SUPPLEMENT TO THE PISHING GAZETTE 
[April 22, 1893 
29G 
Ipcovincial IRotes 
FROM BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The chief topic at the Birmingham clnbs at the 
present time is the proposed challenge cnp to be fished 
for by the members of the Association at the annual 
contests A circular has been sent round to the whole 
of the clubs, with a report of the committee delegated 
to devise the best means for obtaining a cup The 
societies are now taking into consideration the report of 
the committee, and I am pleased to say that the chief 
1 been accepted by the majority 
ot the clubs. I have only heard of one instance in which 
opposed, and this comes from the 
Bordesley Waltonians, a club of about thirty-six mem¬ 
bers. ine large clubs are one and all in favour of the 
scheme as dratted by the committee, and I have every 
reason to believe that the whole of the committee’s 
work will be received and adopted. A special general 
meeting will be held on Thursday evening next, when 
the blub delegates will bring in their reports, and vote 
according to the instructions given them by their dif- 
Some of the clnbs who are in favour 
of the cup wdl try to fix a standard size of fish to be 
weighed in. This is a thing to be desired, but I expect 
tnat this suggestion will not be entertained. 
The members of the Birmingham Association have just 
finished paying their half-yearly subscription of 2 d. per 
member to the Provincial Association, the amount of 
which IS close upon ^28. There are seven clnbs which 
^ position of having a membership of over 
100 members; these are as a follows : The Highgate 100 
members ; the Camden, 128 members ; the Aston 
Britannia, 130 members; the Highgate Park, 144 
menibers : the Rose and Crown, 140 members ; the Small 
Heath, 138 members; and the Bellbarn, 150 members 
the aggregate membership being 930 members. The 
Aston Britannia Society have exactly the same number 
ot members as they had six months ago. The Highgate 
also have the same number of members. The Highgate 
Park show an increased membership of sixteen; the 
BellMrn have also made an increase of fifteen members. 
Ifie Rose and Crown remain about the same in numbers 
whilst, on the other hand, the Small Heath Society have 
lost the large number of sixty-two members, this club 
being formerly 200 strong. But what has been this club’s 
loss has been a gain to some of the smaller clubs in their 
immediate vicinity. The Bellbarn Club have now the 
proud position of being the largest club in the Midlands. 
>Some of the other clnbs have made very rapid progress 
notably the Manor Society. This club six months ago' 
had only thirty-three members on their books, they now 
have a membership of seventy-three members. This 
rapid increase is due to the society acquiring certain 
vicinity of Stoke Golding from 
the Midland Railway Company, the water in question 
being very popular with the Birmingham anglers, there 
13 little doubt but what the club will still continue to 
acquire members. A great falling off in the member¬ 
ship of the Lady wood Society is attributed to the strike 
in the iron trade. This club formerly had a member- 
ship of sixty, but, owing to the cause mentioned, they 
only have now about half the number on the books. 
Taking the membership as a whole, the Birmingham 
Branch of the Provincial A. A. is on the increase, and 
in excess of the number paid upon last September. 
Some of the other branches of the P. A. A. have also 
increased their number of members, amongst these being 
Worcester, Malvern, and Kidderminster. 
The Birmingham Bird [in Hand Society are again or¬ 
ganising an excursion to the Norfolk Broads. The club 
have been twice before to this fishing Eldorado, and this 
year intend going by the midnight train on Monday, 
J uly 10, Should any of the members of kindred societies 
require any information on the matter, it can be obtained 
from the club house. The Bird in Hand Inn, Norton- 
street, Hockley, any Monday evening. 
The quarterly meeting of the Provincial Association 
committee will be held at Kidderminster on Saturday 
evening next, April 29, when business of the greatest im¬ 
portance will be transacted. 
FROM DERBYSHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The Wye, the Derwent, and the Dove are all running 
very fine. There is a fair breeze blowing every day 
which is 60 far in the angler’s favour, especially towards 
evening, when there is undoubtedly the best chance of 
success. In Dove Dale a few fish are being got daily, 
but I have not heard of any outstanding bag. A similar 
remark applies to the other stream.s. The minor brooks 
are all too low, though with maggot a few fish are being 
got in them. Flies are now hatching out in considerable 
numbers, and if we could only have a flood, followed by 
some fine warm weather, some good sport would most 
certainly result. I thoroughly agree with Mr. Hudson's 
remarks on the mistake of placing two-year-olds in easy 
places, and with the placing of sizeable fish in such 
places. The Matlock and C'romford Association is by 
far the most enterprising club in Derbyshire. It is 
nianaged by practical anglers who know what they are 
about, and are not atraid to move in any matter The 
Msociation has a very fine length well stocked both with 
troatand grayling. It has done a great deal of good to 
the Derwent in a practical way, and I have no doubt 
whatsoever has not only improved its own water, but also 
the water above and the water below, especially so far 
as • Loch Leveners ” are concerned, these fish having 
rather curious to read that at a meeting of the local 
board of Atetlock, a Mr. Moore spoke of the people 
being deprived of their fishing rights by associations, 
and complained that there was not a bit of land on 
which a working man could set his foot for an hour’s 
angling. He wanted the board to interfere. I should 
very much like to know when the people obtained a 
vested right in fishing and how a local board could 
interfere. The fact of the matter is that, were it not 
for the angling associations and clubs, angling in the 
Derwent would soon be a dead letter. So far as I know 
the Matlock and Cromford Club charge only ^61 Is. a 
season for a ticket, and that sum is not, I take it, 
beyond the purse of local working men, who, through 
being locals, have nothing to spend on railway fares. 
The cause of the outburst was that the county medical 
officer had written requesting that the custom of tipping 
refuse into the Derwent should be discontinued. It 
certainly does a lot of harm, and the Trent Board has 
more than once called attention to the matter as a 
nuisance. Speaking of the County Council reminds me 
that the council is now showing most commendable 
activity in the matter of river pollution—attention 
being at present specially directed to the Derwent. 
Above Cromford there is not, since Buxton took 
its sewage difficulty in hand, a great deal to 
complain of, but most certainly, from a consider¬ 
able distance above Duffield to the junction of the 
river with the Trent—more especially from Belper 
downwards, the condition of the stream is disgraceful. 
There is some magnificent looking water about Duffield, 
but trout are scarce and salmon unknown. There are 
some splendid salmon casts and fine spawning beds, and 
I am convinced that, when the Derwent was pure and a 
suitable home for the salmon, thousands ran up here. 
Indeed, I know that this was so. Nowadays they only 
enter the Derwent to die, for no fish, supposing that 
there were proper passes (they cannot now get above 
Wilne weir), could possibly pass through the veritable 
cesspool which the river is at Derby. As for spawn 
fructifying, or fry or parr or smolts surviving, it is not 
to be even expected. Looking at the fine pools at 
Duffield the other day I could not help sighing over 
what has been, and speculating on what might be if 
proper steps were taken ; while last evening, standing on 
a wooden bridge which spans the river at Borrowash, 
and looking at the splendid streams and shallows, 
perfect in every way, save that they were not pure and 
held no trout nor fish of the salmon kind, I could not 
help anathematising the reckless improvidence which 
has ruined the lower portion of this splendid river for 
trouting purposes, and utterly ruined it as a salmoii 
river with proportionate injury to the parent Trent. 
However, now that the County Council seems seriously 
determined in the matter (even though its end be 
sanitary and not the restoration of angling), there is 
some hope that the ancient glories of the stream will 
speedily to some extent be revived. For some months 
now a special river inspector has been at work taking 
samples of water, noting and reporting pollutions, and 
no expense in the matter of legal proceedings will be 
spared. All this is very gratifying and the council 
deserve all praise. It is to be hoped that its example 
will be followed in other counties. Councils have ample 
powers and it is their duty to use them. 
Salmon fishing has, of late, been prosecuted with no 
success, though a good few anglers have been out. The 
river is too low for successful spinning, and somehow 
the fish seem disinclined to take the worm, at least, 
none have, as yet, been taken with that lure. I have 
heard, it is true, of a fish having been taken below 
Girton (it was sold in Newark), but how it was taken 
I have not been able to ascertain. Only one station 
(net) is at present being worked in the Humber estuary, 
aj^nd the fishermen at “ Jenny-Ho ” and “ Ferry,” below 
Gainsborough, have not yet made up their minds as to 
whether or not it is worth their while (in view of the 
fact that last season only yielded 8501b. of salmon to 
the two stations) to put in their nets. It is to be 
hoped that they will not do so, as a season’s freedom 
from netting will do the river no harm, and anglers will 
reap the benefit. The first flood will bring a good 
number of fish up from the lower reaches, though from 
what I could gather last week, when down in the tidal 
way, there are few or no fish waiting there for a fresh. 
The first fish to run up will be a new lot not yet in the 
estuary. Speaking of salmon reminds me that I have 
before me some statistics (for whose absolute accuracy 
I do not vouch) of the capture of salmon in the Trent 
during past seasons. These are not complete, but 
extend as far back as 1880. They are as follows : — 
Ye ar 
1880 
1831 
1882 
1883 
1834 
1835 
1880 
1887 
1888 
1890 
1891 
1892 
Net 
100 
1000 
No record 
800 
No record 
3015 
No record 
3120 
No record 
No record 
No record 
65 
Rods 
. 27 
. 150 
! 240 
250 
. 105 
Total Fish 
127 
1150 
1040 
3295 
3225 
72 
•*^'1 ticvA, Luc&t:) USU LLa\ in^ 
a tendency to descend. In lace of this enterprise, it is 
.8130 779 8909 
Average over six seasons, during which a record was, 
so far as possible, kept, nearly 1485 fish per season. The 
largest fish secured since 1880 weighed 4(;lb.. and the 
average weight of Trent salmon all over may be taken 
as about 141b. Now, considering the great extent of 
water embraced in the Trent and tributaries, the above 
figures are startling and by no means comforting. Pol¬ 
lution has, of course, ha i a great deal to do with the 
decadence of the river as a salmon stream, being 
injurious not so much to mature fish as to spawn and 
fry. Harking back to the Derwent, therefore, as it is in 
my view the natural stream for Trent-run fish to take, 
we may reasonably hope for a revival of the good old 
times, when once it is purified, as I firmly believe it will 
be. The Dove is too impetuous to be relied upon as a 
spawning stream. Apart from spawning purposes, the 
Derwent would, I am sure, afford salmon angling with 
the fly, a method in the popular view which is of no use 
in the Trent. Granting that none are killed with the fly 
in the Trent, they might, nevertheless, take it in the 
Derwent. Salmon take ordinary salmon flies in the 
Tay, take only minnow in Loch Tay, return to the 
salmon fly in the Dochart, and take small trout flies 
when in the loch of that name. 
Locality for the time being seems thus to alter their 
habits so far as taking lures are concerned, for, in my 
■'^iew, there are not the same sharply defined and easily 
distinguished varieties of salmon in the Tay, Loch Tay, 
Dochart, and Loch Dochart as there are in the Awe' 
Loch Awe, and Orchy, for, speaking generally, Dochart 
salmon fishing begins when Loch 'lay salmon fishing is 
on the wane (May) and there is not much chance of a 
fish in Loch Dochart until the season is waxing old. On 
this analogy I see no reason why the Derwent should 
not afford salmon fishing with the fly. Another thing 
that has certainly been detrimental to the Trent as a 
salmon river, is the use of beam nets in the tidal way. 
The beam net, which is in shape similar to a trawl net, 
with a large mouth and running to a point, is suspended 
from a beam across the bow of a vessel lying in the 
main current of the river, the bag of the net being under 
the vessel on the gpund, so that when the tide is ebbing 
all fish which get into the mouth of the net are driven 
down to the point and cannot return. When the tide 
begins to “ make ” the vessel turns, and the process is 
reversed. A very little consideration will enable any¬ 
one to see how destructive this must be among such 
smolts as reach the sea, and the use of this net should, 
as in the case of fixed engines for eels, be forbidden in 
all samon rivers from Jan. 1 to June 24, the period 
during which smolts may run, though April and May 
are the principle months. There are, of course, other 
aspects in which the important question of restoring the 
glory of the Trent as a salmon river may be regarded, 
but these I leave until next week. That interesting 
and valuable fish, the lampern, is at present pretty 
numerous, so I am informed, in the Dove below 
Monk’s Bridge. They are at present spawning, but 
I have not yet been up to see them. Lampern fish¬ 
ing was only fair this year in the Trent. I believe 
that there is not quite the same demand for them for 
bait, as in former years, for deep sea long-lines. Unlike 
the common eel, the lampern seems to run up the rivers 
to spawn, but my personal experience of these extremely 
interesting fish has not been, up to this point, very 
great. 
There are a good many diseased roach in some of 
the Derbyshire canals, and on Tuesday I saw a few dead 
fish floating down (the current in many of the canals is 
well marked). I was much struck by the conduct of a 
pike which was basking in the few inches of water. It 
let a towing horse walk past within a foot or so of it, 
and bang the rope almost on it without moving, and did 
not mind the passing barge, yet the moment it heard my 
footstep Or saw me, it scurried off with ” the speed of a 
demon dismissed by an exorcist.” Even canal pike seem 
to have considerable discrimination. 
I saw immense numbers of gudgeon and roach resting 
on the shallow sides of one of the canals yesterday. 
They seemed to be basking in the sun. In the main 
river, the dace wore rising freely to a kind of large 
greyish blue fly, which was plentiful on the water. Tney 
certainly were showing none of the lethargy which one 
would have expected in fish heavy with spawn, and dace, 
as a rule, spawn earlier than roach, and certainly a long 
time before chub, quite three weeks, in fact, on an 
average. 
The weather, at the time of dispatching, is simply 
perfect. Its brilliance, in fact, and the beautiful ap¬ 
pearance of the country, would more than compensate 
for many an empty creeel. There is not the slightest 
sign of any impending change. 
FROM HAMPSHIRE AND DISTRICT. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Nothing much has been done in the angling line this 
week and the end of last, and nothing is to be expected 
until we get a heavy shower. What little we had on 
Sunday has had next to no effect; but I hear that the 
salmon have been moved in the Avon, but sport is 
absolutely nil. 
No bag of any size has been obtained from the 
streams near Winchester, and the same remarks, apply 
to Romsey, Ringwood, and most other waters. On 
Wednesday the weather was equal to July, and the 
atmosphere seems to smell of thunderstorms. 
From Bucks last week I hear of two good captures—at 
Marlow — Mr. Jackson, 6-pounder, and Mr. C. W. 
Brown, 71b.; both trout. 
AtRsading some 12,OOl)stock fish—perch, roach, chub, 
and dace—have been netted bj Holdway (one of the 
bailiffs), and put in likely spots. We shall hear of these 
anon, I hope. _ 
FROM THE LAKE DISTRICT. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Thanks to the prediction of Professor Falb, or to our 
own clerk of the weather, or more probably, perhaps, to 
the ordinary laws of nature, the welcome rain has come 
