who 
landed three pike weighing 141b. Mr. Winter had one 
of 61b.. and two smaller ones, and Mr. Stevinett one 
weighing 41b. and another of 2|lb. On Tuesday, Mr. 
Cooper had a successful day further up the river, 
landing, in the course of two hours, three fish scaling 
respectively 5|lb., 41b., and 21b. On Wednesday, I hear, 
Mr. Dawson got a brace near Swineshead Bridge, 
weighing just over 111b. the pair. 
The reports from the Welland and Witham are fewer 
this week than usual, owing, no doubt, to the unfavour¬ 
able weather recently experienced. Those to hand 
deserving notice are a brace of pike of 151b. by Mr. 
Henery, near Stamford ; one of 81b. from the Vernatt’s 
Drain, at Snrfleet, by Mr. Hall, on the 25th ; three from 
the Stanch, at Bardney, by Mr. Brown, averaging 41b. 
apiece ; and two by Mr. Colman from the Witham. at 
Tattershall. one of which turned the scale at 91b. These 
are the best, in fact, about the only reports received this 
week. _ 
FROM HAMPSHIRE AND DISTRICT. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The wet weather has continued throughout another 
week, and the rivers in some places are in a state of 
flood. The incessant rain has also kept very many from 
the riverside. 
From the Itchin a few good fish have been taken—the 
best close upon 91b., a good specimen. 
Three trout in good condition were landed from the 
river, near the bridge, at Winchester, on Thursday last, 
bv a city angler. They appeared to scale upwards of 
4ilb. 
I noticed an angler busy whipping the stream in the 
same place on Saturday, but he obtained nothing w'orth 
recording. 
The St. Cross waters are partially flooded, and angling 
is difficult. I have lately heard that there are some big 
pike in this locality, and that netting is to be com¬ 
menced almost directly, as several have recently got 
awaj'. 
The salmon fishing at Ringwood is somewhat backward 
—especially in comparison with the same time last year, 
when some big ’nns were grassed. The best fish caught 
here since the 14th, was a nice specimen of 21.Vlb., 
which fell to the rod of Mr. H. Winton, last week. 
Apropos of the big Christchurch salmon, it is stated 
that the only salmon served at the Queen’s table in the 
early part of the season is taken from the Christchurch 
waters. George IV. always thought the fish from this 
locality better than any other. 
The portrait of the genial Dean of Winchester in last 
week’s Fishing Gazette, has given general satisfaction. 
There is considerable talk of the old gentleman being 
preferred for a bishopric in the Eastern counties. 
In the city of Winchester the only stretch of free 
water of any use to anglers is that near the bridge. 
Here the stream is fast running, and many a good trout 
has been taken. _ 
FROM THE LAKE DISTRICT 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The weather during the early part of this week has 
been more suggestive of skates and curling than enjoy¬ 
ment of the “ contemplative art.” Sunday was a period 
of sleet and snow, all the lake mountains presenting a 
most winterly aspect the following morning in their garb 
cf white. This was followed by a fall of the thermome¬ 
ter, seven and fifteen degrees of frost being recorded on 
Monday and Tuesday respectively. Even should a thaw 
set in—of which there seems a likelihood at the time 
of writing—little angling will be done this week, as 
our rivers would be largely made up of “snow-broth,” 
an undesirable condition for successful sport. The Kent 
Angling Association have this week been enabled, thanks 
to the assistance of the Fishery Board, to put on an addi¬ 
tional watcher, who will devote his time mainly to the 
Kent and its tributaries. 
As an outcome of the exposures of “ snatching’’ and 
other illegal measures adopted in many north-country 
rivers for the taking of salmon, contained in recent 
numbers of the Fishing Gazette and other papers 
devoted to the interests of anglers, a large meeting of 
West Cumberland fishermen was held at Cockermouth 
on Friday last. Mr. C. Mayson presided, and con¬ 
gratulated those present on the prospect of having 
“decent and respectable” fishing in the future, 
which he hoped would be the result of that meeting. 
He was very fond of fishing, but last year he 
was so disgusted with the people who went to catch 
fish by any possible means, that he had put his rods 
away, as he could not feel it was respectable to go to the 
river where such practices obtained. He hoped all those 
present would do what they could to make fishing 
honest, as they had some of the finest salmon rivers in 
the country. After a vigorous and outspoken speech, 
the chairman proposed that they form an angling asso¬ 
ciation, which was the object for which that gathering 
had been called. An amendment was made that an 
association be not formed, upon which Mr. Mayson 
declared that it was their determination to have one, 
and he invited the last speaker as well as others to join 
them. Other gentlemen followed in the same spirit; 
and Mr. H. P. Senhouse, a riparian owner, said he was 
always glad to give leave to anyone to fish on his land, 
but if in the future he knew anyone guilty' of unfair 
conduct he would withdraw his leave at once. In the 
end about fifty persons gave in their names as members 
of the new association, and a further meeting will be 
held to draw up rules and appoint officers. 
FROM LANCASHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
An important meeting of anglers was recently held in 
Warrington, and amongst other business that of the 
proposal to join the provincial anglers came in for dis¬ 
cussion, and finally it was decided to join the provincial 
anglers. Lancashire has dealt largely with Birmingham 
in hardware for years, and now it seems we must go to 
Birmingham for a travelling card when we go for a tea¬ 
pot. As to the number of anglers from this county who 
will follow the lead of Warrington, it is hard to say, 
but if the price put upon the entrance of one association 
is any guide, it is a question if we are not better off as 
we are. We shall be better off with our money in the 
hands of powerful railway companies, who pay wages, 
than frittering it away on delegates : we have had too 
much of delegates in the past, and have too much now. 
The Hulme Crown Angling Society is to receive the 
representatives of the Manchester district on the 16th 
inst., this will be the first visit of the district meeting to 
this house, and without doubt the meeting will be packed 
to do honour to the jovial Peacock. Perhaps 
no club has made greater strides than has this 
one, the membership having nearly doubled itself in a 
short time. A great many notices are given in local and 
other notes respecting the River Dane, and stating that 
this length and the other length have been secured, but 
no one ever gets the wiser as to how fishing can be 
obtained. Can any of your readers inform us, or is this 
the latest way of warning trespassers ? Landlords are 
’cute enough for anything. 
The Openshaw, Bradford, and Clayton Angling Society, 
with its characteristic liberality, has decided to support 
the Poynton Canal Fishery, by taking a ticket for each 
member of the society. In a week or ten days the new 
tickets for the Worsley Canal Fishery will be ready, 
and the secretary will be glad to receive offers of as¬ 
sistance in the selling of the same. 
FROM MONTGOMERYSHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The scarcity of salmon in the Upper Severn and its 
tributaries is still under discussion, and several letters 
on the subject appear in the local newspapers. In a 
letter from Mr. A. Mostyn Owen, Woodhouse, Salop, 
w'ho is a conservator of the Dee, as well as the Severn, 
attention is called to some remarks contained in a letter 
which appeared in the Field of the 4th ult., under the 
signature of “ C. P.,” in which the writer states that, 
“ After tolerably close observation during the last five 
years.” he has beenled to the conclusion “that the ladders 
and passes at the weirs on the Severn do not fully 
answer the purpose for which they have been con¬ 
structed.” Mr. Mostyn Owen’s opinion is they are all 
but useless, and no one is better qualified to judge, 
having had a life-long experience in such matters. He 
is very candid on the subject, and says, “ I am decidedly 
of opinion that the present state of the contrivances— 
for we cannot call them passes—for assisting salmon to 
get over Diglis Weir are quite sufficient to account for 
the lamentable falling off in the supply of salmon from 
the Severn Fisheries.” To rectify this he goes on to 
say, “ At the south side of Diglis Wier there is ample 
space between where the piece of timber is now irlaced 
diagonally, and the shore, to make a perfect salmon pass, 
and it would be so if made with an elbow, so as to elongate 
the pass, and thereby diminish the incline, which should 
not be steeper than one in eight, with an entrance under 
water, and below low water mark near the foot of the 
weir, so as to allow and entice the salmon to swim into 
it without jumping, and through each compartment, 
divided bj' suitably shaped breaks, and out at the top of 
the pass without being obliged to show their top fins in 
the passage.” He further explains that such a pass 
could be constructed there at a very small expense, and 
if the passes over the other weirs were made more easy, 
many more fish would get up to the spawning grounds at 
the top of the district, with the certain result of a great 
increase in the supply of salmon over the whole district. 
This is a consummation devoutly to be wished, and which 
all interested in the fishing in the upper district are 
most anxious should come to pass no pun—and many 
and various are the suggestions made to that end. The 
writer of the letter in the Field, suggests the putting up 
of some contrivance to let the salmon pass over the 
weirs, which has, he says, been used with success in 
Hungary, but little accurate knowledge is to be found 
respecting this contrivance. The fact remains, all the 
same, that all up the Severn the passes need great im¬ 
provement which, no doubt, is one very good reason why, 
during the fishing season, the salmon cannot ascend to the 
upper districts, as the only times they do ascend during 
the open season is when the river is flooded, and their 
course is then comparatively clear of obstacles, but 
after all said and done it is beyond question that the 
chief cause of the present scarcity of salmon in the 
upper districts is that there are so very many engines 
employed during the season for their capture at the 
mouth of the Severn, that it is little less than a miracle 
for a salmon to escape them all; and, should they some¬ 
how contrive to do so, they have next to run the gauntlet' 
of the deficient passes and the nets of the fishermen the 
whole course of the river, so that it is small matter of' 
wonder they are so scarce in the upper districts. 
Another suggestion is to increase the cost of licences in 
the lower waters, where all the fish are taken, and which 
might decrease the number of engines spread for their 
capture, and which is the only feasible way of increasing 
the number of fish in the upper waters, as it is a matter 
of yearly occurrence that, as soon as the close season 
commences, and the salmon have a clear course up the 
river, then they appear in the upper districts in large 
numbers, and this in despite of pollution, deficient 
passes, and all the other excuses put forward 
for their scarcity at the time they are moat 
welcome and most valuable to the fishermen in 
the top waters. Facts are stubborn things, and 
the fact cannot be controverted that during 
the past two seasons the value of the salmon captured 
in the Severn, and computed at the average price of Is. 
per lb., amounted to .£3.3,150; but, unfortunately, it is 
not stated what quantity was taken in each district, but 
those resident in the upper district know too well that, at 
the rate of Is. per lb., all they have captured during -the 
two past seasons would amount to little more than the 
odd ,£1.50 of the above mentioned sum, which leaves the 
nice little balance of £33,000 to the share of those lucky 
mortals who fish the lower waters. Further comment is 
needless, but, as long as the present state of affairs is 
allowed to continue, so long—as at present and in the past 
—all the salmon will be bred in the upper waters and 
captured in the lower waters, and so long will the upper 
riparian owners lament over, and the lower riparian 
owners rejoice over, the shortcomings of the Severn 
Fishery Board as now constituted. 
FROM NORFOLK. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Not many anglers have been out during t’ne past 
week as the weather has been windy and wet, and the 
barometer very low, and pike do not feed well when the 
barometer is low or falling. 
The only good fish taken during the week was one 
of 161b., taken on Monday on private water. A few bags 
of small fish have been taken in different parts of the 
county, but nothing worth recording for Norfolk. 
On 'Tuesday evening a very instructive and entertain¬ 
ing lecture was given at the Norwich Angling Club by 
by Mr. Arthur Patteson of Yarmouth. The lecturer 
discoursed on “Rambling Notes of a Rambling 
Naturalist,” giving accounts of his varied experiences 
as a naturalist and an angler, and dwelling at some 
length on curious facts connected with the life history, 
malformations and freaks of nature, in animals, birds, 
reptiles, fish, and insects. The lecture was illustrated 
with thirty sketches, some grotesque and some carefully 
drawn, representations of the subjects under considera¬ 
tion. Several gentlemen, including Messrs. B. B. 
Morgan, G. C. Davies, and C. Daniels, and Dr. Wheeler, 
spoke on the advisability of everyone, anglers in par¬ 
ticular, taking notes of anything unusual or interesting 
that come under their notice while out in the country 
or on the water; facts culled in this way being so much 
more valuable to science than mere theories, which have 
afterwards to be proved by observation. 
A vote of thanks to the lecturer brought a very 
successful gathering to a close. 
FROM NOTTINGHAM. 
To the E .iitor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Angling pursuits are still unusually quiet in our dis¬ 
trict, and on Wednesday March cime down upon us 
like the proverbial roaring lion. The river has again 
been up and down almost daily, and as the weather has 
been thoroughly unsettled very few fishermen have 
ventured out. As regards making extended journeys to 
any particular or favourite water, they have been alto¬ 
gether out of the question. At the period of writing 
the water was certainly in fairly good condition for 
bottom fishing, but there was no saying how long it 
would remain so, for heavy rain had once more descended 
during the night. 
In Clifton Grove on Saturday Mr. J. Boyd bagged 
nine choice bream with the worm, and another sub¬ 
scriber caught a very fine roach. On Monday other 
subscribers were out but they returned without securing 
a single fish. At this period the river was running at 
at flood height. 
On Feb. 19, at Shardlow, two members, Mr. T. Hunt 
and Mr. G. Lamin, of the Forest Side Angling Society, 
New Radford, enjoyed excellent sport. The day being 
beautifully fine the fish feed well, and as a result of 
perseverance the two succeeded in making a bag of 181b. 
In it was a tench, which, nowadaj's, are rarely seen in 
our neighbourhood. 'The Shardlow fishery' is now 
rented by the Nottingham Wellington Society, but sub¬ 
scribers holding tickets for the season other than from 
Mr. Wood, the lessee, are entitled to use them until the 
14th inst. 
In the way of gossip, I hear that as Mr. R. Higginson 
has left the Shoulder of Mutton Inn, Smithy-row, 
Nottingham, the club held there may possibly go to the 
Poultry Hotel near by. A special meeting of the 
members was held on Monday night, at the Reindeer 
Hotel, Wheeler Gate, but as the proceedings were 
private, it would be bad taste on my part to say other 
than what I have been informed. The club, I need 
scarcely mention, rents the waters of the Hon. G. 
Curzon, M.P., at Trent Lock, and a portion of those 
belonging to Mr. H. Harpur Crewe, of Shanklin, in the 
Isle of Wight. 
Messrs. Slater and Co., of Newark-on-Trent, have 
sent out to an English nobleman in India a number of 
their famous centre reels. They were, I understand, 
made larger than usual, but a friend of mine, who saw 
them, assures me they were splendid works of the 
' anglers’ art. The firm, I know, do a large colonial trade. 
