ON FISHING AND FISHING GEAR. [An enthusiastic young angler has sent us this article which we publish with pleasure partly on account of the amusing naïveté of some of the views it expresses, and partly because it recalls our own schoolboy notions of fishing in the days when we pursued it with, perhaps, a keener zest, if not a more whole enjoyment, than at any after time,-although our experiences may have been possibly limited to the perch and sticklebacks of the grange moat, and our tackle to the slender capacities of 6d. a-week pocket-money.-ED.] A GOOD fisherman, according to my estimation, ought to have the following articles which I will shortly explain, viz. :—a rod, line, hooks, float, bait, a plummet, a worm bag, a basket for provisions, a tin gentle box, and a tackle book. And allow me before proceeding to describe the use and nature of these, to impress upon my readers the absolute necessity of acquiring by degrees a perfect knowledge of the art of fishing, for if you do not, you will neither give satisfaction to yourself nor to your friends. It is of no use keeping a great stock of rods, and lines, and different things which you do not want; they are of no use till you know how to use them; you will only find them a burden to you. One rod, and four lines is sufficient for any angler. Do not reject my advice for I am quite sure you will find it good. 1st The rod:-There are various sorts of rods, the bamboo rod is the best for general fishing. For fishing in a river that is not very deep a hickory rod is the best. But you must always get a rod which is light and will bend, it is of no use getting one that wont bend, for instead of yielding to any weight it will snap, and then your rod is done for altogether. It is much better to buy a good rod while you are about it, you will find it much cheaper and better in the end; the common threepenny and sixpenny ones are of no use, they break almost directly, and as for attempting to catch a fish of any size with one, it is like trying to catch an eagle in a sparrow-trap. You should always take great care of your rod particularly if it is a good one; have a case made of flannel or linen, whatever colour you fancy, with an opening at the top, so that you can slip the rod into its case and button it, and it will not get damaged; you should frequently oil it to prevent its splitting, which it is very likely to do if it is put on one side and not used. Three joints to your rod are plenty; some people have four, but then you have not so much control over it as you would have if it was shorter. The price of rods varies considerably, you can get them from about 3d. to 17. For my own part, I have never given more than 6s. and for that I have got a very respectable rod. 2nd Lines:-One of the principal points of fishing is to have a good strong line. You ought to have at least 4 yards of gut line. Always keep a good lot of line and you will do well; also you ought always to have plenty of shot on your line, so as to keep it low in the water and out of the wind, as well as steady against the current. The number of shot depends greatly on the rapidity of the current; if the current is very strong you will require a great number of shot, but if you are fishing in a pond you will want scarcely any. Always have a piece of wood to wind your line on, or it may get entangled, and if you cannot undo it you lose half the day in bothering with it before you begin. There is a little apparatus which has four reels to wind your lines on and there is a thin box in the centre of it to put your shot and hooks into. It costs 1s. and upwards. This is one of the chief things as you are very liable to break one of your lines during a day's fishing. 3rd Hooks:-There are various and many sorts of hooks; if you want to fish for dace a small hook is the best, and also for any other fish of that species. The middling-sized hook is the best for perch. But of course you can use whatever sort of hooks you like best. Hooks are about d. or 1d. each. 4th Floats:-There is not much to say about the floats, unless it is that there are two sorts of them-the porcupine's quill and the cork. The coloured corks are the best for fishing for trout as the colour attracts them. Floats you generally buy with the line for about 6d. 5th Bait-The principal thing in fishing is to get the proper sort of bait. There are various sorts of bait: 1st. The common worms. 2nd. The red worms or brandlings. 3rd. The lob worms. 4th. The marsh worms. 5th. The gentles. 6th. Paste or dough. The The common worms are very much like the lob worms, only the lob worms are ringed and therefore are better(?) The red worms are generally considered the very best. The marsh worms do very well for the large fish, but they are too big for the small fish. gentles are very good and are capital things to entice the fish, and the greedy barbel readily snap at them. Gentles come from the eggs of a certain fly. Paste is a capital thing in the autumn but it ought to have a little cotton wool with it to make it stick; worms found in bullock's liver are very jolly for gudgeon; but if you are going out for a good day's fishing, get a pennyworth of bran about two days before, damp it and put it away, and by the time you are going to start on your fishing expedition, you will find the bran converted into meal worms which are capital things for fishing with. Ground bait is to make the small fish come and then the large ones follow. [This is certainly a new view of the subject-ED.] There are also artificial flies and fish but I do not patronize them. You had better only put on a very small bit of bait, as fish are more likely to swallow it. 6th The plummet:-This is made of lead, it is either square or round; it is for sounding the depth of the water, and has a lot of string attached to it to let it down into the water. As soon as it touches the bottom, pull it up and measure how much of the string is used. Say that 1 ft. 9 ins. is wet when you pull it up, then put your float 1 ft. 6 ins. from the hook, so that when you put your line into the water, the float will keep on top of the water and keep the hook 3 ins. from the bottom, which is about the proper distance. 7th The worm bag:-This is made of common linen, it is meant to keep your ground bait in. The ground bait is generally gentles. You throw a handful into the water, the small fish immediately swarm to it, then you throw your line with a nice red worm on it into the middle, the small fish begin to nibble at it, when perhaps a great lazy salmon comes past, and out of spite to the little fish, rushes up and swallows the worm hook and all. You feel him at it, give the rod a jerk, and then you have a dish fit to set before a king. [Oh, piscator! piscator! did you ever ground bait for a salmon with a gentle !] 8th. A basket for provisions :-This is to take stocked with bread and cheese, sandwiches or some other grub, and which is very handy to take back well stocked with fish. It 9th. A tin gentle box:-This is to put your bait in, you should first fill it with some damp moss, this will keep the bait fresh. is best to put in a little soft mould if you have got worms for your bait. 10th. The tackle-book:-This is a little book in each page of which is a hook with an artificial fly, these are about 17. each, and are not at all necessary.-[Oh!] A few general remarks. Weather:-The success of the angler greatly depends on the state of the weather. The best time to go out is after rain; do not go out when the wind is blowing from the north or from the east, as it is the worst time. A good angler will do well to bear in mind the following well-known lines: "When the wind is in the north, 'Tis neither good for man nor beast, Therefore the best time to go out is after rain and when the wind is blowing from the west. Tide:-You should always fish when it is high tide, because when it is low the fish bury themselves in the mud. A very good time for fishing is when the tide is on the turn, because the fish are just coming out of their holes, and they feel hungry, and begin to look about for something to eat, you then have a good opportunity for throwing in your line, and you can catch them as fast as you can bait your hook.-[Indeed? There speaks the master of the art!— we reverentially take off our hat and make our bow to the future Editor of the FISHERMAN'S MAGAZINE.] THE SEVERN FISHERY ASSOCIATION. WE E have received a copy of the Annual Report of the last Annual Meeting of the United Association for the Protection of the River Severn and its Tributaries held at the Guildhall, Worcester, on the 19th of January, Sir E. A. H. Lechmere, in the Chair, Mr. Frederick Eden, one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Fisheries being also present. The Association, which is one of the most important in the kingdom, has now celebrated its twenty-first Anniversary, and we have much pleasure in being able to congratulate its members on the prosperous state of its affairs as shown in the very able and interesting Report of the Central Committee, which was read to the Meeting by the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Henry George. At the present juncture when the question of compulsory protection for salmon is about to become the subject of Parliamentary legislation, and when one or two influential sporting organs arc strenuously opposing the principle of such protection-the only one, in our opinion, by which the exhausted fisheries can be really resuscitated, the importance of the testimony borne by an Association like that of the Severn to the inefficiency of self-imposed taxation, can hardly be over estimated. After referring to the benefit derived by the Severn from the operation of the Act of 1861, and to the exceptional drought of the last two seasons by which the fishing of the upper proprietors on the river had been seriously crippled, the Report goes on to say: "The quantity of breeding salmon which have ascended the Severn, Verniew and Teme during the autumn freshes is greater than ever. The number of fish on the spawning beds in the Teme, at Powick, is unusually large; it is noticed that the spawning season commenced earlier this year, and that some of the fish are of unusually large size. The same observation applies to the Verniew, and the upper reaches of the Severn, and is a proof of the advantages of early closing. "The past season has afforded an excellent opportunity of judging of the capabilities of the pass in Powick weir, there having been no fresh on the river throughout the last summer; nor has there been, until within tha last few days, fresh enough to raise the water below that weir so as to enable salmon to get up the river except through the pass; yet, notwithstanding, a very large number of fish have been noticed at the Bransford weir, and several other weirs above, nearly up to the head of the river, showing clearly that the fish must have got through the Powick pass, and that they surmounted all the other weirs with three or four feet of fresh. The successful leaping of the fish was frequently witnessed by many persons at several of the weirs, and on one occasion as many as 100 in one day were seen to pass over Barrett's Mill weir, 4 miles below Ludlow. All their attempts to get over Powick weir were fruitless, but they have been frequently seen to go through the pass when the water was comparatively low and fine, and when the river was more swollen the fish were seen in great numbers attempting to ascend it, but were invariably washed out over its sides. It would appear expedient, therefore, that in the erection of other passes the sido walls should be raised somewhat higher, and the pass made wider, which would enable the fish to ascend the more easily, and they would not be so liable to be washed out as they are in Powick pass. "Your Committee had hoped to have had the satisfaction of announcing the erection of passes in the other weirs on the Teme, but only one more has been erected hitherto, this is at Sir Thomas Winnington's Martley weir; the delay has arisen in consequence of a difficulty as to certain rights at the Bransford weir, and is much to be regretted, as the dryness of the past season afforded such an excellent opportunity for doing the work. It is fortunate that the Powick pass has been put in, for it is quite clear that had it been otherwise, there could not, until within the last few days, have been any spawning salmon above that barrier from the cause before stated. The pass at the Lincomb weir on the Severn is now complete, and your Committee think there can now be no difficulty in the fish getting over that weir in any state of the water." The following statement calls attention to one of the most serious of the defects in the existing law-viz. as regards the export of foul salmon : "One of the cases in which a prosecution instituted by the Association failed, calls for a special remark from your Committee, and affords a strong illustration of the necessity for an amendment of the law. The information was laid against T. E. Wookey, of Bristol, for having 19 salmon in his possession for sale during close time, and was heard before the city magistrates at Bristol. The fish had been seized by a Custom-house Officer at Folkestone, where they had been brought down to the quay for exportation. The offence was not complete under the Export Act, inasmuch as the fish were not actually exported or entered for export, the Custom-house Officer consequently communicated with the Secretary of this Association, and proceedings were taken under the Act of 1861, but the case was dismissed on the ground that the proof that the fish were intended for sale was not sufficient, and the same result may always be looked for so long as such proof is required: the introduction in the Act of the words 'for sale' was evidently a mistake, they were never intended by the Legislature to have the construction put upon them which the manner of their insertion justifies, and the sooner the Act is amended in this respect the better. The expense of prosecuting this case was unusually heavy (201.), but your Committee felt themselves justified in authorizing the prosecution from its extreme importance, and they have good reason to believe that its failure will be the means of effecting the desired alteration in the law. “In reference to the so-named Export Act, correctly called the 'Salmon Acts Amendment Act, 1863,' your Committee are so strongly impressed with its utter worthlessness for the purposes intended, arising from its shortcomings, and the mischievous effects of the Irish law in permitting rod-fishing so late in the season, |