THE FISHING GAZETTE 
DORSETSHIRE: ITS RIVER AND SEA¬ 
FISHING. 
(Continued from page 233.) 
[April 29, 1893 
Bv Alfhed Jardine. 
A WEEKLY 
sporting journal, of March 2o, had 
a paragraph about “ a pike holding on to rock.” 
lo quote the anglers words, “when fishing the 
^her day, I hooked a small pike of two or three 
^unds weight, and when pulling him into the 
boat, I suddenly felt as if I had stuck in the 
K putting pressure on the line, it gave 
way and I took in the fish, which had its mouth 
fullest extent, by being chock- 
11 ® deposit that covers the rocks 
the lake; and the fish evidently held on, to 
avoid being drawn to the boat.” Now, as the 
T the paragraph says, this occurred in 
n -Ki course an Irish pike, and 
a sensible fish too, for one so small and young; 
but he leaves us to guess w/mi gave way; Aethei^ 
^^ke, the rock, the 
line, or the pike. 
IS.th?bool2d a„d™“° 
was playing a six 
pound fish, and, as 
it neared the land¬ 
ing net, it dashed 
down into the deep 
water, and held on 
to something for 
a minute or two. 
When landed, the 
pike had its jaws 
full of weeds. On 
another occasion 
the same kind of 
thing happened to 
Mr. R. B. Marston, 
when pike-fishing 
with me in Wilt¬ 
shire. 
Referring again 
to the Prome and 
iStour, and the 
magnificent roach 
of those rivers, 
which, in my 
opinion, excel in 
weight and beauty 
those of other 
waters, always ex¬ 
cepting the Hamp¬ 
shire Avon (the 
Kennet and Lea 
possibly ranking 
next). I am able 
to give a record of 
giant fish, caught 
by J. P. Wheeldon, 
likely to make 
many other roach- 
ists envious. In 
the Stour, where its 
lower part of 
appetites. 
There are many deep, quiet eddies and holes 
where legering with the tail of a lobworm would 
be very killing, in the late autumn and winter 
at which time of year roach are in the very 
primest condition and beauty. But while fishing 
It would be well to put out a live-bait on snap- 
tackle, for in these places one is almost certain 
to get a pike. Some fine pike yet remain in the 
tidal waters of this river, which, until compara¬ 
tively a few years ago, often gladdened me with 
captures of specimens exceeding 201b. in weight. 
Ihe Stour grows very large pike, and not so 
very many years since, Mr. Wheeldon, fishing 
with the late Mr. T. Hughes, had between them 
fiom ® ®fu®“’ largest weighing together 
bUlb.; thus exactly matching in weight another 
three—the biggest of ten weighing 135/6.—part of 
a capture made by myself and a companion in 
the Irome. A friend of mine had the right of 
netting this nver for salmon, and the netsmen I 
often secured good hauls at Redcliff, a mile ’ 
nearer the sea than V'/'areham Bridge. Sturgeon 
sometimes frequent the Frome. In 1882 they 
captured a large one, which (with a brace of fine 
salmon) was sent to me. The sturgeon, at my 
LULWORTH COVE AND VILLAGE, DORSET. 
From a photograph by G. Jardine. 
eleven roach weighing fAb.—the^^arges^t^^lb'^'o^^^^^ request, I conveyed to Marlborough 
7 oe.; a|d if the Av^f feV^ghing j acSdf 
preserved, at my friend J. P. W.>^ if i ^ the partly worn out, wings of white goose feaTheV 
not mind it, for the sport kept us fairly warm. 
It was a moderately clear starlight night; wo 
could hear the swish of wings and the whistling 
of curlew and widgeon oyerhead, long before we 
I saw any birds, but soon ducks began to settle 
amongst our decoys, and we got repeated shots, 
sometimes killing one, occasionally two or three, 
leaving the birds where they fell until daybreak, 
when we gathered our spoil, thirty-six in all, 
including three widgeon; then packed guns in 
cases, and drove back to Wareham, in time for me 
^°k ’^P ^ sporting holiday amongst the 
I mentioned in my last article the fine mackerel 
fashing to be had off the Dorset coast. Since 
then I have been informed of a tremendous 
capture landed a few days ago at Mounts Bay and 
ot. Ives Bay, about 8000 packages of mackerel 
being despached by special fish trains to London 
and elsewhere ; yet such is the insatiable maw of 
the metropolis, that three or four hundred thousand 
extra fish make no appreciable diminution in the 
price. 
Off the bold headlands, where the tide runs 
strongly, at Meops Bay Rocks, Kimeridge Ledge, 
and similar places, bass fishing may be practised 
with success ; but as it is a treacherous coast, the 
rocks not afford¬ 
ing much foothold, 
and a quick rising 
tide might cut off 
retreat to the shore, 
the wisest and 
safest plan would 
be to engage a man 
with a boat, and 
for another reason, 
that many places 
can be fished which 
otherwise could 
not. The bass, or 
salmon bass as it is 
frequently called, 
although it is allied 
to the perch tribe, 
is a rare sporting 
fish, rises boldly 
to an artificial fly, 
and attains some¬ 
times to 151b. 
weight. I have a 
specimen ot 13^1b., 
which was ex¬ 
ceeded by a netted 
fish of 171b. at the 
18:3 International 
Fisheries Exhibi¬ 
tion. F. Buck- 
land, in “British 
Fishes,” records 
one of 221b., caught 
at Herne Bay with 
a net, and another 
of 15|lb. at Poole, 
Dorset. Fly-fish¬ 
ing for bass is best 
done from a boat, 
, . , and when fish of 
good size are taking well, the sport is only 
second to salmon fishing. Most of the tackle- 
shops supply the proper flies, but the smaller 
Kinds used for salmon answer well, and, if 
SS roach-swims 
which can b® fished from the bank; but I have 
generally found the largest fish of the Frome 
are to be caught in the channels between weeds 
which grow up through five or six feet of water,’ 
leaving swims from three to four feet wide 
with a clean gravelly bottom-these choice places 
can only be negotiated from a boat or punt. The 
plan IS to drift down, throw in a little ground- 
bait, which entices the roach from out or under 
masses of weed, and to fish Notting- 
ham fashion, ylne and far off; by pursuing this 
pro ess, plenty of the largest roach can be 
neS« i^^® baits as 
pnDes, small red worms, and caddis; also the 
®brimp (Ga»!.warns pulex), and they 
^ '^® tbe river, which 
extends as far up stream as Wargret. From 
the town bridge to Wareham pool, the larne^ 
admL-S^*^® boldly; R may be that the slfght 
admixture of sea-water at high tide in this 
In the i late Colonel Hawker shot the large%\lS?es S Slv F T g 
-^ swims wild duck, geese, &c., mentioned in hi celebrated Srlld tne°'at fbe^^'G 
work on wildfowl shooting. At Little-Sea ' * ®®‘^’ ^® 
Studland Bay (a mile or two south of Poole). I 
, had some capital duck shooting in January, 1876 
, A triend drove me over there from Wareham 
j one afternoon. Little-Sea is a sheet of water 
rather more than a mile in length, and a quarter 
mile in width at the widest part, is close to the 
sea, and surrounded with tall rushes, spear 
grass, and other shelter—just the place for wild- 
towl to pitch in. A punt was drawn up along- 
side the bank, a canopy of rushes, Ac., con¬ 
structed over It to conceal us (the gunners), and 
as a shelter from the wind, for we had to remain 
out all night. Painted decoys were placed on the I 
water, withm shot of our punt, to attract the I 
ducks, which at dusk, began to make their inland i 
flight. My friend and I had two double-barrel 
guns, and a long single, with plenty of warm 
clothing, rugs, and creature comforts aboard, 
so that we did not feel the cold, or at any rate did 
Two flies should 
. - u.iv, other 2ft. above, 
on a salmon-gut collar 6ft. in length, two-thirds 
ot It double twisted, the lower third of stout 
single gut. 
By the end of April, especially if this fine 
weather continues, bass will rise freely to fly, and 
will also take a spinning bait—to which method 
ot hshing I shall presently allude. 
I requently bass appear on the surface of the 
sea in large shoals, and the best way to catch 
them IS to row to the windward of the fish, casting 
well over them, then drawing the flies through 
the water by quick, short jerks, which gives the 
lures a life-like appearance. A favourable time 
to secure sport is, when the tide is flowing against 
a fresh breeze. This produces a heavy ripple, or 
Upper, on the water, conceals the boat, and enables 
tne angler to approach nearer to the shoal, for 
bass are veyy shy fish, and immediately sink when 
alarmed. When waiting for the fish to show on 
the surface, as you row slowly along, place a 
