June 2l<, 1893] 
THE EI8HING GAZETTE 
491 
length of this paper, hut as it is likely to be the 
last—at any rate, for a very long time—which 
will appear on the subject in the Fishing Gazette, 
a precis of the case of Beyer v. Corbett, may be 
useful to refer to in the future. X. 
[We have received the following telegram from 
Mr. Beyer : “ The assessors in the Beyer v. Corbett 
case decided yesterday; reduction of rent JLT5. 
Mr. Corbett claimed £30 from me." ] 
In reply to a letter in last week's Fishing 
Gazette about Thames Fishery Bye laws, I quite 
agree with the writer as to the absurdity of limit¬ 
ing anglers to fifty minnows a day when fishing 
in the Thames. But, is there the least proba¬ 
bility of this ridiculous feature of the bye laws 
ever being enforced, except perhaps, against pro¬ 
fessional fishermen who capture minnows whole¬ 
sale to sell to the Loudon tackle dealers ? I have 
not thought the point worth labouring, because 
the Thames fisheries were endangered by a 
revival of netting on a large scale, and it has been 
the best policy to say nothing whatever about 
insignificant points, and confine our opposition to 
those greater defects in the bye-laws which we 
have now induced the conservators to more or less 
remove. There are not a few bodies of anglers, 
and several riparian owners, who consider that the 
time has come when the old bye-law relating to 
the use of nets in the Thames, except for bait, 
should be altogether repealed. Above all things 
we want some protection for the fish from the 
ravages of swans, ducks, and steam launches. If 
we only try hard enough we shall get it, though 
not perhaps from the present conservators, but 
from the reformed board which is almost certain 
to be constituted in the course of a year or two. 
It is always a dangerous thing to rush into 
print with a story one hears in a railway carriage, 
for there is a risk of some indignant person rising 
and saying, “ That story is my copj'right, and 
you have appropriated it without acknowledg¬ 
ment.” But I am going to run this risk, saving 
myself as far as possible from the conseciuences 
of my act by acknowledging my indebtedness to 
the gentlemen wearing a brown wig, false teeth, 
and cork leg, and an imitation diamond scarf-pin, 
who travelled in the same carriage with me from 
Paddington to Pangbourne on Tuesday last. 
Theee was an inn called “ The Pike,” an ancient 
place, which had rejoiced in the name for nigh 
two centuries. One day a gentleman in knee- 
breeches and an apron, who was overtaken by a 
storm, sought shelter at this hcstelry, and by 
reason of his clothing aroused the curiosity of the 
inn-keeper, who was not a travelled man. “Doan’t 
’ee know what ’ee be ? ” said the ostler contemptu¬ 
ously. “Noa,” said the landlord, “ I be doomed 
if I do ; nor more doan’t ’ee, Jake.” “ Oh ! doan’t 
I,” said the ostler, “that’s all about it, is it ? Well, 
as sure as I was born in a cathedral city, that 
there lord’s a bishop as goes by the name of 
Grace, and lives in a palace.” “ Oh, lor! ” said 
the landlord, and taking to the gentleman a pint 
of the very best bitter in a well-scoured pewter 
tankard, addressed him as “ Yer Reverence, Mr. 
Grace.” “ My good fellow, my name is not Grace,” 
said the bishop. “ I beg yer Reverence’s pardon,” 
said the landlord, “ but the ostler said it wor.” 
“ Ah! I see his mistake,” said the bishop; 
“people when addressing the higher prelates of 
the church very frequently honour them by say¬ 
ing ‘ your Grace.’ ” The landlord was a little 
more astonished than before, put down the 
tankard and went and had it out with the ostler, 
who, however, stuck to his guns. The visit of 
'■ Mr. Grace ” to the little old-world village was a 
great event, and formed the subject of conversa¬ 
tion in the inn parlour for many a day to come. 
A travelling sign-board painter hearing of the 
incident, saw his opportunity, and suggested to 
the inn-keeper that it would he a only proper 
thing to change the name of his inn, and have a 
sign-board painted bearing the efiBgy of a bishop. 
Thus it came about that a particularly savage- 
looking pike was wiped Out, a red-faced gentleman 
in knee-hrceches, quaint head-piece, and black 
apron, took its place, and the old inn was thence¬ 
forward called “ The Bishop.” 
Now there W'as one other inn which bore the 
commonplace title of the “Bricklayer’s Arms,” 
and the landlord of this, a smart young fellow, 
determined to forthwith call his place “The Pike.” 
One result W'as that anglers, who wTre then com¬ 
mencing to visit the village for the excellent 
sport afforded by the river hard by, flocked to 
his premises, naturally thinking that the 
landlord of “ The Pike ” must be au authority 
on fishing, and that they would be better served 
by him than by the proprietor of “ The Bishop.” 
Where the anglers went, there too flocked the 
villagers, who loved to hear the merry stories 
and chit-chat of the “ genelmen from Lonnon.” 
“ The Bishop,” sad to relate, was almost desertecl. 
The inn-keeper of the older hostelry attributed it 
all to the worthy man who had indirectly brought 
about this change in his sign, and so wrath was 
he that people say, with bated breath, that once, 
when the ostler was talking of the prelate, the 
inn-keeper was heard to say, “ D-his Grace.” 
In that village it usually takes people three 
months to make up their minds, and quite a year 
to change their opinions, but about eleven months 
after the sign-board had been repainted, its 
owner decided to revert to the old name by which 
his inn had been known for a century or more. 
But there was no artist at hand to repaint the 
board, so rather than have no sign at all, the 
landlord left the rubicund bishop standing, and 
painted underneath him the legend “ The Old 
Pike.” There it may be to this day for ought I 
know to the contrary. Almost reminds one of 
Ovid, don’t it ? Te.mplar. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
W. H. W.—Full pjarticulars of the Bull Times 
gold medal competition in another column. 
Tench. —Should advise you to ledger for them 
with lob-worms. Do not strike too quickly. Of 
course, baiting up beforehand would bo an 
advantage. _ 
CorusjJOitUentt 
[We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions 
expressed by our Correspondents.} 
“ One of the charms of angling is that it presents an 
endless field for argument, speculation, and experi¬ 
ment.” —T. E. Pritt. 
LARGE SALMON BASS—SALMON DACE, 
MARGATE ; WHITE SALMON, DOVER. 
Sir, —Before the Admiralty Pier was run out 
the fishing from the north jetty at Dover was 
excellent for bass, locally called while salmon. 
One day a large shoal came round the harbour, of 
which I took over thirty in one day, the largest 
of which was a veritable monster, and weighed 
161b. The jetty was used as a parade then, and I 
was much bothered by ladies gathering round me 
each time I hooked a fish, so at last 1 lifted one 
over the rail and let it drop among the fair 
tormentors, the result, a general scatter and 
freedom for the angler. 
The large one caused me some trouble. I 
managed to bring the fish into the harbour, where 
I offered a shilling to a loafer if he would land it 
for me, without touching my line. I gradually 
brought the bass to the beach, when the first 
thing the fellow did was to catch hold of the line. 
“ Let go ! ” I shouted, “ or you will lose the fish— 
and the shilling; don’t touch the line, and I will 
wait for a wave, and bring it into your hands.” 1 
baited with the beard of a large channel oyster, 
ledger fashion, a big bullet, and one hook; two or 
three hooks on a line is sure to come to grief, as 
the bottom is rough chalk. 
I was staying at the Guu Hotel (Mr. Hipgrave) 
at the time, and as the tourists on the Ramsgate 
excursion boat always dined there, my bass came 
in very handy, as there were no fish in the town, 
those caught by the netsmen being sent to 
Billingsgate. The landlord produced a bottle of 
champagne, and, in a flowery speech, told the 
company I was the king of anglers, and invited 
them to come and try their luck, as I often caught 
cod and bass and gave them for the use of ihe 
hotel; there were so many fish to be had that 
they were sure to catch some. The following 
morning, early, I had just caught a 3-pounder, 
when a military gentleman asked me if I was the 
gentleman who caught so many salmon the day 
previous. I told him yes. He said he w'as a 
salmon fisher, and never heard of salmon being 
caught at Dover. I pointed to the one I had just 
taken, and he departed satisfied.—I am, &c., 
T. R. S.tCHS. 
WH.AT IS THE WEIGHT OF THE HEAVIEST 
BASS? 
Sir, —Referring to above inquiry by Mr. W. 
Hoarder, in Fishing Gazelle of 10th inst., to which 
no reply is forthcoming this week, perhaps the 
following extract from au article on bass fishing 
by “ Cloonea,” which appeared in Land and 
Water of May 6 last, may be of service :—“ Herne 
Bay used to be a noted locality for bass, and 
is still for all I know. It was there I saw the 
biggest specimen landed which over came under 
my ken—ISIlb. This was taken fishing from the 
old pier with a sand eel, and was a very hand¬ 
some fish.” In Fishing Gazette, of April 29, Mr. 
A. Jardine refers to a 221b. bass netted at Herne 
Bay, giving Frank Buckland as his authority.— 
I am, &c., _ Gi.int. 
Sir, —In reply to Mr. Hoarder, a working man 
last August, at Aberffraw, Anglesey, caught a 
bass 1251b. (I weighed it myself). His tackle was 
rude but strong, and the bait soft crab. I have 
seen them taken up to 171b. in netting the bay.— 
I am, &c., _ W. H. 
“GRAVEL LAST-SPRING.” 
Sir, —I shall be greatly obliged if you or any 
of the readers of the Fishing Gazette will kindly 
give me some information as to what species of 
fish the w'ord “ Gravel Last-Spring” applies to 
—whether to salmon fry purely and simply, or 
whether it is acknowledged to be a distinct fish. 
There is a good deal of misunderstanding on this 
point among Severn anglers, many of whom 
assert that after the salmon fry have migrated to 
the sea in May or June numbers of fish, which 
they declare are not the product of the salmon, 
may be captured throughout the year, and more¬ 
over they may be oiten iound with spaivii. ’Ihe 
Severn at the present time contains many little 
fish which rise greedily to the fry, and which are 
to all appearances salmon fry, but nearly a’l the 
samlets which were in the river in such large 
numbers a few weeks ago have disappeared. 
The Severn Conservators in one of their notices 
prohibit the capture of “salmon fryq locally 
termed in some districts ‘ Gravel Last-Spring.’ ” 
In an old and valuable work on angling, dated 
1839, by Charles Bowlker, of Ludlow, the follow¬ 
ing definition of the term is given : “ The Gravel 
Last-Spring is supposed by some to be the 
fry of the salmon, but which is a distinct species; 
the rivers Severn and Wye abound with this 
fish. It spawns in the month of August, and 
affords the angler excellent diversion with the 
long line. The Red Ant is a very killing fly, and 
all the flies may be used with success during 
their proper seasons.” I shall, sir, be much 
obliged for any information you can supply 
through the medium of the Fishing Gazette 
respecting this fish.—I am, &c.. 
Gravel Last-Spring. 
Shrewsbury, June 20. 
A WHITE OTTER ON THE SHANNON. 
Sir, —Mr. Robert Twiss, Bird Hill House, 
near Killaloe, informed me last week that he saw 
a short time since a perfectly white otter in the 
Shannon, which flows past his estate. 
I have myself some years ago seen in the same 
part of the river an adult otter with a white 
circle round its neck.—I am, &c., 
Abbey View, Killaloe, S. J. Hurley. 
June 7, 1893. _ 
A LARGE PIKE. 
Sir, —It may interest some of your many 
readers to know that I caught a pike of 281b. in 
Lough Conn to-day. The fish was a very fine 
one, and was caught with one of the metal 
spinning baits which I have seen advertised in 
your paper.—I am, &c., W. Cheyior. 
Lough Conn Hotel, Crossmolina, Ireland, 
June 8, 1893. 
