FISHING.*
THE allocation of a whole volume to the salmon, the trout, and their common relative, the sea-trout, is doubtless justified by tradition and sentiment. But it is not in accord with facts. " The ordinary individual," says a writer, concerned, it is true, with another branch of the sport, "must say good-bye to salmon and trout fishing, so far as filling in a holiday is concerned." Possibly it is going too far to couple trout with salmon in this way. The angler has, of course, to go further afield for trout than was necessary half-a-century ago, and he needs greater skill ; but still the creature is to be found. The salmon is almost absolutely out of reach. In the United Kingdom, in Norway, even in Canada, unless the fisherman is willing to go at least a hundred miles out of the beaten track, salmon-fishing, though it exists, is almost as inacces- sible to the "ordinary individual" as the moon. If he has time and money and patience, he may take a "rod" in some proprietary water, and come back after a month's labour with, perhaps, a single capture to his name ; but this is not salmon-fishing in any reasonable sense of that term. The writer of this review, natus meliaribus annis, once caught seventy-odd " fish "—the term is appropriated to the salmon, at least in Scotland—in a five weeks' holiday, at a cost of £30. But this was nearly fifty years ago, and the sportsman of to-day will hardly believe it. Still, we do not grudge to the king of fishes the two hundred and fifty pages which the editor and his collaborators accord to him. Their treatment of the subject has all the completeness which its dignity demands. The science is dealt with by Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., an authority of the first class, whose elaborate description is all that could be desired. It is only in accord with what happens in other provinces of Nature that there are individuals which defy all classification, which neither angler, nor guile, nor cook, often as good a judge as any one, can positively identify. Dr. J. Kingston Barton discusses the " Food and Feeding" of the creature, and dismisses, we see, the common fancy that he does not feed as regularly as other animals. Then comes a chapter on the " Natural and Artificial Reproduction of Salmon and Trout," by Mr. J. B. Fielding, headed, it may be observed, with a certain grim humour, by a picture of an otter, and very full of interest and instruc- tion. By this time the reader is prepared for technical teaching in the art of salmon-fishing. He may never have the chance of putting his knowledge to practical use—non cuivis contingit—but he can learn what lures to use in the way of flies—there is an admirable coloured plate of " Typical Salmon Flies "—and even the less legitimate prawn and, harrenclum dictu, the worm; of what kind his rod, his reel, his line should be; how he should stand to make his cast ; how he is to contend with a side wind, or a wind directly against him. There is a special chapter on the " Spey Throw," a method suitable for places of exceptional difficulty. The editor contributes a chapter on "The Making of Salmon Passes "; finally, we have actual experiences of fishing in Norway, with an elaborate description of the " fishings," which one reads as one might a description of the scenery of the moon.
In Part IL we come to the "Trout." Here there are some specialities of treatment. One enterprising writer tells us how to " Make a Trout Stream." This cannot be deice, of course, in the grounds of an ordinary suburban residence; but there are plenty of places where something really service- able can be done. The writer has in his mind a case where some miles of quite respectable trout-fishing were made, so to speak, at a small cost. The maker had the land and the water; and the fish, thanks to the enterprise of the breeders of trout, are not difficult to get. It is noticeable that no less than six chapters are given to the subject of " The Floating Fly." When we say that they are the work of Mr. F. M. Halford the reader will not expect from us any attempt at criticism. The editor, we are glad to see, does not abandon the cause of the now commonly despised "wet-fly," and pleads it with knowledge as well as energy; but non, nostrum, tantas cont. ponere lites " Sea Trout Fishing " is disposed of in a couple of chapters, both from the pen of Mr. A. E. Gathorne Hardy, and very pleasant reading. The sea-trout is a very simple- minded creature, doomed, we fear, to a not very remote extinction. Certainly the numbers of his tribe have greatly diminished within the last fifty years. A few pages are given to the char and the grayling, and then in Vol. IL we come to the tarpon, with which the man " of humble means" may satisfy himself, in default of the salmon. "Humble means" is, of course, a relative phrase. Mr. Turner-Turner applies it to gentlemen who can afford £200, with some £20 more for tackle, and a couple of months' holiday, taken by preference in May and June. Archbishops, Judges, barristers, legislators, merchants, all, in fact, who have any employment, are shut out by the time, and it is not every one who has the money. But for those who have both there is the money's worth. They are sure to catch something, and something large,—a. tarpon (possibly of 150 lb.), or a shark, or a turtle, or a ray, " a huge bird-like fish with great wing-shaped fins twenty feet across, a slim whip-like tail six feet in length, and a month big enough to swallow two men at once." No wonder that the sport is popular and is followed diligently, and that by woman as well as men. Have we not heard of that resolute lady who, having a 100 lb. tarpon in play, when her husband offered to help with her rod, exclaimed : " If you touch it, I sue for a divorce ! " After the tarpon comes the mahseer, with some Indian fishes, and then we reach the chapters in which the majority of English anglers will find a real interest.
The pike heads the list of " accessible " fishes. He is not beyond the reach of the humblest angler, and the highest need not disdain him. For some reason or other the human imagination has been much exercised on this fish, and the Mannheim pike, two hundred and sixty- seven years old and 19 ft. long, is only the first of many fabulous monsters. Still, he is often caught of a great size. The editor gives a list of eighty-one fish, varying from 36 lb. to 20 lb., which have been caught during the last thirty years, twenty-three being captures of his own. The Thames, the Medway, the Arun, and the Trent are among the places specified. The amount of sport afforded largely depends upon the method of capture. A large fish hooked on spinning or snap tackle will often fight hard, not running, of course, like a salmon from pool to pool, but no contemptible quarry. A pike of 311b. at whose capture the writer of this review assisted (with a landing-net) took more than twenty minutes to kill. Mr. A. Jardine gives the necessary in- structions about tackle and method. He does the same for the perch, also a desirable fish, though it never runs to any great size. It may be doubted whether any living person has caught a perch of 5 lb. The " Carp Family" succeeds the perch, and practically includes all the remaining kinds of English fish. The particular species which gives its name to the genus is not of much account to the angler, but one kind, the roach, is probably the most popular fish in the world, if popularity is to be measured by the number of those who pursue him. The chapters on angling for these " coarse " fish, as they are sometimes arrogantly called, are contributed by Mr. R. B. Marston, an excellent authority. "I have had probably more fishing of different kinds, from salmon to minnow, than falls to the lot of the majority of anglers ; but I have never outgrown my love for roach-fishing." There is a true catholicity of taste here. The reader may well trust such a guide. Curiously enough, there is no chapter on " gudgeon-fishing." The gudgeon is dismissed along with other fish as " interesting to the angler chiefly as bait for other fish." This is a little unjust. A day's gudgeon-fishing, bringing in perhaps some twenty dozen, with a turn at the roach as the light begins to diminish, is, as the present writer can testify, not to be despised.
One thing we miss, and to this a special chapter might have been advantageously given,—the use of fresh-water fish for food. Perch are always good, if they are of a size which makes the extrication of the flesh from the bones not too laborious. Pike vary much according to place and time. Caught in a lake fed by a good stream they are excellent. Clumber, in the Dukeries, affords fish of the very finest quality. They are improved by keeping, and commonly they are much better in the winter than in summer. This is eminently true of the chub, uneatable in summer, but very good when he is cut off from his supply of flies, &a., and forced to feed on small fish. It is strange that the carnivore among fresh-water fishes are by far the best for the table.
We can but mention the chapters (24-35) on sea-fishing. The introduction of the rod into this kind of sport, a com- paratively modern improvement, has added largely to the resources and the enjoyment of the angler.
Previous page
