232 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
[April 1, 1893 
the mouth of the river ; as in the case of the 
Birkremselv, a fall or series of heavy rapids 
existed very near the sea, and this used to be 
crammed with traps for the capture of the ascend¬ 
ing fish. 
An Englishman, however, succeeded in getting 
a long lease of the fishing rights throughout the 
valley, the traps were entirely done away with, 
artificial breeding was carried out on an extensive 
scale, and the result is that a fine river which was 
rapidly deteriorating on account of the conflict¬ 
ing interests of the different proprietors has now 
increased largely in value, and hundreds of fish 
are killed upon it with the rod by the fortunate 
lessees. 
{To he continued.) 
DORSETSHIRE: ITS RJ VER AN I) SEA- 
EISHINfl. 
By Alfrku Jardine. 
Eighteen years ago, one Easter lilonday I went 
with my friend, the late IT. L. Rolfe, into Dorset¬ 
shire to fish a couple of beautiful trout streams, 
which, through the courtesy of their proprietor, 
were placed at our disposal. A drive of nine 
miles across the moors from W.areham early next 
morning, brought us to the inn we made our head¬ 
quarters; the streams were in excellent ply, trout 
rose eagerly at the “ March Browns,” which were 
batching-out in numbers ; and when we reeled-up 
lines at close of each day, our creels were filled 
with fine fish (the limit for takeable ones being 
over half a pound), while some exceeded two 
pounds. 
Two rivers flow through Wareham, and into 
the sea at Poole Harbour, the most northern— 
the Trent or Piddle—rises in the north-west of the 
county, and gives its name to many villages, Ac., 
viz., Fiddlefrienhithe, Piddlehinton, Tolpiddle, 
I’iddletown, Affpiddle, and Turnerspiddle ; from 
tlie latter place it flows past Chamberlayne 
Bridge, and Hyde, to Wareham, where the river is 
affected by the tide, and salmon ascend. In its 
higher reaches it is a grand trouting stream, but 
strictly preserved and rigidly private. Below 
Hyde Heath, and thence to the mill near Ware- 
ham, the water deejjens, gets sluggish, and con¬ 
tains pike and perch. But of the two rivers, the 
Erome on the south side of the town is by far the 
largest, and is noted for large roach and dace. 
I p to twelve years ago 201b. pike were plentiful, 
but it has been of late years so overfished and 
depleted, that now a ten-pounder is somewhat a 
scarce capture. It has but few perch, and, 
although well adapted for barbel, bream, and 
chub, the Frome contains none. 
Rome years since I turned into this river, at 
several likely places for the young fish to do well 
in, over 40,000 each of chub and bream fry, 
but nothing came of the experiment, so far as I 
could ascertain. The infants were but a, few days 
old, and scarcely an inch in length, so that no 
doubt they proved delicate fare and a change of 
diet, for the young esocidcc of those waters. 
When fishing the Frome in the early months of 
the year, I have on several occasions hooked kelt 
salmon, which have taken my spinning-bait 
eagerly as pike. At times the river is full of these 
spent-fish, taking advantage of a full water to 
regain the sea, and, when the river overflows, on 
the Hoods recoding many kelts are left liigh 
and dry on the meadows, a feast for the crows 
and jackdaws. 
I'rom the sea at I’oole, to Bindon, is about 
twenty miles by river. At Bindon Mill is a badly 
constructed f almon-ladder, up which fisli seldom 
ascend; but below this salmon are frequently 
caught, and very recently three very fine ones, 
fly-fishing—a 38113. fish by* the Hon. ]\Ir. Fortesque, 
one of 301b. by lilr. Montague Guest, and bv Mr. 
Fane one of 25!b. 
The Frome has its source near Beaminster; 
from thence to iloreton, below Dorchester 
(where is a society that preserves the fishery), 
it holds fair size trout. From !Moreton to Wool 
the stream divides several times, and there is 
good pike fishing in each of the channels, but 
permission mmt be obtained. 
1 am informed the shooting, with the fishing, 
has recently changed hands. ” 
The most important river of the county is the 
Stour; it rises in South Somersetshire, near the 
village of Pinzlewood, but soon enters Dorset¬ 
shire, flows by Sturminster-Newton, Blandford, 
and Wimborne, uniting with the Avon at Christ¬ 
church, Hants. 
The Stour contains large pike, perch, chub, 
and roach; also trout in the upper reaches, and 
salmon from Canford Manor,to its junction with 
the Avon. 
As a fishable county, Dorset has a favourable 
reputation; and in addition to the rivers men¬ 
tioned there are the Allen, Brit, Cerne, and 
other.«, containing more or less trout; and at 
Owre-Moigne is a small millstream, where, one 
morning a short time ago, I caught seventeen 
brace of sizeable trout, fly fishing. 
In addition to its rivers, Dorset possesses many 
other attractions, downs covered with purple 
heather, and in the spring brilliant with golden 
gorse; the valleys are very beautiful. Ancient 
towns, abounding in old buildings, are plentiful, 
Wareham and Corfe especially; while Corfe 
Castle, dating backto the Norman Conquest—but 
built on the site of an earlier one erected by 
King Alfred, A.n. 875—is one of the most magni¬ 
ficent ruins in the south-west of England. In 
the early part of 875, Ilalfden, the Danish 
general, with a considerable force, sailed up 
Toole harbour to Wareham, and captured it by 
surprise. In 877 Alfred drove them out, entrenched 
and fortified the town with a circumvallation of 
earthen ramparts, which remain moderately 
intact to this day. A part of the Danish army 
quitted the place on foot. The naval portion got 
no further than Swanage, where they were 
attacked by Prince Arthur’s fleet, and, a furious 
storm arising, 120 of the Danish .ships were 
driven ashore off Peverel Point, and the soldiers 
and sailors completely destroyed. In the suc¬ 
ceeding century Corfe Castle was considerably 
extended by King Edgar, who gave it as a 
dowry to his queen, Elfrida ; she caused her step¬ 
son (Edgar’s successor) to be stabbed and 
murdered when drinking a cup of mead while 
sitting on his horse at Corfe Castle, and thus she 
gained the throne for her own son, Ethelred. 
The churches of Dorsetshire are, in many 
instance.^, ancient relics of an age when men 
spared neither their money nor their thoughts 
in rearing fitting habitations for the worship of 
the Deity. 
Towards the south of the county, especially in 
Purbeck, the hillsanddowns attain altitudes from 
500 feet to 650 feet. The rugged, rocky cliffs, 
extending from Swanage Bay to Portland Bill, a 
distance of nearly fi fty miles, are the boldest on the 
south-west coast and furnish many a melancholy 
record of shipwreck ; and, if the caverns in them 
could speak, they would tell of numerous and 
valuable cargoes of contraband goods success¬ 
fully landed and conveyed inland, notably the 
caves near “Brandy Bay,” and Lulworth (Jove. 
Ballard Cliff is 383 feet high. Gad Cliff 450 feet, 
Hounstout 500 feet, Swyre Head 637 feet, Wor- 
barrow 570 feet, Meops Cliffs 450 feet. White Nab 
450 feet, Lulworth 430 feet, and over this last- 
named cliff some smugglers in 1828 threw 
the body of a coastguard they had brutally 
murdered for interfering with their illicit 
practices. When I was staying at Lulworth last 
year, an old sea-faring man, who used to go out 
fishing with me, showed me places in the cliffs, 
where he and his companions had landed and con- 
Cialed cargoes of brandy until the danger of 
discovery by coastguards was passed, and they 
could without fear of detection, “ run ” the tubs 
to inland (owns and villages. 
These lofty cliffs are the natural breeding places 
of gulls, guillemots, cormorants, shags, and other 
sea-fowl, which swarm in countless numbers, while 
here and (here,peregrine fa'cons,ravens,and other 
wild birds have taken up their habitations. 
But I am straying away from angling, and 
forgetting that the sea fishing off Dorset, is 
amongst the best to be had round the English 
coist. 
At Christchurch and Poole, in spring and 
summer, good pollack and mackerel fishing can 
usually be had on the rocky ground off Christ¬ 
church Ledge, also off Peverel Point, in Durleston 
Bay, and more westerly to St. Alban’s Head, at 
all of which whiting, pollack, pout, and grey 
mullet may be caught, with plenty of silver 
whiting in the offing. 
The village of Lulworth is convenient to stay 
at, it has two comfortable inns. The Cove and 
The Castle, also nice lodgings can be generally 
obtained. 
I have been there on several occasions for sea¬ 
fishing. The Lulworth boatmen are expert, civil, 
and painstaking, knowing all the fishing grounds 
in the vicinity, their boats are commodious and 
safe, a most important thing on such a rocky 
coast, and if the sea is too rough outside in the 
offing, sport can be had and enjoyed inside the 
Cove, which is a natural land-locked basin of sea, 
a mile or more in circumference, of deep water, 
where good catches are made of whiting, mackerel, 
and (at night) congers. 
Bound Worbarrow Knob, in the bay, at Airish 
Mell, Meops Bay and rocks, bass, wrasse, or rock- 
fish, pollack, and pout, are plentiful, and often 
caught of large size ; also codfish in the winter 
months. From Stare Holes to Hat’s Head and 
Bingstead, the fishing is excellent. During July, 
August, and September, immense shoals of 
mackerel frequent this coast and the channel to 
the south of Portland Bill. Off the Chesil beach, 
and in the bay from Bridport to Budleigh- 
Salterton, large quantities are frequently cap¬ 
tured ; also from Start Point to Whitesand Bay, 
near Plymouth, at which town, the sea-fishing 
amateur can be supplied with every kind of 
tackle, gear, and information respecting the 
coast, and boatmen, by W. Hearder and Son, 
Union-street. 
When two or three miles off Lulworth, one fine 
evening, a year or two ago, with Harry Vye for 
my boatman, 1 caught ninety large mackerel, 
trailing a “ Hearder’s Spinner,” with rod and gut 
tackle; they also took eagerly an artificial ffy, 
consisting of a white goose feather and a small 
red one, on a No. 8 hook. I had very fine sport; 
it was blowing what on that coast is called a 
“mackerel breeze,” and we were going through 
the water at the rate of about four miles an 
hour, the proper speed to ensure sport on 
“ striking a shoal,” as the boatmen say when the 
fish are met with; then a great many may be 
caught without any check to the sport; but if 
you lose or oversail the shoal, the boat must be 
brought round, or “ wear’d,” and sailed back over 
the same course, when probably the fish will be 
met with again. 
Other bait used, are small sand-eels, or a thin 
slice cut from the silvery side of a mackerel’s 
tail. Boatmen provide tackle, but it is best for 
a visitor to the coast to take his own lines, hooks, 
and other appliances, suitable for the kind of 
fishing he intends pursuing. 
I have alluded to the caverns in the rocky 
cliffs of this coast, worn by the never ceasing 
beat and wash of waves, through countless 
centuries. 
There are also natural archways, one of them 
—Durdle-door—is lofty as a cathedral aisle. I will 
give an illustration of it, with others of head¬ 
lands, bays, &c., photographed by one of my sons, 
when spending his holidays in Dorsetshire last 
year. 
During August, 1890, large shoals of mackerel 
came close in shore to the bays and coasts round 
about Lulworth in pursuit of brit or mackerel- 
bait, i.e., the young of herrings, sprats, and other 
clupeidie. Tom Williams, an old boatman, brought 
out his seine-net—a hundred fathoms, and more, 
in length; boats were launched with two men in 
each, the seine was “shot,” and a large number of 
mackerel enclosed; then the boats were rowed 
towards shore with all speed, carrying with them 
the end of the ropes up to the beach, where they 
set to work to haul the net to land; but they 
forgot to overlap the ends of the seine. Every 
man, in his excitement, was giving orders, there 
was no captain, or any System ; the net was not 
kept round or balloon-shape, the sides came 
together like iu'o walls, and all the mackerel— 
many thousands—escaped. The men were savage 
at their ill luck, and Tom Williams was disgusted, 
but he told me afterwards it often happened, 
because every one wanted to be master and have 
the seine worked his own way. 
Well, after this mishap I took the men to the 
inn, gave them some ale, and a considerable 
amount of chaff besides, for the way in which 
they had enclosed such a fine lot of fish and then 
lost them all. Next evening other large shoals 
showed just outside the cove, and the men asked 
me to be their captain, to which (knowing how 
the seine should he worked) I assented if they 
