STRAY LEAVES FROM MY SPORTING DIARY.

BY CAPTAIN MEDWIN.

No. III.

THAMES FISHING.

Two summers which I passed, one at Moulsey, and another at Marlow, and both principally with a view to angling, may perhaps entitle me to speak of "the gentle craft" as practised in the Thames.

Immediately over Hampton Bridge, on the side of a small mill stream, that flows into the main river, stands the hamlet of Moulsey. The windows of the cottage which I occupied commanded a scene not easily rivalled; for it embraced an extensive reach of the alder and osier-fringed Thames, with the palace and green pastures, the noble woods of the park giving a finish to the picture. Here I found myself as entirely sequestered as in the most remote village on the banks of the Tivy. At the period of this visit, bottom fishing was to me almost a mystery; for though as a boy I had been in the habit of watching a float in the ponds and still streams of Sussex, I had from long disuse almost unlearned the little knowledge I ever possessed of that branch of the "ars piscatoria ;" and looked upon the followers of it as realizing Dr. Johnson's definition; but I soon learnt to change my opinion.

My landlord (who had a punt, and a funny, and galore of tackle) was a practised hand, for fishing formed his sole occupation; a better guide it was impossible to have had. He punted (no easy matter, by the bye) as well as, being an Oxford man, I flatter myself I can row— he knew every run within four or five miles up and down, and had always poles denoting possession stuck in two or three favourite places. I shall first speak of a spot, well known to those brethren of the rod who are in the habit of frequenting Hampton, and especially to be recommended to those who are not.

Between the bridge and the lock are some piles, over which the waste water falls in a considerable volume. In many places the depth of the current exceeds ten feet, and the pool is extensive enough to furnish sport, not for one party only, but for a dozen, during the whole season. Here then we commenced our operations.

Of all Thames fishing, that of Barbel is the most important; and none of the finny tribes are more singular in their habits-more capricious in their tastes. They possess one peculiarity which distinguishes them above other kinds, namely that when the water is clear and low, no bait, however tempting, will lure them, whether it be lob-worms scoured after the approved system of Izaac Walton, greaves, gentles,

NO. XXI,VOL. IV.-NEW SERIES.

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or cheese; all of which, as poor McDonnel used to say at Chess, "have their merits." And in speaking of the last bait it may be remarked, that in fishes the olfactory nerves are obviously distributed on an olfactory membrane, and in several instances the snouts are double, and consequently the nostrils quadruple. This powerful inlet of pleasure to fishes often proves fatal to them, from its very perfection, for several kinds are so strongly allured by the odour of marjorum, assafoetida, and other aromas, that by means of the hand over which these substances have been rubbed, and by immersing it in water, they will often flock towards the fingers, and in their intoxication of delight may often be laid hold of; and hence the angler frequently overspreads his bait with the same substances, and thus arms himself with a double decoy. These remarks are not mine, but those of J. Mason Good; and the river being in the state above mentioned, no rain having fallen for many weeks, and all the usual baits having been tried in vain, I bethought me of the learned M. D's. prescriptions, but not a barbel would even coquette with them.

Take my advice, therefore, brother angler, and throw not away your time on barbel till after rain—not a few showers—but a plentiful, heavy, soaking rain, that has well thickened the element: whenever too these fish flounder and disport themselves-showing their broad backs and tails-you may untie your paternosters, and reel up your lines. Nowhere is the state of the water so important as in the Thames; even the roach and dace seemed to have been seized with a similar shyness, or indifference for food; for in spite of all our perseverance, our appliances and means to boot, for the ground had been baited with no niggardly hand, we only took two or three dozen, and those at wide intervals, and quite youngsters.

In expectation of a change of weather, I "went on a new tack," as sailors say, ran the punt up to the mill-pool; and selecting three flies, tipped them with gentles, and took in one hour more than I had done the day before in six. This mill-pool, by the way, swarms with barbel of a large size; but they were far too knowing-too cunning

too well fed (as I saw proved by a brother of the rod, who bobbed there two successive days in vain) to listen to any of his temptations. In using the word listen, as applied to fishes, I believe such an expression is not inapplicable to them; for it is now ascertained that they do hear. Some sea fish, the skate, shark, dog-fish, &c., have an external ear; other sorts receiving sound by the internal tubule alone.

I next tried above the mill, which is supplied by a bracnh of the Thames, with my trolling tackle. I was not deceived in my prognostics of sport; this water is in many places overspread with lilies, and other aquatic plants, and between them I took several good pike,

and some perch of upwards of a pound. Perch are certainly the boldest of fish; for neither the sight of the angler, or the clearness of the water, will scare them from their prey. I attached to my line two live baits, a minnow and a gudgeon, and, singularly enough, took both a perch and a pike at one troll, the water being ruffled by a strong westerly breeze at the time. For the benefit of those who use night lines, I will describe one that possesses many advantages, not the least of which is, that it is not easily discoverable from the banks, the plug to which the line is attached being driven into the bed of the river, by means of the bottom end ferule of a rod. Seven or eight yards of the line, (of water-cord,) after a sufficient length judged necessary to reach what appears a favourable spot for the cast has been left, are wound round a common cork, and fastened by a slit. This cork is suspended in mid-water by a bullet, and the bait, roach, dace, or gudgeon, nicely run through the skin of the back, first with a blunt. needle, and then with the gimp or wire, will swim round and round the cork, and thus impaled (horribile dictu) live for several days. Many a pike of seven or eight lbs., when I was a schoolboy, have I caught with this contrivance. Mind, I do not advocate its use; all I mean to say is, that it is most effective. Fly fishing for trout on the Thames, if ever practised, is attended with little or no success; it is therefore a universal practice to spin a minnow, the deadliest of all inventions where this fish is concerned.

Every Thames angler knows the lock at Marlow; nor do I know a more comfortable house on the river than the Jolly Fisherman ; nor a more beautiful spot than that where it stands,—almost islanded as it is. This lock is within a few yards of the inn, and here (the keen eye of the fisherman pointing him out to me as he lay) I took a trout of 7lbs. My tackle being too slight to curb him properly, I was forced to let him go down the rapid, and but for the boat, should probably have lost him. Such a finely-conditioned fish I never saw. When I weighed him again the next day, out of the well of the punt, I was surprised to find that he had lost more than half-a-pound. How is this rapid dimunition of weight to be accounted for? The fisherman attributed it to his fretting-impatience of captivity; a more probable cause is the deprivation of his accustomed food. Such a loss of weight in so short a period of time, may suggest the proportionately rapid increase of it that takes place in fish. Certainly, in none of the brute creation does food become so soon assimilated, as in the finny tribes. Never has it fallen to my lot to find in the stomach of a trout or salmon aught save slime, though it is not probable that any of those taken had fasted long before their capture.

One of the great reasons for the paucity of trout in the Thames, is