April 8. 1893] 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
257 
WATFORD PISCATOR3’ ANNUAL DINNER. 
The twelfth annual dinner of the Watford Piscators 
took plaee at the Masonic Hall on Wednesday evening. 
The Right Hon. the Earl of Essex presided, and Mr. 
Walter E. Moore occupied the vice-chair. Among those 
present were Mr. J. Taylor (secretary), Dr. C. Denn 
Christmas, Dr. H. Rudyard, Dr. A. T. Brett, Dr. St. 
Legsr, Mr. T. Vaughan Roberts, Mr. W. T. Boydell, Mr. 
C. R. Humbert, Mr. J. AVeall, Mr. S. Martin, Mr. 
Harby, Mr. H. Lomas, Mr. W. J. James, Mr. R. Ashby, 
Mr. J. Rogers, Mr. Frost, Mr. A. Stafford Walker, Mr. 
W. Ross, Mr. J. S. Hayes, Mr. W. Horton, Mr. E. J. 
Sargent, Mr. Rodwell, Mr. C. A Hailey, Mr. Goodman, 
Mr. F. Eden, Mr. J. Lawrence, Mr. G. Good, Mr. H. 
Good, Mr. S. Good, Mr. Sontham, Mr. Keat, Mr. G. 
Capell, Mr. J. Hodgkins, Mr. J. Crouch, Mr. J. S. C. 
Seleater. An excellent dinner was served by Mr. J. 
Read, of the Rose and Crown Hotel, and the musical 
arrangements, which contributed greatly to the enjoy¬ 
ment after dinner, were under the direction of Mr. A. 
Spicer. 
The noble Chairman proposed the health of “ The 
Queen and Royal Family.” The toast was loyally re¬ 
ceived, and a verse of the National Anthem sung. 
The Vice-Chairman, in suitable terms, proposed the 
” Navy, Army, and Reserve Forces,” coupled with the 
name of Lieutenant-Colonel Brett. (Cheers.) 
Lieutenant-Colonel Brett, in a humorous response, 
remarked that it was said that King Alfred the Great 
had a navy, and that he used to come through the middle 
of Hertfordshire. He might have come up the Colne to 
Watford, and when he came to a wide ford he might 
have said, “ What-ford is this ? ” (Laughter.) Dr. 
Brett then spoke of the dirty water in the Colne, and 
said that it behoved someone to look to it and clean it 
out. 
The noble Chairman, who on rising, was loudly 
cheered, read letters of regret for non-attendance from 
Mr. T. F. Halsey, M.P., who enclosed a cheque for his 
prize, which he wished to continue ; the Hon. A. Holland- 
Hibbert, who was away in Cumberland; the Rev. R. 
Lee James, Mr. E. J. Slinn, and others. His Lordship 
said that he was pleased to accept the invitation to take 
the chair at that dinner, but gratified as he was by the 
honour they had done him, he honestly confessed that 
he thought they had made a very great mistake. (” No, 
no.”) He did know something about a great many 
sports, but fishing was one of the sports he had not 
taken up, and so he knew very little about it. He 
hoped some day to take it up, and then in the future to 
be able to speak to them more as an authority on 
the subject. (Cheers.) He congratulated the Watford 
Piscators on the apparently very successful way 
in which their club W'as constituted. It appeared 
that the number of members was limited to fifty, 
and the club was always full. He presumed that there 
was only a limited amount of water at their disposal, 
and there would not be room for more than fifty 
people to fish. But, as far as he could see, the club 
was in as flourishing a condition as any club in which 
he had an interest. A man to whom they all looked as 
a great authority on fishing, Mr. Izaak Walton, used to 
come to Hertfordshire, and according to his book it was 
a very easy thing indeed to catch a fish by means of a 
'■ frogge ” used as a bait and thrown into the water 
where fish do congregate. Pishing was said to be the 
contemplative man’s recreation, and he thought it was a 
very good name for it. It entailed so many qualifications 
in a man. He might say it required the patience of Job, 
great perseverance, and the temper of an angel. He had 
seen people flog the water day by day, making it almost 
ike a sea. (Laughter.) Then they looked at the rod and 
the line, and found the fly was gone. They cursed and 
they swore, and then they put on another fly. (Laughter.) 
There was an old song belonging to fishermen, which was 
called the “ Angler’s Song,” and the lines were some¬ 
thing like this : 
Man's life is but vain ; 
For 'tis subject to pain. 
And sorrow, and short as a bubble, 
"Tis a hodge-podge of bus'uess and money and care. 
And care and money and trouble. 
But we'll take no care 
When the weather proves fair : 
Nor will we vex now tho' it rain ; 
We'll banish all sorrow, and sing till to-morrow, 
•And angle and angle again, 
keeper to preserve their waters in tho close season and 
to detect poachers. He thought they might easily employ 
a keeper at a salary of .£1 a week, who would in addi¬ 
tion get a good many trifles and half-crowns. He 
saw by the accounts that there was a balance of some 
.£10 a year, and by the list of prizes that twenty guineas 
was given in that way. He could not help thinking 
that the gfntlemen who won these prizes would be 
equally gratified if they received some not very valuable 
tokens of their success. (Cheers.) If gentlemen who 
now gave their guineas would give additional subscrip¬ 
tions there would be something like .£30 or .£40 given 
towards this .£50, which would be necessary to pay a 
keeper. Then these fifty members might be very 
easily increased by ten. He suggested that they 
should get a few members who might come down fishing 
from London, once a fortnight, and by this means they 
would get the full £50 required. (Cheers.) With 
regard to additional members he thought for a guinea a 
year anyone would be glad of the opportunity to come 
down to a lovely country and fish in four or five miles 
of capital water. He pointed out in contrast to this 
that in some places two or three thousand pounds a 
year was required for the right of fishing. He thanked 
them for coupling his name with the toast. (Cheers.) 
Mr. Boydell also responded. He said that the 
club was formed some 'twelve years ago by Mr. 
Vincent (cheers), in consequence of the immense 
amount of poaching that was going on, and the 
necessity of preserving in the close season. Mr. Boydell 
then gave a resximd of the progress of the club, and 
spoke of the waters that had been acquired by the 
society from time to time. He concurred with the 
remarks made by Mr. Rooper with reference to an 
increase of members and the abandonment of prizes, for 
he did not really think a man went out fishing for the 
purpose of making it pay, but for the pure love of sport. 
(Cheers.) It was as much pleasure to him to watch a 
man catching fish, and succeeding in his spore, as it 
was to catch fish himself, and he believed that was the 
feeling of all true sportsmen. (Cheers.) Another 
object that the club had in view was to put down taking 
small fish, and prizes were given for specimen fish. 
They would see by the prize list that, considering the 
bad season, they had done uncommonly well. (Cheers.) 
The Vice-Chairman said that he had to propose a 
toast which he was sure would receive their unanimous 
assent, and that was the health of their noble Chair¬ 
man. (Cheers.) It was very difficult to say in the 
presence of Lord Essex what one might otherwise wish 
to do, but he might say that they were extremely grate¬ 
ful to him for presiding over them that evening, and if 
they might forecast the future from the past, they all 
hoped that he might follow in the footsteps of his most 
respected predecessor, and have a long and prosperous 
reign at Cassiobury. (Loud cheers.) 
The toast was drunk with musical honours, and cheers 
were given for the Earl of Essex and Lord Malden. 
The noble Chairman expressed his intense gratitude 
for the kind way in which they had received this toast, 
and for the too much kind way in which Mr. Moore had 
proposed it. He had not been in Watford very long yet, 
and he had not had time to identify himself with the 
people, but he was glad to meet them in that club as 
sportsmen. Ho more or less prided himself on being a 
sportsman, and therefore when sportsman met sports¬ 
man, there was not likely to be any disagreement. 
(Cheers.) He felt perfectly certain that in the future 
the more they saw of each other, and the longer they 
lived together, tho more firmly would their friendship be 
cemented. (Loud cheers.) 
Other toasts followed. 
The dinner ticket, from an original drawing by one of 
the members, Mr. Fritz Volck, is excellent. 
SPORTSMAN’S EXHIBITION AT SHEFFIELD. 
The Angling Section. 
On Easter Monday there was opened at Sheffield, in 
tho Drill Hall (the largest building in the city), a 
Sportsman’s Exhibition. The show, which is the first 
of its kind held in the provinces, is under the manage¬ 
ment of Mr. G. Stanley, who a few months ago success¬ 
fully “ran” a trades exhibition in the same hall. 
Embracing the whole of the county, it has been well 
patronised by followers of every department of sport, as 
well as by dealers in all the implements of sport. The 
result is a collection of unique exhibits that appeals to 
every section of the sport-loving public. There are 
carriages, drags, and carts ; pictures of horses, jockeys, 
and dogs; bicycles and tricycles; implements for 
shooting, skating, and boating; tents and summer¬ 
houses ; while in the department devoted to angling 
there is much to interest and instruct the devotees of 
the gentle art. There is a fish-hatching apparatus lent 
by the Marquis of Exeter; specimens of stuffed fish 
forwarded by members of the Sheffield Anglers’ Asso¬ 
ciation in competition for money prizes offered by the 
promoters of the exhibition ; and rods, nets, and other 
paraphernalia of the sport in profusion. (Jood as the 
show is, it would have been better but for the fact that 
an exhibition on similar lines is now being held at the 
Aquarium, London. Many who are showing at the 
Aquarium would have been glad to come to Sheffield ; 
but when the choice lies between the Metropolis and the 
provinces, it is hardly to be expected that the latter will 
be chosen. 
The first stand to which the angler will turn after 
entering the building is that of Mr. H. Booth, fishing 
tackle dealer, Hull. Mr. Booth has on exhibition a 
collection of angling implements it would be hard to 
beat. Gommencing with salmon fishing he could equip 
an angler for every department of fishing. Among his 
salmon rods is the “ Castleconnell ” rod. Affixed to 
another salmon rod is a un que contrivance for weighing 
fish. At the butt, just beneath the winch fittings, is a 
groove covered by a nickel slide. Turn round the slide 
and out drops a weighing balance. The whole thing is 
so neat and expeditious that it is hard to imagine any 
go-ahead angler travelling without one. Greenheart 
rods, American cane, bamboo—combining strength and 
durability with lightness and compactness—and pike 
rods are amongst the stock, side by side with them 
appearing a ne't patented by Mr. Booth. This net is one 
of the handiest things the writer ever saw, and is the 
very incarnation of simplicity. The upper length slides 
within the lower, and to use it all that is required is to 
throw out the former, the operation at the same time 
fastening the net and making it ready for instant use. 
A simpler contrivance could not well be imagined. Mr. 
Booth has, among his other exhibits, a collection 
of artificial worms and gentles. The worms are 
an imitation, but it is hard to conceive any sensible 
fish mistaking the manufactured maggot for the 
real and succulent article. Stand 25 is occupied 
by Mr. Henry Cartledge, tackle dealer, of Blouk-street 
and Campo-lane, Sheffield, who has on view a creditable 
assortment of things appertaining to the art piscatorial. 
Mr. Cartledge’s specialities are the inimitable flies— 
artificial creations warranted to resist water or almost 
any other of the elements—and a collapsible net. This 
is a handy and ingenious article. The framework of the 
net is of steel, in halves, and is so constructed that it 
can be released from its circular position and turned 
into a long, flat instrument, the two halves being 
brought into a parallel line, the one an inch or so from 
the other. Among his reels Mr. Cartledge has one with 
gold-plated fittings and ebonised back—rather a luxu- 
rioos adjunct to angling. Messrs. T. Horsley and Son, 
of York and Doncaster, have a neat display of fishing 
tackle; Messrs. T. Burberry and Sons, Haymarket, 
London, have on view all kinds of waterproof clothing 
for anglers; and the Berthon Boat Company show their 
patent canvas collapsible boats—craft that are a great 
convenience on rivers where rapids and deeps alternate. 
To Yorkshire anglers, however, and particularly to 
Sheffielders, the most interesting exhibits are the 
specimens of stuffed fish forwarded by tho Anglers’ 
Association. Rarely, indeed, has a better collection of 
fish ever been brought together in a provincial town. 
The premier position is accorded to a 371b. salmon, 
caught recently in the Spean, Scotland, by Mr. S. A. 
Smith, of Barnes Hall, Sheffield. Surrounding it are 
some of the handsomest pike ever seen in Sheffield, 
most of them, together with good specimens of other 
species, coming from the Crown Inn, Scotland-street, 
the chosen rendezvous of all Sheffield anglers. The first 
prize for pike, however, was awarded to Mr. J. Hides, 
Myrtle-road, Heeley, for a handsome fish of 261b,, 
measuring 3ft. Gin. It was caught in 1887 at Pebley 
pond, near Killamarsh, and about ten miles from 
Sheffield. The first prize for roach was awarded to 
George Littlewood, champion long distance walker, for 
a specimen 21b. S^oz. in weight. The first for bream 
went to the Crown Inn, for a fish weighing 61b. or 71b., 
and which was caught, of all places in the world, in the 
Idle, near Retford. It may be well to mention that 
this was so far back as 1866. Other Sheffield fish are 
shown by Mr. E. F. Spicer, taxidermist, Birmingham, 
the chief being a pike of 23Jib. 
Another feature of the exhibition is an illustration of 
the methods by which fish are hatched at the Marquis 
of Exeter’s Burghley Park fish hatchery, Stamford, the 
exhibit consisting of hatching box, feeding box, a fish 
pass, spawning bed and fish trap, box in which to carry 
trout ova, and young trout, a month old. Much is to be 
learned from a study of these boxes and their contents. 
OPENING OF FISHING SEASON AT LAKE 
VYRNWY, N.W. 
It is satisfactory to have to announce a most suc¬ 
cessful opening on above water, and that in the face of 
cold winds and very bright sunshine (except the Satur¬ 
day, which was a drizzling day), and it certainly did not 
look very likely when fourteen rods went out on Thurs¬ 
day morning (March ,30). However, when evening came, 
eighty-eight trout, weighing 511b. lOoz., were laid out, 
and a very encouraging sight they proved, for on Friday 
fourteen rods brought 164 trout, weighing 951b. 8oz., 
two anglers having the limit (twenty trout), and one 
angler, who arrived late, had eight from shore after 
4 P-ui. 
Saturday was a true fisherman’s day, cloudy and 
showery, and the same number of rods took 195 trout, 
weighing 1061b. 6oz. There were seven limits, and two 
gentlemen, who had forty in their boat, took twenty- 
five in three-quarters of an hour after 6 p.m. ; all agreed 
they had never seen trout rise better, and, thanks to the 
improved food supply, and a seasonable February and 
March, they were in very good condition, and fought 
most gamely. 
Monday did not score up so well; it was very cold, 
and the sun, if anything, brighter than Thursday, but 
101 trout, weighing 601b. 3oz., was not so bad, and one 
dish of sixteen was much admired. A gentleman from 
Manchester topped the list with eighty trout for the 
four days, all taken with artificial fly ; in fact, very few 
anglers have as yet availed themselves of the privilege 
of trolling. 
I understand a further supply of Crustacea, &c., is to 
be placed in different parts of the water to furnish 
savoury morsels for our friends, the trout, and from all 
appearances this will be a first-rate season. 
“ Lancastrian.” 
The Chairman then presented the prizes to the suo- 
cissful competitors. The chairman, in conclusion, said 
that he had much pleasure in coupling with the toast 
the names of Mr. G. Rooper and Mr. W. T. Boydell. 
he wished success, long life, and prosperity to the Wat¬ 
ford Piscators. (Cheers.) 
Mr. G. Rooper said that he felt it a great honour to 
respond to this toast. He was told by his friend Mr. 
Boydell that this most prosperous club was established 
in 1882. It was a very small humble bantling in those 
days, but it had grown and greatly improved, he could 
hardly say gradually, because from the beginning it had 
had an uninterrupted success, which was no doubt 
greatly due to the committee, but it was mainly due to 
themselves. He looked one day in Johnson’s Dictionary 
for a definition of a club, and ho found it was an assem¬ 
blage of good fellows. He thought that the Watford 
Piecatori 1 epresented as good a body of good fellows as 
were 1 k dy to be found anywhere. (Cheers.) There was 
a point ce should like lo press especially upon the atten¬ 
tion of tie committee, and he thought it was a very 
important one. It was that they should have a water- 
