31 AUGUST 1929, Page 15

POPULOUS WATERS.

The present lowness of the water reveals the astonishing number of coarse fish, so called. One shallow reach of not more than a chain, must contain a good hundred fish. You may pull out the gudgeon by the simple process of raking the weeds, under which they lie. Roach are in fair number, and thg ,shoals of dace are many and large. Sticklebacks—or tiddlers—are as numerous as midges, and small fry of other species are among them. The old pans, boots, and crocks, which seem to multiply as the water diminishes, are almost all inhabited by crayfish, some of them of dimensions that make them well worth eating. The sight of this multitude of fish has begun to revive fishing as a democratic sport. The dace will rise readily to the fly; but of all baits by far the most deadly—in local belief—is the wasp grub. Local enthusiasts beg to be told of any wasps' nests, that they may preserve the "paper-bag of bait," as the comb was neatly described to me the other day. * *