15 JULY 1911, Page 16

TROUT STREAMS.

[To rue EDITOR OF TIM "SPECTAT0101 SrR,—Like your eorrespondent "G. H. S." of July 8th, I have fished the Test (near Longparish) for some thirty years, but I am, happily, not of his opinion that the trout have deterio- rated in quality. Most of those caught this year in my fishing have been in excellent condition, with firm pink flesh and very good to eat. I an] disposed to agree with him that the

proportion of two-pound fish to the smaller-sized ones has diminished of late. But even of this I am doubtful If it is the case, I am inclined to put it down to over-stocking. If to all the banquets of a City Corporation there enter one or two hundred hungry Board School children, the Corporation will be sadly reduced in every sense of the word, and will suffer in weight and rotundity. I hope some day to find time to get out the proportion of weight to numbers of trout for a period of ten years, which is the only way of arriving at a conclusion, and many different elements enter into a calcula- tion of that sort. Still, I feel convinced that there is more harm done to the Test by over-stocking than over-fishing, and I am trying to kill down as many one-pounders as I