Thousands of the dwellers in "the modern Babylon," and indeed in all
large cities and towns, never saw the splendour of a rising sun. Tens
of thousands never heard the sylvan choristers performing their
morning's concert, filling with their melody, nature's own, the woods
and groves wherein these feathered songsters "sport, live, and have
their being." Whilst millions of men are sunk in the arms of "the
drowsy god." What is the angler about, has he slept soundly, and then
awoke in the very nick of time? Or have his slumbers been somewhat
broken and disturbed by dreams of crafty old Trout? No matter, he is
astir, he has pocketed his tackle, and not neglected something for the
inner man; rod and net in hand, he is off and away frequently before,
but seldom later, than the rising lark proclaims with joyous notes the
coming day; full well, he knows the advantages of an early move during
the Summer months; the morning is all in all, the best part of the day
to him; so, buoyant with hope he progresses at an easy rate towards the
scene of his triumphs, or disappointments, as the case may be. An
angler of early habits during the Summer months sees a great deal of
animated nature, and ought to know as much of the habits of birds,
animals, insects, &c., as any man. At early morn the great volume of
nature lies open for his inspection, if he be intelligent and curious,
he will soon become a naturalist, whether his path leads through the
woods, the lowlands, or over the uplands, he is pretty sure to meet
with something to gratify, instruct and amuse. Independent of the
varied attractions of nature, the early rising angler always has the
best Summer sport. Large fish invariably feed more freely in the
morning than during any other portion of the day, evenings occasionally
excepted; he also avoids the greater heat by getting home a.m., indeed
after twelve o'clock on a Summer's day your shadow falls more or less
upon the water, and scares the fish. Independent of that, they usually
cease to feed by that time.
OVER PRESERVATION, AND OTHER CAUSES THAT TEND TO MAKE TROUT
SMALL AND SCARCE.
In streams where piscatorial rights are cherished, and protected to
their fullest extent, Trout are frequently found to be much smaller,
than might naturally be supposed; the fact is, that in good breeding
waters strictly preserved, Trout soon become so numerous that the
supply of food is inadequate to their wants; a state of things which in
rural parlance is termed, as having more stock than the pasture will
carry; a numerical reduction, to some extent in such streams is
therefore extremely beneficial. Better fish are sometimes met with in
free waters than in preserves, solely because they have had abundance,
and variety of food. In all moor becks, plenty of small Trout are
found; such waters are excellent for breeding, but as very little
nutriment comes from peat or waste lands, they are generally dwarfish
in size, and moderate in flavour. On the contrary, in small streams
running through a fertile soil, fish are frequently killed of a most
satisfactory size and weight. In rapid rivers the beds of which are
formed of limestone rock, Trout are upon an average, not of a size
acceptable to an angler who scouts the idea of a 1/4 lb fish. In such
rivers they get knocked about very much during heavy floods, and the
rapidity with which the streams carry away the feed, either at top or
bottom, is against them.
In North Yorkshire and Durham, where many Trouting streams are
recipients of the washing of the refuse ore of the lead mines, commonly
called hush, fish are not either so plentiful, or near the average size
they used to be, when the hush was not so prevalent as it is at
present. The hush must certainly be injurious to all kinds of fish, and
I think it very probable that the young fry suffer very much from it,
even to the extent of being in some instances completely destroyed by
it. But there are other causes, independent of hush, &c., why fish are
generally smaller in size and number than they used to be in "the days
of old." An increasing population has visibly increased the number of
anglers, and also of parties making use of most destructive wholesale
methods of taking fish, to which any amount of angling is indeed
comparatively harmless. Angling clubs conducted with energy and
liberality have in some places repressed nefarious practices, and some
rivers are coming round again, that previous to the protective system
were nearly cleaned out.
The artificial production of Trout and Salmon, has of late years been
tried with success. Those who are curious and interested in
pisciculture may obtain a pamphlet on the artificial production of fish
by Piscarius, published by Reeve & Co., Henrietta Street, Covent
Garden, London.