March 11, 1893] 
THE EISHING GAZETTE 
169 
for his salmon. He gets twopence the pound 
more than his contract price of last year. He 
should be presented with a signboard.” 
Our Deveron correspondent writes: “ The 
Arctic-like conditions which have prevailed in 
the north for the past few weeks have put the 
river Deveron into a very unsatisfactory state for 
anglers. Fish appear to be very shy. In the 
course of a few weeks, however, anglers will be 
fairly at work, and as there are signs of 
numerous fish being in the river and very 
little disease, a successful season is antici¬ 
pated. There are no changes of lessees to 
chronicle along the course of the river, and 
during the summer and autumn the different 
sections will be fished mostly by former tenants. 
We observe that the Fishery Board of the dis¬ 
trict of the river Deveron has issued the following 
notice: “ That every person who wilfully takes 
or destroys any sraolts or salmon fry, or shall 
buy, sell, or have in his possession the same, or 
iniures or obstructs the passage of the young of 
salmon, including smolts, parr, or brannacks, will 
l)e prosecuted under provisions of ‘ The Salmon 
Fisheries (Scot.) Act 1862.’” 
Our Speyside cori’espondent writes: “A small 
stone, weighing 6 drams avoirdupois weight, was 
found in the stomach of a yellow trout weighing 
21b., caught last week in the Dip pool, near 
Craigellachie, by Ogg, keeper to Mr. Teacher, 
of Glasgow. Interest in the Spey trout fishing 
dispute has been revived by a rumour that after 
all an appeal is to be lodged against Lord 
Kyllachy’s decision. An Aberlour correspondent 
writes that thereabout everyone is expressing 
the hope that the colours will be nailed to 
the mast, and the fight carried on to the 
bitter end, and declaring that not only should 
appeal be made to a higher court, but that 
every effort should be put forth to call the 
attention of fishing brethren on the coast to the 
necessity of aiding in pressing the question of 
river rights into prominence in the present 
county election. The necessity is also advocated 
of having inserted in the coming Fishery Bill, 
which the present Government have promised, a 
clause dealing with trout fishing, whereby all 
trout fishing, which has been freely exercised and 
enjoyed for forty years and upwards (such as in 
the present case) shall henceforth belong by law, 
as well as by justice, to the people. Speaking at 
Aberlour, on Friday night, Mr. J. A. Grant, the 
Unionist candidate who is contesting the seat for 
Banffshire in room of Mr. R. W. Duff, said that, 
speaking as one of the public, he could not see 
that any injustice would be done to anyone if 
the right of fishing for trout, which had been 
exercised by the public for a long period without 
interruption or opposition should be confirmed to 
them. He was also entirely in favour of salmon 
fishing being given to the people in the places 
where the right to it was held by the Crown. In 
enclosing a cheque for £5 as a contribution to 
the defence fund, Mr. Seymour Keay, M.P. for 
Moray and Nairn, says he will be most happy to 
give his cordial support in Parliament to all 
efforts made to secure the popular title to the 
Spey and other fi.shings. He also points out 
that the Lord Advocate, in his reply to a question 
of his, appeared to differ from Lord Kyllachy by 
saying that prescriptive possession did make 
good fishing rights. He trusts that the defender 
may ultimately come off victorious, although the 
decision in the meantime has gone against him.” 
McBouncer writes: ” Numerous as Gaelic 
proverbs are, it is not easy to collect a sufficient 
number bearing on fish or fishing to supply a 
weekly ‘ Note,’ in the Fishing Gazette. ‘ Dean 
maorach fhad sa bhros an traigh ann ’— Get bait 
v;hile the tide is out —is only another way of saying, 
Make hay while the sun shines. The meaning of 
‘ Cuir do lamh sa chliabh’s thoir do rogha liabag 
as ’— Put your hand in the creel and take your choice 
of flounders —is somewhat doubtful, but is gene¬ 
rally understood to apply to the uncertainties of 
matrimony; and, if so, it is certainly a more 
gallant way of putting it than the Lowland 
Scotch : ‘ Pit yir han’ in the creel, and draw an 
adder or an eel.’ ‘ Cha d’ thainig iasg as a chuan 
nach eil cho math ann ’— No fish ever came out of 
water hut left as good in it —is a proverb common 
to many languages, though not expressed exactly 
in the same way. The Lowland Scotch say, 
‘ There’s as guid fish in the sea as ever cam’ oot o’t.’ 
The Irish go even further by saying that, 
‘ There are better fish in the ocean than ever 
came out of it,’ which is probably correct, not¬ 
withstanding the protestation of anglers who 
may happen to land salmon of 39f lb. or 495 -lb., as 
the case may be. ‘ Oho fallain ris a bhreac ’—As 
healthy as a trout—is a very common Gaelic ex¬ 
pression, which indicates that, whether trout 
were liable to disease or not, the old Highlanders 
were not aware of it.” 
Mr. ARCimuLD Harper writes : “ I trapped a 
very large dog otter the other day, at Traillpool. 
It dragged the trap for half-a-mile down the 
river, and tried to get down the sluice at Halkirk 
Mill-race, but the chain got entangled in the 
building, and Mr. Otter was soon drowned. He 
measured 4ft. 2in. from tip to tip, and weighed 
33 .jib. His mate is still at large, but I expect to 
have her secured when the river falls to medium 
height, so that I can get my traps in the proper 
places. Is not this a great weight for an otter ? 
It is the heaviest I ever caught. The angling 
has been very poor for the past week ; owing to 
the severe frost the river fell to a very low level, 
and many of the pools were frozen over for 
several days. Thaw has come not a day too 
soon; the river is in good spate ; a large run of 
fish is expected, as they were seen in the bay 
close by the river-mouth on Saturday, apparently 
waiting to come up as soon as the spate came. 
The ova in our hatchery are nearly all hatched 
successfully. The fry in the ponds (year-olds) 
are all doing well.” 
Thames Rights and Wrongs. —In a recent 
Daily News article detailing the troubles of the 
free fisher of the British Islands, the sufferings 
of the Thames angler were referred to as a past 
experience. It seems, however, that the brother¬ 
hood are even at this moment plunged in a sea of 
difficulty. Descending to plain words, the Lon¬ 
don anglers are face to face with a doubled- 
barrelled agitation. The state of affairs may be 
explained in a few sentences. The Thames Con¬ 
servators have for some time been engaged in 
overhauling the bye-laws by which the river is 
governed, and drafts were sent round for the con¬ 
sideration of the various bodies interested in its 
good management. The angling associations, 
from London upwards, accordingly made certain 
suggestions, and a revised draft has been sent out 
showing how many of them were adopted at head¬ 
quarters. Hence the present tears. The angling 
fraternity are in arms, declaring that though 
some of their suggestions have been acted upon, 
the most important are unheeded. There appear 
to be two central societies of London anglers, and 
it was certainly an unfortunate circumstance that 
when a deputation, claiming to represent four 
thousand persons, waited upon the conservancy 
authorities on Tower-hill to complain of the pro¬ 
posed regulations, they were informed that 
another deputation, claiming to represent some 
fifteen hundred, had been there to express their 
entire satisfaction with them. The objectors 
apparently are aggrieved because the standard 
limit of pike remains at a figure (eighteen inches) 
that will not prevent the slaughter of baby fish; 
that the fence months for fish other than trout 
are not changed; that fish culture is restricted; 
that—and this is the greatest grievance of all— 
there is a bye-law under which any riparian 
owner may net out from the portion of the river 
over which he claims private rights every fish 
that swims, if it so pleases him. Mr. C. H. Cook, 
a barrister who takes much interest in the preser¬ 
vation of the Thames for the people, has circu¬ 
lated a list of no fewer than seven objectionable 
privileges which will be legally given to riparian 
owners should these bye-laws be confirmed. The 
matter is not yet, however, beyond mending, and 
the conservators are said to be quite ready to 
reconsider the clauses in dispute. It is, therefore, 
of primary importance that the London anglers 
should agree amongst themselves as to what they 
really want; and to this end Mr. R. B. Marston, 
the able editor of the Fishing Gazette, has signi¬ 
fied his intention of calling a representative meet¬ 
ing with the object of securing unanimity— Daihj 
News. 
lEotes aitir terics 
Some Dressings of the March Brown. —There 
is probably no fly in existence that has such 
a variety of dressings as the March Brown. 
During the past week an enthusiastic friend of 
mine has shown me at least a dozen different 
patterns of this fly, and as I know many of my 
readers are always seeking around for informa¬ 
tion respecting new flies, I give a few of what 1 
consider the best from my friend’s collection 
No. 1. Body, hare’s ear, dark; ribbed distinctly 
with gold tinsel; legs and tail, three whisks from 
a partridge’s tail feather; wings, hen pheasant; 
hook. No. 3, Kendal scale.—No. 2. Body, orange- 
brown mohair, ribbed with greenish-yellow silk; 
legs and tail, three strands from a partridge’s 
tail feather; wings, hen pheasant; hook. No. 3, 
Kendal scale.—-No. 3. Body, plain undyed quill; 
legs and tail, from partridge’s tail; wings, hen 
pheasant; hook. No. 3, Kendal scale.—No. 4. 
Body, plain undyed quill; tail, three strands from 
partridge’s tail feather, hackled with feather 
from a partridge’s back; hook. No. 2, Kendal 
scale.—No. 5. Body, hare’s ear, ribbed with yellow 
silk; tail, three strands from partridge’s tail 
feather; legs, partridge hackle; wings, ditto; 
hook, No. 3, Kendal scale. This is the dress¬ 
ing of the male fly, and kills well in cold, 
dull weather.—No. 6. Body, tail, and legs as 
above; wings, from a speckled brown hen; hook. 
No. 3, Kendal. A splendid killer anywhere.—’ 
“ Halcyon,” in the weekly edition of the Leeds 
Mercury. _ 
The Jews and Fresh-water Fish. —In the 
course of a conversation the writer had with a 
fishmonger who buys the whole of his fish at 
Billingsgate Market, the latter said how very 
eager the Jewish retailers competed for fresh¬ 
water fish, when any was for sale. It is an 
established fact that our Jewish fellow-country¬ 
men, owing to the care which they take in 
rejecting any flesh or Rsh that is by them con¬ 
sidered to be “unclean,” avoid contracting 
diseases more or less common among “ Gentiles”; 
and for the purposes of this paragraph, it is 
hardly necessary to stop to inquire whether or 
not the exigencies of modern life in great cities 
prevent the poorer class of Hebrews from always 
strictly observing the Levitical injunction—not 
so much in restricting themselves to eating river 
and sea fish only that “ hath fins and scales,” but 
in guarding against purchasing for consumption 
river coarse fish in the “ close,” or breeding 
season, when such fish are obviously “ unclean ” 
and unfit for the food of any man. This is a 
subject important to Jews from a sanitary point 
of view, and equally so to Gentile anglers in 
their naturally determined opposition to any 
river coarse fish being permitted to be sold 
wholesale in any London, or other fish market, 
or retail for the use of the Jews during the legal 
“ close ” time. Gentlemen who may have their 
ponds or lakes netted for cleansing purposes 
during or after the “ close ” time, rarely nowa¬ 
days dispose of surplus carp,. tench, rudd and 
roach, perch and pike, otherwise than by pre¬ 
senting a portion alive to some local angling 
preservation association, and the rest is given to 
workmen and villagers. Consequently, when 
consignments of fresh-water coarse fish are sent 
to Billingsgate or any other London markets, 
especially in the “ close ” time, not only the 
Jewish purchasers, but inspectors of the markets 
—the one should refuse to buy, and the other 
decline, in the interests of the anglers, to 
permit the thing to go on. We are far stricter 
not to permit the sale of English and Scotch 
lowland-bred game birds beyond a reasonable 
time for clearance after Feb. 1, and the same 
strictness ought in future to be observed for the 
due protection of coarse fish during the breeding 
season in our rivers and some of the Broads and 
takes. Advantage may be taken in that some 
lakes, if not also a few broads, are open for 
angling during the “ clo.se ” times; but when 
the London County Council shall have got 
control of the present wholesale, and new retail 
markets to be established, greater checks might 
be placed upon selling any “unclean” river 
fish having “ scales and fins,” and the poorest 
Jews might mark what is said in good faith.—F. 
