June 3, 1893] 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
S. L. Summers. — You cannot do better than 
make Great Yarmouth your headquarters. 
Apartments are both comfortable and easy to 
obtain there, and, what is more, the broads and 
rivers are easily reached by train from that town. 
In half an hour you can be on the banks of the 
^are at Cantley, or at Acle Bridge on the 
Bure, both capital spots for roach and bream 
fishing. Ormesby, Fritton, and Barton Broads are 
very easily get-at-able from Yarmouth, and so 
are the “ sounds ” at Potter Heigham, where there 
IS some grand rudd fishing. To reach this 
resort, however, you will have a good pull up the 
Thurne, and you had better engage the local 
fisherman, who lives atJPotter Heigham Bridge. 
E. C. S. (Leeds).—You should buy Hi Regan’s 
How and Where to Fish in Ireland” (Sampson 
Low & Co., St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter-lane, 
London, price Ss. 6d.). He says there is good 
pike fishing from Monastrevan to Athy, where 
there is a fairly good hotel. Near Bally tore is 
a good trout stream, the Greese, the best 
fishing being about and below Moone Abbey and 
Mills (near Timolin). The fishing is free in some 
parts, and leave is not difficult to get on others. 
ComsponUmc 
[TFe do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions 
II n ^^‘P‘>'^ssed by our Correspondents.] 
One of the charms of angling is that it presents an 
endless field for argument, speculation, and experi¬ 
ment.”—T. E. Peitt. 
THE BERGEN SYSTEM. 
feiR) Please allow me in your columns space for 
a contradiction of Herr Beyer’s statement about 
the length of the Bolstad river which I have seen 
published. The other owner of the river and I 
are very much astonished that anyone should 
have written such a wrong statement as that the 
Bolstad river is only one kilometre long, as the 
fact is its length is four kilometi'es, as every one 
can see from the railway on their passage to Voss. 
That Beyer, when he writes such nonsense, must 
care very little what people here think of him is 
clear, because every one at Evanger and Bolstad 
knows that the length of the river is more then 
Beyer says, and also that the Englishman who 
has fished the river so long has all the good fishing 
water in the whole river. 
I must add that Norwegians do not call saying 
such wrong things honesty, but have quite a 
different name for it.—I am, &c., 
Nels N. [Bolstad. 
Bolstad in Voss, May 22. 
Sir, —I have no intention of discussing the new 
points raised in Mr. Beyer’s letter. The assertions 
of a gentleman who in matters of fact does not 
get so near to the truth as one is to three, have 
no weight, and, in my opinion, need no answer. I 
say further that while the readers of the 
Fishing Gazette have much interest in knowing 
what reliance can be placed in statements made 
in reply to inquiries respecting advertised rivers, 
they have no interest whatever in knowing how I 
expend my money, or what my motives may be. 
Beyer’s naivete is sublime! He depreciates my 
property, which would cause me serious injury if, 
through illness, or other cause, I wished to sell or 
let; he states my separate holdings to be less that 
one-third what they demonstrably are ; he claims 
to own six-sevenths of the whole river from Upper 
Lake to sea, though only having about one half 
in extent, and scarcely a tenth in value; and 
worse than all he nets his part of a river, which I, 
with much trouble, though happily at moderate 
cost, have raised from next to nothing to some¬ 
thing worth fishing. Having done these things 
he writes, with childlike simplicity, “ he does not 
know why I am hostile.” Cannot his panegyrist, 
the guide-book author, solve for him this bewilder¬ 
ing problem of the cause of my hostility ? 
Fortunately Mr. Beyer acknowledges having 
written that in the river above the Evanger Lake 
I had now only two pools. I assert that I have 
there eight pools in which I catch salmon, each 
P 90 I known long before I saw the river by a 
distinct name, in addition to two or three of little 
use. Butting aside the direct misstatement, will 
THE EISHING GAZETTE 
the reader look at the morale of the thing 
Would not an inquirer who was told I had now 
only two pools, understand that Beyer had all 
except an insignificant portion of the water! 
Could such inquirer imagine that I there had 
water enough on which to kill last summer only 
a little less weight than Beyer’s six parties of 
tenants have killed in the whole of the four years 
that he has had the water ? The description from 
the Fishing Gazette that he professed to correct, 
gave a much more faithful account of water that 
was worth fishing than this “ only two pools ” one. 
To show the assessors the value of the water 
Mr. Corbett must have had if Beyer had been 
able to give him the promised six-sevenths of the 
river, I have prepared for them a table of my 
catch during the four years in which I last fished 
the whole of what can, with any pretext of 
correctness, be called the Evanger river. The 
total catch therein was 44881b., of which less than 
one-tenth, viz., 4o21b., was caught on the portion 
now held by Mr. Beyer, the balance, 40561b., having 
been caught on the “ only two pools ” I continue 
to hold. 
Beyer says I was incorrect when I quoted 
his words^ “ the Bolstad river which is only 
one kilometre long.” I cannot know what he 
wrote, but I do know what a certified copy of 
the judgment recites that he did, viz., exactly 
as I quoted it. But even if it was a mile he wrote 
it would serve him little. A mile is only some 
60 per cent, longer than a kilometre, and it is 
some 200 per cent, you need to add to this 
“ exact ” gentleman’s description of other people’s 
property in order to arrive at its extent. 
The inaccuracy of the statements that the 
Bolstad is only one kilometre, or even a mile long, 
and that Beyer has six-sevenths of the whole 
river from Vangs Lake to the Fjord, can happily 
be easily proved in London. His agents, Messrs. 
Baton and Son, are showing an excellent map, 
with kilometre scale attached all along the river, 
and although the lines of division which have 
been drawn to show Beyer’s water, mark as his 
some pools belonging to me, it is yet seen at a 
glance that both of his above statements are 
absurdly incorrect 
The engagement to withdraw Sir Evan Mac- 
gregors’s testimonial, yet to hold him bound to 
answer private inquiries, does not seem to me 
to meet the case. So long ago as August 18 
last. Sir Evan wrote me, “ Whatever may be the 
case, I shall prevent the use of my name in the 
future.” Messrs. Baton were using this testi¬ 
monial last week, and Beyer says he will “ refer 
to him direct.” I shall write Sir Evan, and 
delay till he shall have had time to reply to my 
remarks on this subject. 
As Beyer’s six tenants have paid, as we are told, 
about £470, and have caught, as we are not told, 
but as I know, about 14001b., their fish have cost 
for rent about 6s. 8d. per pound, or, if we exclude 
Mr. Corbett’s exceptional bag, over 10s. per pound. 
Thus the offer to accept a rent of 3s. per pound 
shows a notable reduction ; but your readers must 
not for one moment think that such water as this 
is worth such a rent. My August tenant’s rent 
for the last eight years has averaged £28 2s. 6d., 
and the bag 6601b.—say, as nearly as possible Is. 
per pound. This has been done almost entirely 
with one rod, against an average of two to three 
rods on Beyer’s water. I have thought of writing 
a short paper on Norwegian rents, on which I 
have definite ideas, one of which is, that, having 
the teeth shaken out of your head (the expression 
of a tenant of Beyer’s) while being taken past 
all the pools that an old hand has cared to keep, 
is a pleasure dear even at a very low price ; but 
I must not now trespass further on your very 
great goodness. 
I write always with documents and maps before 
me, and I undertake the fullest responsibility for 
every word I write. 
Through your help and that of the Field much 
has been achieved. The Bergen system, with its 
misleading statements, reticences, and testi¬ 
monials, is doomed, and we have arrived at rents 
based on pounds of catch. To inaugurate this 
latter system I write my tenant to choose between 
our agreed rent and Is. per pound. 
Cuyuni, Teddington, Edward Sturdy. 
May 22,1893. _ 
[We have received another long letter from Mr. 
Beyei', but until he satisfactorily explains the 
415 
following discrepancies between his statements 
and Mr. Edward Sturdy’s facts we see no use in 
prolonging the controversy.— Ed. F.G.j 
Mr. Beyer’s statements, Facts as stated by Mr. 
copied verbatim from his Sturdy: 
letters set out in the 
judgment. 
“ It (the whole water in 
(lueation, from Vangs 
Lake to the fjord), is 
altogether over 7 English 
miles long. Of this river I 
possess about 6 miles.” 
“This gentleman (Mr. 
Sturdy) has only two pools 
in the Evanger” (Mr. 
Beyer’s name for the upper 
portion from Vangs Lake 
to Evanger Lake). 
The river is about 14 
kilometres (nearly 9 miles) 
long, and Mr. Beyer’s part, 
according to the agreed 
measurement, is 0.640 
kilometres; consequently, 
instead of about six - 
sevenths, Mr. Beyer owns 
less than half. Mr. Sturdy, 
who, if Mr. Beyer’s ac¬ 
count had been correct, 
would have had only about 
one-seventh, has more than 
half of the whole. 
Mr. Sturdy has over3 kilo¬ 
metres in that section, and 
has given to the assessors 
in Beyer v. Corbett the 
separate names of ten 
pools there in which sal¬ 
mon are caught. 
Lower portion, Evanger The Bolstad river from 
Lake to fjord; “The Evanger Lake to the fjord 
Bolstad river, which is only has a length of 3^ kilo- 
1 kilometre long.” metres.” 
BiR,—H aving taken some interest in the 
controversy between Mr. Beyer and Messrs. 
Sturdy and Corbett, published in your columns, 
it seems to me that Mr. Beyer’s explanations 
would be more reassuring to English anglers if, 
instead of filling your space with prolonged 
essays “ re the testimonials,” “ re former tenants.” 
“ re the advantage,” and similar topics, he would 
come ad rem and answer Mr. Sturdy’s specific 
charges of netting out breeding fish in September, 
of misstatements as to length of water, number 
of ])ools, &o. 
Mr. Beyer is not sparing of w'ords in his 
defence, and, if he does not reply to these charges, 
he will, in the opinion of some of us, have done 
nothing more than draw a red herring across the 
trail.—Yours obediently, Sese. 
East Sheen, S.W., May 30. 
FISHING IN CO. TYRONE AND CO. 
LIMERICK, IRELAND. 
Sir, —I regret having had no earlier oppor¬ 
tunity of replying to “ M. B.’s” request for infor¬ 
mation respecting fishing in Burn Dennett near 
Strabane. I am only just back from Croom, co. 
Limerick (of which hereafter), and although I saw 
the Gazette whilst at Host McCarthy’s, my time 
was too much taken up to reply. During Jfay 
last year I was at Donemanagh, about eight miles 
from Strabane, this being the only village, I 
believe, on the Dennett. Good rough accommo¬ 
dation, at an extremely reasonable figure, can bo 
found at Mr. McKimmon’s, one accommodation 
has to be found anywhere. The Dennett is a small, 
rapid, picturesque stream, but possesses some nice 
deep pools, which, when I w'as there, were full of 
kelts, in consequence of the water having been 
lower than had been known for twenty years. 
On one or two occasions when the trout would 
not rise I was tempted to put a lake fiy over one 
of these pools, and a cast or two was bound to 
fetch up a kelt, and many a bit of fun I had on 
light trout tackle with one of these gentlemen, 
who, after fighting pluckily to the last, was 
returned to the river, none the worse 1 hope. The 
trout run very small indeed, about six or seven to 
the pound, an occasional half-pounder may be met 
with, a pounder is a rarity. About five miles 
from Donemanagh is Loch Ash, about ten acres 
in extent. It contains some very fine trout up 
to 41b. I saw one specimen of that weight. The 
fish used to run much heavier, but the large fish 
are all speared and creeled out of the feeder in 
the spawning season. There is no boat, and the 
fish rise very far from the shore. On each occasion 
when I was there and getting a little sport, some 
fellows came round with their “ otters ” and put 
all the 6sh down. For this loch a dull soft day 
is preferable. The best loch fly seemed to be the 
Claret and Grouse.” About the same distance 
from Donemanagh is Moor Loch; there is no boat, 
the fish are pretty numerous, and feed closer the 
shore than at Loch Ash, but do not run over 
