31G 
SUPPLEMENT TO THE PISHING GAZETTE 
[April 29, 1893 
successful trawlers for trout being a Mr. Hill, of Man¬ 
chester ; Mr. AV. Edwards, two of 2ilb. and 31b. respec¬ 
tively ; Mr. C. Abbott, two of 21b. each ; Mr. C. Alcock, 
three (best IJlb.); Mr. J. Kerley, two (21b.); and 
Messrs. Conlson, Mayson, Swinburne, Musgrave, and 
Bowe, who had from a brace to two and a half brace of 
trout each. 
There seems every likelihood of this and other 
lakes reaching the remarkably low level they fell to 
in 1887. 
There seems to be now no doubt as to the cause and 
origin of the serious case of poisoning in the River Bela, 
nientioned in these columns last week. From private 
inquiry, supported by a statement in a local journal, it 
is now certain that the pollution came from the paper- 
mills at Beetham. As already stated, Hully, head 
watcher in the employ of the Board of Conservators, 
was communicated with immediately the state of affairs 
was discovered, and he, in company with several gentle¬ 
men interested, set out on a tour of discovery, They 
made an examination of a number of the dead fish, first 
cutting them open, but found nothing in the intestines 
to account for death. On opening the gills, however 
they were seen to be “ simply glued together” by a 
fibrous discharge from the mills, and the fish had thus 
been choked. On reaching the pits where the sediment 
ought to be caught, it was found that instead of the 
poHuted water being filtered, it was running out at the 
end of the filter-bed direct into the river, almost in the 
same condition as it had come from the mills. This is 
said to be the worst case that has occurred in the Bela 
for twenty lyears, and the matter has been reported 
to the clerk to the conservators, Mr. S. Hart-Jackson. 
FROM LANCASHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Complaints about the scarcity of water are in every 
angler s experience, but, nevertheless, reports of a far 
more encouraging nature are to hand. It may be gathered 
that the fish are as tired of the drought as are the fisher¬ 
men, and missing the usual amount of feed usually 
brought down by floods, are getting hungry, so that the 
angier who can keep out of sight is sure to get a good 
The most interesting report to hand this week is from 
Messrs. Will Chambers and Co., who advised one of their 
numerous clients to try the Serpentanic at a recent visit 
1 S'* Carlisle. The result was one salmon 41b. 
landed, and another, estimated by experienced' wit¬ 
nesses at 301b., which unfortunately broke the 
rod and line and departed with the bait. It is a 
matter of regret that this Manchester gentleman had 
limited himself to the one bait, or perhaps better 
sport would have accrued. The King’s Head Hotel 
Angling bociety are now enrolled with the Man¬ 
chester district, and it is pleasing to note this fact as 
this society is a good one and a desirable acquisition to 
the district association. The Bristol Inn Anglin? 
society, Hulme, have succeeded in securing desirable 
waters on a five yeps’ agreement; this should materially 
help in strengthening the club, as for the small sum of 
Is. 2d. an angler s privilege ticket can be obtained. On 
the 23rd, scouts were abroad from Openshaw, in the 
neighbourhood of Knutsford, and, if all goes well 
some dozen of good pits may shortly be secured 
^r the strong society hailing from Openshaw, 
Mr. J. Kay is a good prospector in fishing resorts. 
A party of Manchester anglers paid a visit to 
L anymynech on the 24th, and met with fair sport. 
Altogether fifty fash were landed—ten trout, ilb. to ilb. 
one chub, ^jlb., and a number of river dace and other 
hsh, but of course all were returned to the water, with 
the exception of the trout. It is very remarkable the 
large quantities of coarse fish that are hooked in our 
rivers during the present close season. Mr. Sam Brooks 
has paid several visits lately to the Dane and other 
rivers, and reports on every occasion coarse fish 
as ready feeders; on one day he took three chub, all 
over 21b., and from a river where a catch like this 
w(mld- be a really good one at any time. An old flv 
fisherman reports that the Alder and Hawthorne flies 
are out on several local streams, and that he had good 
sport with the artificials of both a few days since 
Perhaps opinions may differ, but he considers this a 
very early time for both of these flies to be out in any- 
thing like quantities. •' 
ment by Mr- Pendngh, the hon. treasurer of the Man- 
the Korthern Anglers’ Association, 
u present year are now due and 
should be paid in order to entitle the members to vote 
meeting. This centre has 
lately gone to a lot of expense m approaching the various 
i?financo8°°''^*^°'®®’ certainly be backed up 
FROM MONMOUTHSHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
This week I have really obsolutely nothing to repor 
This unprecedented weather has continued so long th 
angling matters in this district are at a complete stan, 
® J 'iv ® ®'® "'®^l stocked with fis] 
and they may be seen rising in the evenings, but wi 
not look at either fly, shrimp, or minnow, Mthough a 
three have been tried. Trout-fishing in this river 
practically over as well as in the Usk. The Monno 
18 m an absolutely hopeless condition as regards trou 
fishing, and nothing has been done. There are no sigi 
of rain as yet, and if it does not come before long 
will be a most serious matter for both fishermen In 
FROM NORFOLK. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
Still no rain, but I am happy to say that it looks 
threatening to-night (AAfednesday). All our rivers are 
extremely clear, consequently fishing is out of the ques¬ 
tion in most places. 
A few bream of good size are being taken at Trow-se 
s-nd Thorpe on the Yare, where they appear to have 
again congregated, A few nice bags were also made at 
the end of last week in Postwick Long Reach. 
That veteran angler, Mr. AV. Miles, of the Bordesley 
AValtonians, Birmingham, has again visited us this week, 
and, with his usual luck, took away to-day a grand bag 
of fish. He has been angling on the Wensum, and took 
on Monday night 181b. of good roach in one hour and a 
half ; and on Tuesday, in six hours, he took a grand 
basket of roach, about forty-five in number, total weight 
33t. 81b. This is an average of over a pound a fish, and 
a magnificent lot they were, in fact, a more even lot of 
fish I never saw. I should think that not more than half 
a dozen were much under 11b. 
To show Mr. Miles’s enthusiasm, I may say that he 
has already travelled 1600 miles this year bet ween Bir¬ 
mingham and Norwich. Last year he travelled 46(K) 
miles for the sake of fishing in Norfolk. 
FROM NOTTINGHAM. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
“ Come weal, come woe,” salmon anglers continue to 
patronise the Trent in certain parts, but killing a fish 
under present conditions of weather and water is a work 
or task of insuperable difficulty. Agriculturists, as 
well as anglers, a,re crying out for rain, and plenty of it, 
and until the patient Piscator is the cheerful witness of 
a thorough downpour, he cannot, so far as the Trent is 
concern^, expect to meet with much sport. The river, 
in fact, is lower than ever, and the tiresome bottom weed 
is flooding the bottom in all directions. Coarse fish are 
heading up the shallows in hundreds, and many roach 
which have come under my own observation from the 
parapet of our Trent Bridge are badly affected with 
disease. But this generally disappears after spawning 
and when the fish betake themselves to the rapids for 
the purpose of scouring. This season the coarse-fish 
angler ought to be able to make a satisfactory if not 
successful, commencement on June 16. All kinds of 
coarse fish are earlier, and will, therefore, the sooner be in 
the rapids and on the gravelly shallows. Caddis grubs 
and even maggots, are already plentiful, and will no 
doubt, furnish excellent food for chub, roach, dace, 'and 
barbel, the last-named being particularly partial to the 
grub. 
On Monday night, at King’s Mills, Mr. T. AVood, the 
lessee, hooked a salmon in the choice bit of water below 
the Perry Chain. The fish was only slightly pricked 
having evidently come short at the bait—a Devon 
minnow—and the angler was disappointed of a slice of 
exciting sport. Since then none of the frequenters 
of the reach have “raised ” a fish, and there does not 
appear to have been anything done on any of the waters 
below Nottingham. Rain, and rain alone will seek to 
improve matters. 
At a meeting of the Notts County Council, held at 
Nottingham on Tuesday (Lord Belper in the chair) Mr. 
Earp, the chairman of the Health and Sanitary Com¬ 
mittee, submitted a long report, in which mention was 
made of the polluted state of the river Erewash at 
Stapleford. The county inspector had made a thorough 
examination of the stream, and had come to the con¬ 
clusion it was grossly polluted by the inflow of village 
^wage. The committee, in view of the bad state of 
things in existence, had forwarded copies of the sur¬ 
veyor’s report to the Derbyshire County Council, the 
Long Eaton Local Board, and the Shardlow Rural Sani¬ 
tary a,nthority. They hoped the last named would take 
Immediate stops to <iba<t6 the nuisance complained of. 
The Ermash finds an outlet into the Trent at Barton 
Ferry, and it is high time something was done to purify 
the stream, which at one period contained large quan¬ 
tities of coarse fish, including many very fine eels. The 
committee’s recommendation was adopted. 
The annual general meeting of the leading angling 
society in Nottingham, the AA^ellington, was called for 
Thursday evening for the transaction of ordinary busi¬ 
ness. I shall have more to say in reference to it in mv 
next batch of notes. 
rrxwivi ontl-l-ltLU. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
AVe shall have to have some rain, and no smal 
amount, too, before anything great will be done locally 
I he nvers are running very low and fine, while dams 
and reservoirs are as clear as gin. In fishing a strean 
the most careful angling is necessary, if fish are realh 
aimed at, while, in the case of a dam or reservoir, tht 
best plan is to lightly bait a spot near a sluice oi 
culvert, or where the stream enters, or anywhere where 
toe water is disturbed, with a handful of maggots, 
ihen, at dusk, put two or three on a small hook, use 
fane tackle, and fish on the bottom, and success is fairlj 
certain. By these means good captures have been 
made recently in the dams Cosley way. River fishine 
has not yielded well. ® 
I have been askeel to give, for the benefit of Sheffield 
readers, a few particulars as to local waters in which 
trout may be found. In compliance with this request I 
may say that there are plenty of such waters, but 
nnlortunatoly, very few of them are open to the general 
public. For instance, the Don, above Hazlehead, 
contains trout—but it is strictly preserved—the rights 
being vested in Col. Stanhope, Cannon Hall, Barnsley, 
and Mr. C. Chapman, Carlecoates. The Little Don 
river, which joins the main stream at Deepcar, also 
contains trout, but here again the water is private, and, 
in this case, I do not know who owns the rights. Then 
there are the Moor Hall Beck and the Ewden Beck, two 
typical moorland streams to the left of Oughtibridge, 
Dam Flask Reservoir, Strines, Agden, and Dunford 
Bridge Reservoirs, all filled with splendid trout, but all 
preserved. Indeed, I would not advise a single reader 
to seek permission for any of these waters, unless he 
has some influence behind him. They are very zealously 
gruarded, and access to them is most difficult. Of 
waters that are open I place first Redmires, where, for 
lOs., the angler has the privilege of fishing for a year in 
about six large pieces of water, well-stocked with fish. 
A purchaser of a ticket will have his money’s worth in 
fish, if not in walking, he having sixteen miles to do 
each time he goes, unless he hires a special conveyance. 
After Redmires I place the River Sheaf, a remarkable 
river, seeing that it is so close to a city like Sheffield. 
From Bore ^ to Sheffield it is easily fished, permission 
being obtained from local landowners without any 
difficulty. It will repay the trouble, too, fish of Jib. 
and fib. being common enough right into the city. I 
will give a few hints next week as to the best way to 
fish this river. Among other places I must mention the 
Forge Dam, Fnlwood, at Is. per day; the rivers Loxley 
and Rivelin, and the numerous dams in the Loxley 
Valley, in which fishing may be had, in most cases for 
2s. 6d. per day. Ip AVhiteley AVood there is a stream 
and several dams, permission being obtained by writing 
fo Aid. Gainsford, Sheffield, Then, further away 
from home we have the rivers Idle and Ancholme 
while, in the adjoining county of Derby, there are the 
Derwent, AVye, Dove, LathkiU, and their tributaries. 
In Derbyshire, indeed, fishing is to be had on every 
hand—but only by paying heavily for it. 
Since I last wrote, the awards in connection with the 
exhibits at the Sportsman’s Exhibition have been made 
as follows : T. Robinson, Crown Inn, for a group of five 
fish, special prize of £2-, AVilliamson, two or more 
specimens in one case, lOs. ; Retchford, for single 
specimen, 10s. Single fish.—Pike : Hides, 1 Os.; Beek 5s • 
Robinson, 5s. Barbel : Robinson, lOs. Chub ; Gar’ratt 
lOs. Bream: Robinson, lOs.; Hill, 53. Carp : Robinson’ 
lOs. ; Garratt, 5s. Tench .- J. Croft, 10s.; Carrington’ 
5s. Perch : Hardy, lOs. ; Buxton, 5s. Roach : Little- 
wood, 10s.; Guest, 5s. Trout: Garratt, lOs.; Bush 5s. 
Rudd; Garratt, lOs. ; Cocking, 5s. The awards were 
made by a committee of members of the Angler’s 
Association, including the president and secretary. 
FROM SHROPSHIRE. 
To the Editor of the Fishing Gazette. 
The pollution of the upper Severn by sewerage, the 
inefficient staff of water bailiffs in and above Shropshire, 
and the question of increasing the rod and line trout 
licence fees in Shropshire, Montgomeryshire, and Den¬ 
bighshire, were the chief matters discussed at the meet¬ 
ing of the conservators last week (as reported in another 
column). 
Th® Shropshire members complained, and with justice, 
that the one or two bailiffs, appointed at scandalously 
small salaries, were powerless to prevent poaching and 
protect the river as it should be protected, and Aider- 
man Airey, of AVorcester, took a wise step in giving 
notice that he would at the next meeting propose a 
resolution fixing the minimum weekly wage at 203 . 
Several members expressing the opinion that the wages 
paid were insufficient to guarantee good men. The chair¬ 
man said the funds of the board would not permit of 
^ditional bailiffs being employed, but the anglers of the 
Upper Severn argue that they are reasonably entitled to 
expect far greater consideration than they now receive 
from the board, in return for the large sum that is 
annually subscribed in licence fees. 
The question of raising the rod and line trout licence 
fee from Is. to 2s. was again considered, but no definite 
conclusion was arrived at, the Board wisely determin¬ 
ing to ascertain the views of the committees of the three 
counties concerned before deciding to take the proposed 
st®p. Mr. Kempster, a prominent angling representa- 
tjy® for Montgomeryshire, thought that not a man in 
that county would object to pay the increased fee if the 
fishing were bettered. This argument is a good one as 
far as the county above mentioned is concerned, but the 
question becomes a more serious one for Shropshire 
anglers, who, under the rules of the newly inaugurated 
Shropshire Severn Angling Association, will have to 
pay that body a fee of 58. per annum in addition to the 
icence duty to the Board. 
Now that both the County Councils and the Board of 
Conservators recognise the necessity of compelling the 
authorities of towns on the banks of the river to remove 
their sewage from the Severn, it is certainly time that 
the athorities of Shrewsbury did something to remedy 
the evil. The question of satisfactorily dealing with it 
is a difficult one, and the ’Fown Council of Shrewsbury 
fully realise it as such; but in the absence of any 
thoroughly good scheme for disposing of the sewage of 
the borough, which must necessarily take some time to 
carry out, even when agreed upon, it is advisable that 
intermediate steps' should be taken to improve the 
present conditions under which unsightly drain pipes, 
uncovered in several places during the dry weather’ 
pour their noisome contents upon the shallows, and 
pollute the river to such an extent that few anglers 
would care to place upon their table any of the coarse 
fish which abound in their vicinity. A constant source 
of annoyance for many years to anglers, oarsmen, and 
pedestrians walking along the river paths has been this 
vile pollution, and it is certainly the duty of the Corpo- 
