By Majoe W. G. Tdele. 
FLY-FISHING FOR JACK AT FISHERS’ 
POND. 
the best jack-fishing 
lound Winchester was to be had at Fisher’s PonA 
his water was little known to the general public 
at that time (1866), partly owing to the fac^t that 
t IS private property, and still more because the 
‘^tandish. Esq,, bad a very 
natural dislike to having it overfished. He was 
however, always most courteous to the officers’ 
and never failed to send them an annual ticket 
bv accompanied 
tJrPi y stringent code of rules. Snap- 
tackle only allowed All fish under 5lb. to be re¬ 
fer ohe of the garrison I, too, came in 
for my turn with the rest, and so obtained my 
hrst introduction to ,iack-fishing. ^ 
My old friend South West, who. if the truth were 
mown, IS as keen after the varmint as he is after 
the trout, was also quartered in Winchester that 
year, and -v^ used to charter a dog-cart together 
Horn John Tubb the accommodating livery stable’ 
man I mentioned in a former article as doing his 
best to break my neck for me, and hie away to 
pond Many a long and peaceful day’s enjoy- 
ment we have had, paddling our own canoe, in the 
a flat-bottomed boat, one scubing whilst 
^e other fished, always taking great care not to 
make more motion in the water than we could 
help, for fear of disturbing the fish. 
Marwell Hall, on which estate Fishers’ 
Pond lies, IS distant from Winchester be- 
and by no means 
the least delightful part of the outing was 
the drive down the charming Itchen Valley 
disfigured with the hideous 
^d brick vmduct, belonging to the Didcot and 
^ewbury Railway, which now obstructs the view 
After passing through Twyford, which I have 
heardcalled the Queen of Hants Villages, a short 
mile across Golden Common brought us to our 
destination. Fishers’ Pond is not only a rare 
gun, but has 
the additional recommendation of being as pretty 
a spot as one wonld be able to find for many a long 
mile round. The thickly-wooded banks slope 
down to the very edge of the pond, or, to be more 
correct, two ponds, the upper and the lower, being 
almost, but not quite, divided by a narrow tongue 
of land. The lower one is much the larger 
Waterfowl abound in great quantities, especially 
coots, which are so uncomfortably tame that they 
T nearly on them, 
n ,®*^a°dish was still living at Mar- 
-T^V’ ^ bandsome Tudor gothic building 
erected about 1816 in place of the original historic 
mansion, which was of ancient date, and the 
reputed scene of more than one romantic tale, 
borne say the legend of the mistletoe bough 
was enacted here, and the chest in which 
the young bride entombed herself is still 
extant. More tangible and easier of belief is a 
story that Henry VIIT. was privately married to 
Jane Seymour in this house, she being sister to 
the then owner. Sir Henry Seymour. Sir Henry 
as was natural, was a yery pronounced Protestant 
and seems to have had a very unenviable reputa-’ 
tion on account of his cruelties to his Roman 
Oatnolic neighbours. 
The modern house has been so carefully copied 
from the former one, as really to have deceived 
people into irnagining it to be the genuine 
old hall Itself; and the resemblance was even 
intensified when Mr. Standish removed his 
establishment to Marwell Lodge, higher up on 
the hill, and left the half-dismantled hall a prey 
to desolation and ghostly memories. The squire 
was a great fisherman, at one time a member of 
the old Stockbridge Club, and the only man I 
eyer heard of who could boast of killing two 
large grayling on the same cast. I think I am 
correct in saying they were both oyer 31b. I 
remember his telling me, in times gone by, 
how strong the May-fly was at Stockbrid£ 
and Houghton, whereas now it is almost extinct 
^Iter he gaye up fishing, 
which he was obliged to do seyeral yeafs 
ago, owing to failing sight, I used to send 
im some trout once a year, just as a memento of 
old times. He was one of the few anglers who 
really appreciated this fish in a cooked form, and 
391 
always made a point of describing to me the new 
methods his French chef was able to deyise foT 
serving them up. 
shooting and his pond were his great 
not be too much to^ say 
nn was given 
l-flo bags made were sometimes 
phenomenal. I have been present on more than 
nnH ° four guns have killed their 400 
and oOO a day. He was also a keen foxhunter, 
and It was characteristic of bis kindheartedness 
that he would never allow a fox run to earth to 
great delight was to gather 
the birds round the house, especially the rooks 
which were so tame that they would come on to 
the window-silIs to be fed, and nested about the 
lawn on shrubs and bushes not 10ft. high. 
\V hen I first began to fish Fisher’s Pond it was 
comparatively free from weeds all over. After a 
time, however that curse to fishermen, the 
appearance, and quite 
rendering fishing almost 
impossible for some years. Then suddenly, with 
no apparent rhyme or reason, it vanished, since 
when Its place has been filled up by a vast accu¬ 
mulation of mud. This mud was a cause of 
gi eat distress to the squire, and not long before 
his death he consulted me upon the advisability 
and best method of cleaning it out. I suggested 
his trying a machine then recently inyented for 
cleaning out mud, worked by steam. He never 
eally did anything in the matter; the under¬ 
taking, 1 expect, was too gigantic. 
In consequence of all these drawbacks, the 
Ashing, though still good, is not what it used to 
ne in the days when South West and I thought 
? g °f returning home with a dog-cart half 
tuU ot hsh. We soon gave up snap-tackle, finding 
It too deadly to be amusing, and followed the 
more sportsman-like practice of fly-fishino' I 
was fly maker, and flatter myself that I turned 
out some natty and unique specimens, admirably 
adapted to our purpose. They were tied on 
large double salmon hooks, the shanks prolonged 
by twisted galyanised wire so as to make the fly 
about four inches in length, this again was wound 
round with a thin strip of lead to weight it, the 
whole being coyered with seyeral layers of Berlin 
wool. I he bodies were of yarious hues, four 
peacock s eyed feathers seryed for wings, whilst 
the heads were furnished with jay’s blue feathers 
or blue dyed hackle, and finished off by large 
beads for eyes. The latter, I fear, served more 
the purpose of ornament than use. We found 
out quite by accident that a body made of a 
pecuhar coloured brown worsted and ribbed with 
broad gold tinsel was by far the most deadly ; in 
Ireland this colour is called fiery brown. 
Fly-fishing for jack in a shallow or weedy pond 
IS really a yery good imitation of salmon fishing, 
tor one can see the fish rise at the fly, head and 
shoulders out of the water, and if they miss it 
they return to the charge again and again, and 
haying only one double hook in their mouth, 
instead of the usual lot of triangle ones, they play 
much better. An eighteen-foot salmon rod is 
about the handiest weapon to use, with twisted 
salmon gut for a collar. Our way of going to 
work was to wait for a rising fish, that is until 1 
we saw the roach jump out of the water, as then 
we might be sure Mr. John was at hand, and we 
had only to throw the fly just beyond the com- 
motion, spasmodically jerking it back towards us, 
and a hundred to one a large head and shoulders 
would go at it at once. 
When hooked, a good fish always made a rush 
and ran the line off just like a salmon, and often,’ 
when we thought we had got him safe up to the 
boat, he would dive right underneath it. To my 
mind, fly-fishing for jack is much more sporting 
and exciting than spinning, and I recommend all 
jack spinners to give it a fair trial and see what 
they think of it. It has one great advantage, 
you can work a fly over shallow and weedy water 
when spinning would be impossible. The largest 
a,t Fishers’ Pond weighed 
M-ilb. My brother-in-arms, who was sculling at 
the time, became so agitated at seeing me hook 
such a big fellow, that he promptly dropped one 
of the sculls into the water, and w'e had the 
greatest difficulty in getting the boat ashore, for 
as ill luck would have it, I had no gaff with me! 
We landed at last, however, and immediately set- 
to to secure our prize. Just as wm got him close 
ill flG stuck f^st in the mud^ on which my com- 
pamon eased him up a bit, whilst I dragged 
him at intervals towards me, when at last we 
managed to get him on to the bank. But it was 
work of patience, and required some rather 
delicate manipulation. 
^ •^^•Poinfler as near as I could judge, 
f hinc^ knew some’ 
‘^ke fly world, so 
tPmJ beautiful brown fly could 
S umt m favourite haunt 
so cIa^pW '^bose branches hung 
In ypvGE the water that it was impossible 
h u• fbere he would 
he basking m the sun in the most aggravating 
manner metaphorically winking one eye at uf 
^ ^ bne fellow, and 
wouidn t you like to have hold of me?” We 
never did, sad to relate, and I believe he is there 
having been taken from 
halp^f«n late years. He might, of course, 
hmlrbff ^ t victim to poachers, for the neigh- 
bourhood IS by no means free from these gentry. 
p^-p ^ u-®" ^^fk can t abide to see anything living 
except hisself was amply verified on Fisher? 
^ond, for It was quite pitiful to see the havoc they 
P°k®^? 1 ^®'’® ^“'’"'8®*' the young coot and wild 
duck. I have often watched a brood of these 
ittle creatures launching forth merrily to cross 
Lw ®®®'' °ne by one into the 
jaws ot their voracious neighbours, so that out of 
°°ly. about half would reach the 
u ® ®bore. It is not without reason that the 
ib ®r®®‘^- of tbe fresh-water 
shark, for there is little he will not go for, pro¬ 
vided it IS moving. I have taken them before 
i™®f°® rat with a 
double hook embedded in it, and even had 
good results through the fur tail of a lady’s 
cippet. About the oddest capture on the pond 
was told me the other day by some one who was 
present’ when a lady, whilst spinning for jack 
and having no gaff, landed an unusually large 
fash in an inverted umbrella. No doubt the uses 
and abuses to which umbrellas have been put 
are infinite, but I never heard of one being turned 
into a landing-net before. 
water is full of holes, which contain many 
fine perch. These are best taken with a worm, 
as the small jack will go at a minnow like a shot. 
Utten on a hot sunny day, when it has been use- 
iess to try for jack, I have moored the boat close 
to one of the numerous big holes and dropped in a 
paternoster, when I was pretty sure to have agood- 
si^zed perch. There are also some fine carp in 
the pond. I saw one taken last year, which 
catpVT f'^fb. Another amusement was eel 
catching. The pond eels are large and abound 
n great quantity, but they are neither so silvery 
or so delicate eating as those of the Test. We had 
only to look out for a blow hole and let in a lob 
worm on a hook, and before we could say “ Jack 
Robinson it was sucked in, and then it was pull 
1 ’i baker. The mud at the bottom of 
the lake is completely studded with fresh-waier 
muss®ls, that looked to me as if they would make 
good bait, though no one to my knowledge has 
ever tried hem. o 
Thesquir®’ as far as I am aware, never fished 
pond himself, but he was always anxious to 
now, up to the last, the capture of each angler. 
generous landlord, 
although, like a true Englishman, he resented 
being intpfered with, particularly by those light- 
fingered individuals the poachers, and louff and 
bitter were the feuds between them. His 
mechanical knowledge was very considerable. He 
could almost make every part of a gun, and had 
a large and interesting collection of them, possess¬ 
ing amongst others one of the first breach-loaders 
ever introduced into England, and. what was more 
curious. It was an ejector also. He treasured it 
highly, and would tell the story of how it had 
been presented to him by a French Count in 
return for his having succeeded in putting a 
collar on the neck of a restive colt when all the 
grooms had given up the attempt in despair. 
Hr. btandish died in the early part of this 
year and now his nephew reigns over Fishers’ 
f Olid in his stead. I understand that he, too is 
a good sportsman. But Pery Standish and 
fishers 1 ond are so indissolubly connected 
together in my mind that it will take a long time 
for me to reconcile myself to the idea of the 
water with a new owner. 
