MGLEfS and How fo Obtain if B E R K E L E GENcRAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AN EXPERIMENT IN THE TREATMENT OF FURUNCULOSIS. DURING THE SUMMERS of 1911 and 1912 outbreaks of disease amongst fish, and especially among the balmomdae, were reported from some of the rivers in the south-western part of England. These outbreaks were made the subject of a report by Dr Masterman, of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, assisted by Dr Arkwright, who investigated the matter for the Government. Separate investi- gations on "the same outbreaks were also carried on at the laboratories of the Field, and also by Dr Adams at the Clinical Research Association. The result arrived at by these inde- pendent investigations showed that the fish were suffering from a disease known as furunculosis. Furunculosis has been commented on in the Field on more than one occasion, and the symptoms were given in an article, " On Mortality in Trout," Feb. 6, 1909. The disease is caused by a specific bacillus, Bacillus salmonicida. Dr Masterman's report was commented on in the Field, June 1, 1912; and an account of furunculosis, with the work done by Emmerich and Weibel in 1894, and the further researches of Marianne Plehn up to 1911, were described in an article, also in the Field, on June 8, 1912, and in the same article the symptoms of thp disease were fully described. These symptoms vary consider- ably. With Emmerich and Weibel the "appearance of abscesses in the muscles was a well-recognised symptom; in the recent epidemic abscesses were frequently seen, but were not always present. Sometimes all the fish snowed furuncles; at another time these were the exception. The number, the size, and the position vary considerably. The size may vary from that of a, pin's head- to that of a five-shilling piece. Sometimes they lie close under the skin and can be seen without dissection, as is shown in the accompanying photographs, taken by Mr F. M. Halford. Furuncle. FIG. Some very important experiments have recently been made by M. de Quatrefages on the vitality of the spermatozoa, or essential part of the seminal secretion in fish.* From these experiments he concludes that for each species of fish there is a fixed temperature which is most likely to insure successful fecundation. The facts which he thus arrives at are generalised in the following table : — For fish which spawn in winter, as the salmon and trout, the proper temperature is from ...... 43° to 46° Fahr. For fish which spawn in early spring, as the pike ......... ^ ... 46° to 50° „ For fish which spawn in late spring, as the perch ......... 57° to 61° „ For fish which spawn in summer, as the barbel ............ 68° to 77° „ These temperatures should consequently be those of the water employed in the artificial fecundation The practice of artificial breeding may be divided into five distinct phases — namely, (1) Exclusion, or the removal from the parent fish, of the male and female generative elements ; (2) Fecundation, or the application of the product of the male to that of the female; (3) Foetation, or the process of development of the embryo in the egg ; (4) Extri- cation, or the escape of the embryo from the ovum ; and (5) Feeding. We shall now mainly follow the directions given by M. Coste,* whose experience in this department of industrial science must give peculiar value to his suggestions. EXCLUSION AND FECUNDATION. The fish upon which we wish to operate should be taken, if possible, immediately off the spawning ground at the period when they are just about to deposit their spawn. The following table shows the principal periods of spawning, in these countries, of the more important British fresh-water fish. It must be borne in mind, however, that it is, in many cases, impossible to fix with certainty the exact periods, as these vary .considerably with locality and temperature : — Name of Fish. Salmon (Salmo solar) Salmon-trout (Salmo trutta) Common trout (Salmo fario) Great Lake" trout (Salmo ferox) Northern charr (Salmo umbla) Smelt (Osmerus epcrlanus) . . . Grayling (Thy mallus vulgaris) Pike (Esox lucius) Carp (Cyprinus carpio) Barbel (Barbus vulgaris) ... Tench (Tinea vulgaris) Carp-bream (Abramis brama) Chub (Leuciscus cephalus) ... Perch (Perca fluviatilis) Period of Spawning. From Nov. to Feb. From Oct. to Jan. From Oct. to Jan. September. Nov. and Dec. March and April. April and May. March and April. May and Jun». May and June. June. May. April and May. April and May. ' .". er AN ANGLER'S PARADISE HOW TO OBTAIN IT J. J. ARMISTEAD. !• THE AUTHOR. AN ANGLER'S PARADISE AND HOW TO OBTAIN IT. J. J. ARMISTEAD. M Author of "A SHORT HISTORY OF PISCICULTURE," Lecturer on " FISHCULTURE," " IMPROVEMENT OF FISHERIES," ETC Member of Royal Commission on Tweed and Solway Fisheries, Proprietor of the Solway Fish Farm, School of Fishculture, Etc., Etc. THIRD EDITION. PUBLISHED BY THE ANGLER, AT THE OFFICES, SCARBOROUGH. 1898. PRINTED BY 'THE GAZETTE COMPANY, LIMITED, 31, ST. NICHOLAS STREET, SCARBOROUGH. TO SIR HERBERT EUSTACE MAXWELL, BART., M.P. THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. T HAVE frequently been pressed to write a book on fish culture, and at the earnest request of many who take a great interest in the subject I undertook the task, and this volume is the result. I trust much information may be found in its pages that will prove useful to many of those who read it. I know what a help such a book would have been to me when I first began to study the subject. I have divided it into two parts. In the first four chapters I have made mention of some well- known angling resorts, of the Solway Fishery, and of the progress of fish culture ; and for the second part of the work I have written some thoroughly practical chapters, which are intended to serve as a guide to those who are the fortunate possessors of suitable, water, and which will enable them to develop the resources which have so long lain dormant. viii. PREFACE. If the style in which I have written be some- what varied, it must be borne in mind that the conditions under which the writing has been done have also been varied, and this must be my apology for any deficiency which may be found in its pages. Most of the chapters have been written off without the opportunity of reference to other books. Several of them have been penned whilst crossing the Atlantic, some in railway station waiting-rooms, often during a midnight wait, or in the early hours of the morning. A part was written at sea in the cabin of a trawler, and the rest has been put. together amidst the scenes of a very busy life. For my knowledge of the subject I am indebted largely to my own perseverance, and determination to under- stand thoroughly that which I had taken up as my life's work; as well as to many fellow-labourers in the same field, who have given me the benefit of their knowledge. It is interesting to look back upon the work of thirty years that have passed away, and to note how one has been led, and how the work has developed, at times under considerable difficulties, until it has reached its present magnitude. The present seems a fitting opportunity for tendering my warmest thanks to some of those who have aided me in my investigations of so fascinating a subject. To the late Frank Buckland I am indebted for my first PREFACE. ix, introduction to the study, and to the late Dr. Francis Day for his kindly help on various occasions when it was niy privilege to meet him. But for ttys kindly advice and encouragement of the former the Solway Fishery would never have been commenced. To my friend, George H. Brocklehurst, B.Sc.^ I am indebted for a considerable amount of assis- tance in microscopic research and the study of embryology, etc. In studying the mysteries of our ponds and ditches, and working out the life histories of many of the creatures contained therein, I have been largely assisted by my friend, Leonard West,. Esq., of Darlington, who has kindly supplied the drawings in illustration of the chapter on pond life, as well as a considerable portion of the letterpress. To Mr. Thomas Bolton, of Birmingham, I am also indebted for information respecting the microscopic inhabitants of our waters, and also for drawings illus- trative of the embryonic life of a salmonoid. For views of the Solway Fishery I am indebted to Mr. Willie Anderson, of Partick, Glasgow, and to J. Rutherford, Esq., of Jardington, Dumfries; and I am glad to take this opportunity of acknow- ledging the kindness and hospitality of many who will read these pages, who have, from time to time, permitted free access to their waters for the purposes of scientific research, etc. Without the help of some PREFACE. of these this book would in all probability never have seen the daylight, and many pleasant memories are recalled of excursions by river, brook, and mere, by the writing of its pages. J. J. ARMISTEAD. Solway Fishery, Dumfries, December, 1894. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. ""PHREE years having almost elapsed since the publication of the Second Edition, which is now nearly cleared out, and the demand still keep- ing up, I have decided on issuing a third. The price will remain the same until half the Edition is sold, when it will be raised to 12/6. This is rendered necessary owing to the number published being smaller. J. J. ARMISTEAD. Solway Fisheiy, Dumfries, November, 1898. CONTENTS. PART i.— AN ANGLER'S PARADISE CHAPTER I. — INTRODUCTORY. Referring to what has been done at home and abroad— In New Zealand — In Tasmania — Taking Salmon by machinery in America, etc. ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 CHAPTER II. Having reference to the Solway Fishery — Loch Kinder and its trout — Loch Leven trout — An angler's paradise — Poachers — Nature's motive power ... ... ... ... ... 14 CHAPTER III.— CHIEFLY HISTORICAL. Frank Buckland — His prophecies — their fulfilment — Troutdale Fishery— Introduction of black bass and American trout — Sol- way Fishery commenced — Its progress — Nocturnal adventures —Discovery in Germany by Golstein — Jacobi — Gehin and Remy — M. Coste — Hiiningen — Gremaz — German progress ... ... 23 CHAPTER IV. Referring to Lake Vyrnwy — Loch Leven — The English Lake District ... ... ... ... ... ... 36 PART II —HOW TO OBTAIN IT CHAPTER I.— FISH PONDS— CONSTRUCTION. How not to make them— How to make them— Water supply- Sluices and overflow — "Safety valve" — Leaf Screens — Ponds to be off the stream— Flood water kept out— Spawning beds— Barren water— Cultivation— Artificial spates— Storage of water— Outlet xii. CONTENTS. screen — Effect of wind — Material for screens — Various kinds and importance of screens — Fontinalis rising to the fly; — Bottom outlets — How to work them ... ... ... ... 51 CHAPTER II.— FISH PONDS— CULTIVATION. Plants — Balance of life — Flora and Fauna — Old ponds require cleaning — Pond life— Its bearing on fish life— Cultivation — Con- ditions of soil— Planting — New ponds — Virgin waters — Whitley reservoir — Importance of mollusca and crustaceans — Aquatic plants— Dalbeattie reservoir — Loch Fern— Plants to avoid—- Weeding— Aimchans — Marginal plants ... ... ... 76 CHAPTER III.— FISH PONDS— CULTIVATION CONTINUED. Marginal plants— Insect life — Plants for deep water — Plants to avoid — Advantages of water lilies — Bottom-covering plants— A fish-eating plant — Ponds at Washington — Mollusca — Crustacea —Eels— How to catch them ... ... ... ... 91 CHAPTER IV. —FISH PONDS— HOW TO STOCK THF.M. Preparation — Stocking -Carrying live trout — -Dipping the trout — Transit — Large fish — Two-year-olds — Yearlings— Fry — Nursery ponds— Water plants — Turning out fry — Fry in rivers— Excellent travellers — Glass carriers — Advantages of — Equalizing tem- perature— Fish killed by thoughtlessness — Wooden carriers — Metal — Travelling trout in August — Care required — Fully eyed ova — Trout at the Antipodes— American work — Successes ... 103. CHAPTER V.— THK HATCHKRV, Selection of the \vate~-- Its importance — Construction — Out-door hatchery — In-door natchery — Frostproof building — Lighting — Filtration of water — Concrete floor — Drainage — The apparatus — How to construct — Caibonizing — Trap boxes— Catchpool — No admittance — Beware of visitors— Early days of the Solway Fishery — £are required in a hatchery ... ... ... 124. CHAPTER VI.— COLLECTING THE EGGS. The old method as employed at Troutdale Hatchery — Ova hunting in Cumberland — Work on a natural stream— The water ouzel — Blank days — Honister Crag— Ulleswater — Advantages of the present system— Spawning trout — Laying down the eggs — Embryology — Dry method of impregnation — Catching the Spawners — Sorting — Cleanliness — Effects of temperature— Washing the eggs — Hermaphrodite trout ... ... ... 140 CHAPTER VII.— INCUBATING THE EGGS. Everything in perfect working order — Everything well seasoned — Preparing the grilles — Laying down ova — Picking — Beware of fungus — Sediment— Effects of concussion — Washing eggs — The eye spots — Embryo as seen through the microscope — The eggs commence hatching ... ... ... ... ... 156 CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER VIII.— HATCHING THE EGGS. Glass grilles— Their cost— Their advantages— Cleaning the hat- ing boxes— The egg-shells— Artificial ova beds— Settling pond- Filtering bed— Wire grilles— Destruction of ova left to Nature- Advantage of artificial beds*— Californian baskets— Repairing grilles— Overcrowding— Way of economising space— Compact storage box ... ... ... ... ... ... I7O CHAPTER IX. — PACKING AND UNPACKING THE EGGS. Ova at the antipodes — The tropics — Various methods — Modus operandi at the Solway Fishery — Selecting and preparing the moss — Its cultivation — Woven fabric— Best time to pack — Ova hatch rapidly on unpacking — Long voyages— Unpacking — Washing off the moss — Fully eyed eggs ... ... ... 184 -CHAPTER X.— CARE OF "ALEVINS." Word derived from the French — Appearance on first hatching — Very helpless at first — Begin to pack — Hides to be avoided — Provide lids for the boxes — Structure of " alevins " — Cleanliness — Guard against rats or mice — Water insects — How to detect their presence— Cripples — Deformities— Dropsy or blue swelling — Constitutional weakness — Fungus — Paralysis — White spot — Suffocation — Still waters ... ... ... .., ... 191 CHAPTER XI.— POND LIFE. Water full of life — Care required in dealing with it — The rotifera — Rules for cultivation— Nature's provision for. young fish — Daphnia pulex — Cyclops quadricomis — Cypris tristriata — Arachnida — Notonecta — Corixa — Gammarus — Dytiscus — Caddis worms — Ephemera — Shellfish — Parasites — Saprolegnia ... 202 CHAPTER XII.— REARING THE FRY. Commencing to feed — Training — The right kind of food— Time for turning out — Entomostraca — Grated liver — Mode of feeding — Feeding machines — Shrimp paste — Chopping machine — Transfer to rearing ponds — The old plan — The new plan — Floating boxes — Ponds to be kept quiet — Cutting the grass — Pond bottoms to be kept clean — Earth in ponds — Scum on the water — Fungus — Salt — Thinning out the fish... ... ... ... ... 228 CHAPTER XIII. —THE YEARLING STAGE. Salmonida adapted to cultivation— Rising to the fly— Fish culture requires experience— The food of yearlings— Must be properly dispensed — Development and selection of stock fish — Defor- mities—Pedigree stock— Sorting— Transit of yearlings— Netting — Preparation necessary — Caution to purchasers — Yearling nets— Yearlings hold their own against large trout— Two- year olJs ... .. ... ... .. 246 xiv. CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. — MANAGEMENT OF MATURE TROUT. Maturity considered — How mature trout are dealt with — The net — Its use — Emptying the pond — Business pond differs widely from a lake or river — Trout eating trout— Sorting the fish — Food — The maggot factory — Tadpole rearing — Frogs and toads considered — Trout get very tame — Approach of spawning time — Can trout hear — Do fishes sleep — The senses of taste and smell — Varieties of colour and markings — How many species — Selec- tion and crossing of races — Trout anadromous in New Zealand — Reversion to type— Square tail and forked tail ... ... 261 CHAPTER XV.— SALMON CULTURE. 4 • Great loss in nature — Large number of eggs deposited — Bad management of our rivers — Some evils may be remedied—- Poachers considered — Impounding salmon — Where to get the best eggs — Nature's discrepancies provided for — More about poachers — Fate of the eggs — Falling off in catch of salmon — Rate of natural increase considered — Feeding of salmon — Migration — Experiments — Smolts and grilse — The United States — Salmon of Alaska — Alaskan and British salmon compared — Saprolegnia ... ... ... ... ... ... 279- ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE, THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . Frontispiece. THE SHANTY, SOLWAY FISHERY . , . ' . 32 PART OF SOLWAY FISH FARM , . ,-•.". .'* . . . 50 Plan of pond and bye-wash (Fig. 1} • .• • , . 55 Outlet screen (Fig. 2) . . . . . . • . . 68 Plan of fry ponds (Fig. 3) . . * . t 109 Outlet Plug (Fig. 4) ..... in Fish carrier (Fig. 5) . . . . . . 116 AN ANGLER'S PARADISE ....... 120 VIEW IN MAIN HATCHERY, SOIAVAY FISHERY . . . 124 Filter box (Fig. 6) . . . . . . . .127 Outlet spout, the right way (Fig. 7) . . . . . 131 Do. the wrong way (Fig. 8) . . . . . . 131 Charring implement (Fig. 9) ...... 132^ Do. (Fig. 10) . . . ... 132 Do. (Fig. TI) . . . ". . 132 Hatching tanks (Fig. 12) . . . . ' . 139 AT SPAWNING TIME, SOLWAY FISHERY . . 146 Egg-washing box (Fig. 13) . . 155 Egg-picker used at Solway Fishery (Fig. 14) 159 Trout ovum, magnified (Fig. 15) . . 167 Dipping tube, plain (Fig. 16) . 169 Do. with bulb (Fig. 17) .. , .169 Do. bent (Fig. 18) . 169 Do. with drum (Fig. 19) . • 169 Compact hatching box (Fig. 20) . *%3 "Alevin" trout magnified (Fig. 21 ) . • *94 Rotifer (Fig. 22) . . *°3 Daphnia pulex (Fig. 23) • 2O5 Cyclops quadricornis (Fig. 24) Cypris tristriata (Fig. 25) .. .207 Water mites (Fig. 26) . . 208 Gammarus pulex (Fig. 27) . . . . • • 21° Dytiscns marginalis and larva (Fig. 28) , , . Hydrophilns piceus and larva (Fig. 1:9) . .212 xvi. ILL USTRA TIONS. i'AGE. Caddis fly (Fig. 30) 213 Ephemera vulgaris (Fig. 31) . ' . ' . . « . 214 Limnceus pereger (Fig. 32) , . 216 Do. auricularis (Fig. 33) V . , ,. • . ' . 216 Do. stagnalis (Fig. 34) . . 217 Planorbis comeus (Fig. 35) . . .217 Ancylusfliiviatilis(F\g. 36) ,: ' . ' . 217 Paludina vivipera (Fig. 37) . , . 217 Anadonta cygnea (38) . ' . - . 218 t/«/'t> margaritifer (Fig. 39) , . . ... 218 •Cyctas cornea (Fig. 40) ., ; ; .. , ; . 219 Trichodnia pedicuhis (Fig. 41) ...... 220 Gyrodactylns elegans (Fig. 42) , , 220 Zto. foot of (Fig. 43) . . . . . 220 Geometra piscicola (Fig 44) . . . . 221 Anguhis foliaceus (Fig. 45) .... . 222 SOME NURSERY PONDS, SOLWAY FISHERY . . . 234 ;SoME NURSERY PONDS, MANAGER'S HOUSE, AND YEARLING HOUSE, SOLWAY FISHERY . , . - ,• :.—; • * . 242 PREPARING YEARLINGS, SOLWAY FISHERY . . , -. 256 .Square tail or forked tail (Fig. 46) . . f '. . . ,, . . 278 t - AN ANGLER'S PARADISE AN ANGLER'S PARADISE. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. Referring to what has been done at home and abroad— In New Zealand— In Tasmania — Taking Salmon by machinery in America, etc. V/ES ! Trout culture as a means of stocking waters is a success in Britain. Its benefits are already being largely felt in many quarters, and it only requires to be more widely known and its advantages understood, and it will be extensively taken up by those who have the necessary facilities for availing themselves of its benefits. Its success is proved beyond doubt, by the results which have accrued of late years to the stocking or restocking of waters, when judiciously done. I say judiciously done, for much depends on this. I am aware that many sweeping assertions have been made to the contrary, but results have proved them to be incorrect. It is true that in bringing the matter to the successful issue that it has reached there have been many failures, and it is owing in a measure to some of these failures, that the results are not infinitely larger to-day than is in reality the case. They are of two descriptions : — i. In many instances in which fish culture has been at- tempted, it has been by persons who have carried it to a certain point, where it has ended in failure or produced no appreciable result, and so it has been abandoned and frequently a bad name has been given to it. " No result has accrued," they say, " after 4 An Angler's Paradise. considerable outlay in stocking waters." It is here that the mis- take has been made, through mismanagement, for the waters referred to have probably not been stocked at all, as stocking is understood to-day. Possibly a quantity -of unhealthy or badly grown fry have been turned out to die, or, it may be, have been killed by the operation, or turned out in places which were totally unsuited for them, and, as might be expected, no improvement has followed. Such failures as these have undeservedly brought discredit on the work, and they have unfortunately had the effect of retarding its progress. 2. The time was but a few years ago when even fish culturists of experience, who were looked up to by others as such, were frequently not rewarded by successful results to their many experiments. Upon these latter failures, however, is now built up a mass of knowledge which has enabled us to bridge over the many difficulties of trout culture, and to overcome what at one time appeared to be insuperable barriers to the further progress of this interesting study. The tendency of late years has been for a great reduction in the prices of our products, but all this time fish as an article of food has -been getting dearer. The cause is obvious, and the remedy is obvious, and the sooner it is applied the better. Do with fish what is done with cattle and with poultry, and the benefit accruing will be very great. Every country house with a water supply should have its fish ponds, for the purpose of supplying the kitchen as well as for angling. This work is now being taken up, and where it is properly carried out the results are highly encouraging. Existing ponds have been utilized most advantageously, and in other cases new ponds have been made on approved principles, and the success of the latter, where properly managed, has been very great indeed. By way of illustration I may mention a pond which I con- structed, which measured about ninety feet by thirty and averaged about five feet in depth. Out of this pond was taken over seven hundred pounds weight of trout. These fish had occupied the pond for three years, and for a year previous to their introduction a very small one had contained them. Now multiply the area of the pond by fifteen and the result is four thousand five hundred An Angler's Paradise. 5 square yards, or less than an acre. An acre of such water, then, would produce at the same rate over ten thousand five hundred pounds of trout in three or four years. Taking the value of this at a shilling per pound the result is ^525. Experience teaches us that the cost of producing and maintaining these fish could be brought under ^325, which leaves a margin of ^£200, or at the rate of ^£50 per annum per acre — a very handsome profit indeed. Of course there is risk, and results would vary, but against this may be placed the fact that I have taken a decidedly low estimate. I have indeed simply stated what has been done and not what may be done. It is now more than a quarter of a century since I began my fish-cultural operations, and during that time I have had, in common with all fish culturists, many failures. I think I may fairly say, however, that from every one of these I have learned something, and often that something has been well worth the cost that it has been to me, even though it involved the loss of a considerable number of fish. Losses are always grievous at the time they occur, but the knowledge which we now possess may be said to have been largely gained, or to have grown, out of these misfortunes. It is not to be expected that everyone who attempts to manage a fish farm will carry his work to a successful issue; indeed it is only in the hands of a skilful operator that such a work can result in eventual success. Everyone who knows any- thing of cattle or agriculture, is well aware that it requires a good technical and practical education to make a farmer. So it is with the breeding of fish, but it is as certain in its results when in proper hands as the breeding of cattle, poultry, or anything else, and quite as easily managed as it becomes understood. It how- ever, requires, as I have said, a considerable amount of education, and it cannot for one moment be expected that it can be carried on at once in a successful manner by everyone who inclines to take it up. Education must be had in one way or another. Either beginners must pay for instruction at some well-conducted fish- cultural establishment, or they must flounder in the mire for some time, it may be a considerable time, and patiently bear many losses, discomfitures, and failures, before they can hope to bring 6 An Angler's Paradise. to a successful issue that which has taken many years of patient study and toil to establish, in the case of those now successfully carrying on fish farms in this and other countries. I say this most emphatically lest anyone should be deceived. But there is a most important and valuable branch of fish culture which ought to be carried on by most if not all of those who possess the facilities for it, and this is the growing of the fish themselves after they have been reared on a fish farm. This is a work in which anyone possessed of ordinary intelligence can advantageously engage, after having studied the subject a little ; and my chief object will be to show how a large percentage of the waters running waste in this country may be utilized, and great benefit derived from their successful cultivation. The work is now being done, and can be done again in hundreds of other places. Fish culture is nothing new after all, but there is no need to repeat at length its ancient and modern history here. I referred to that subject in a pamphlet I published more than twenty-five years ago, and it has been well traced out by many other writers. It will suffice, therefore, to say that fish culture was known to, and carried on extensively by, the Ancients ; and even in later times our abbeys and monasteries possessed extensive fish ponds, traces of which remain in fairly good preservation to the present day. A few which I have inspected may perhaps some day be again put to their proper use ; they might then pay a dividend. Fish culture is successfully carried on in China, and has been, I believe, from time immemorial. It was commenced in New Zealand over twenty-five years ago,* but on a very small scale indeed at first, eight hundred trout ova being successfully hatched in the year 1868, which were obtained from the natural spawning beds in Tasmania. Now we find that the first introduction of trout into Tasmania was effected in 1864, a small number of eggs being sent out from this country by Mr. Frank Buckland, Mr. (now Sir J. A.) Youl, and Mr. Francis *" I am reminded by the Editor of the /'zV/^that the acclimatization of Salmonidce in Tasmania was discussed as far back as 1841 by the Colonists themselves, and it was through the unwearying efforts of Sir J. A. Youl that they were first introduced into Antipodean streams. The names which should be always first recognised in connection with the work are those of Mr. Ramsbottom, of Clitheroe, and Mr. (now Sir Thomas) Brady, and Mr. Edward Wilson, president of the Victorian Acclimatization Society." An Angler's Paradise. 7 Francis, the number being about two thousand seven hundred altogether. As a result of the importation of trout ova into Tasmania and their cultivation there, we find in four years that country sending ova, taken from fish on the natural spawning beds, to New Zealand. We find also that those eggs were success- fully hatched there, and from this small stock a beginning was made, and there seems to be little doubt that from these eggs trout originated in New Zealand. So successful was the work carried on there, that the New Zealand Government very wisely took it in hand, and the result was a considerable importation of ova into the colony, the Solway Fishery having had the honour of furnishing some of these. It is largely owing to the work of the Acclimatization Societies, however, that the fish-cultural work so wisely fostered by the Government has prospered. In order to shew the difficulties under which it was carried on in the early days of its history, I quote the following from the Lyttelton Times, N.Z., regarding a consignment of ova received in 1873, and shipped by Mr. Frank Buckland : — " The first of the consignment for Otago proved to be entirely bad when opened, and the second was very little better. But very few fish indeed were hatched out in Otago, and after being liberated in the rivers nothing more was heard of them, whilst Mr. Johnson failed to bring any of the five or six thousand presented to this province to life. The ova on this occasion were obtained to the order of the General Government, from the Stor- montfield hatching establishment on the Tay, Scotland. Having been placed in boxes containing a few hundred each, they were conveyed to London; each parcel was supported the whole distance by hand in order to prevent jar. An icehouse for the reception of the ova had been constructed in the forehold of the vessel, and about twenty tons of ice were used in packing around the boxes. The voyage occupied a hundred days. The curators of the Canterbury and Invercargill Society lost no time in going on board, where they succeeded in making arrangements for getting the ova out on the following day. The Invercargill ova were placed in a large case and covered with ice and straw, whilst cases about four feet by three feet, and three feet deep, had been made for the Canterbury portion of the shipment, each case being 8 An Angler's Paradise. lined with zinc, over which was a coating of flannel to prevent the ice melting. " The ova boxes were fixed in tight with horse-hair and ice, added to which the cases containing the boxes were covered on the outside with matting, so as to resist the power of the sun. Mr. Johnson also took care to do his packing as near the ice-house as possible. The Southland ova were despatched by a steamer specially chartered, while the cases containing the Canterbury boxes of ova were placed on board the s.s. Alhambra, suspended by indiarubber slings in order to prevent jar of any kind. The Alhambra sailed from Port Chalmers at four p.m. on Monday, May 5th, and arrived at Lyttelton about the same hour on Tues- day, May 6th. Mr. Johnson had the ova conveyed to the Lyttelton station, where a special train was in waiting, and the boxes were suspended by indiarubber slings. The train was only driven through to Christchurch at a slow walking pace, and the boxes were left at the station during the night. " When the ova boxes were opened there was found to be a great difference in the condition of the contents, the whole of the ova in some being entirely bad, while in others there was a large percentage with a healthy appearance. The first layer of moss having been removed from these boxes, the ova were emptied into a stream of running water, which had been previously iced, and subsequently all ova shewing the slightest signs of life were taken out of the stream, and placed in the hatching boxes in the fish house. It may be said there were from one thousand to two thousand placed in the boxes, and that there are several hundreds of these which have a very promising appearance." With regard to the same shipment, the following is an extract from a letter published in Land and Water, of August 2nd, 1873, and received from Mr. Henry Howard, dated Wallacetown Trout Ponds, N.Z., i4th May of that year :— " On arrival at the ponds and opening the boxes, I found the temperature in the moss was 43°, and as our springs are always at or about 50°, I reduced the water to the former temperature by putting ice in the upper cross-box. Water also reduced to 43° was put in large pans, and the boxes sunk in them so as to leave all the ova submerged. The ova were carefully separated with An Anglers Paradise. 9 spoons and placed in the hatching boxes; it would have been impossible to turn out the ova as you suggested, as nearly all stick more or less to the moss, and I must have put in masses as large as one's hand, of dead and living ova mixed. The boxes varied greatly. In one I counted over three hundred good, and I only took sixteen good from one lot of three boxes. It was quite easy to predict which were good the moment the lid was removed. The good ones had a green healthy look under the moss, and no fog under the lid ; the bad ones had a fog, not unlike what I remember gossamer webs to be in the autumn mornings with a heavy dew ; the moss also was browner and sunk in the boxes, whereas the good boxes were light but full. " I believe the kind of moss has much to do with it. The brown moss had a good deal of old grass and sticks amongst it, as if taken from woods ; but the good was more like what grows on the boles of trees and about sluice gates. I could see no sign of eyes in most of the ova, but in some the fish were plainly to be observed. I feared therefore at first, for a few days, that many were unfertile, but this morning I see the eyes in many more, and the deaths are far less. No doubt the warmer temperature is beginning to tell. You will be anxious to know how many are likely to survive. I can only give a rude guess, but from the look I should think there are not more than from fifteen to twenty thousand left, but many of these will of course come to nothing ; if we hatch from six to ten thousand I shall consider we have done well." It is plain from these extracts that in 1873 the work in New Zealand was being carried on under considerable difficulties. Let us now look at the state of things out there ten years later (1883), and we find that trout are thoroughly acclimatized, and are being cultivated in many places. Amongst other cases is one mentioned in the Otago Daily Times about this time, which gives the follow- ing account of Mr. W. S. Pillans, of Otago, who had successfully raised some six thousand trout of his own : — " This gentleman's property, known as Manuka Island Sta- tion, is situated a few miles from Balclutha, near the bank of the river. It boasts no natural advantages for pisciculture, and what has been done has been done by hard and persevering work. The io An Angler's Paradise. number quoted (six thousand) does not, however, by any means, sum up the extent of Mr. Pillans' operations so far. He has, it is said, given a quantity of fry to the Acclimatization Society, and exclusive of these, he has now at his nursery fifty-seven thousand ova in course of hatching, six thousand yearlings, and nearly two hundred and fifty two-year-old fish, all apparently thriving exceed- ingly well in the limited space at their disposal." The report goes on to describe the " stripping " of the trout, and manipulation of the ova and fish atrMr. Pillans' hatchery, of which it gives a very interesting account. In looking through the " Report of the Otago Acclimatization Society for 1891 " I see a most gratifying feature, and that is a balance-sheet of the Society showing a profit over and above working expenses, resulting from the sale of licenses, sales of trout, etc. The Society began the year with a balance in hand on fish- culture account of .£248, and at the close of the year, after paying all expenses in connection with the work, the account shews a balance of ^£396, or about ^148 profit on the year's working. When we take into consideration all that had to be done, and that the working expenses were excessive, this result speaks volumes. Now let us take the state of things in New Zealand to-day, and what do we find ? Why, that the rivers of that country are many of them full of magnificent trout, that have grown beyond all expectation. Trout cultivation in New Zealand is a grand success. The attention bestowed on the fish by the Wellington Acclimatization Society and the Otago Acclimatization Society is most praiseworthy, and has produced the most gratifying results, and much larger fish than the average in Britain are very plentiful. In the records received from time to time I see such cases as thirteen fish, a hundred and two pounds ; about eight pounds each on the average. Fish from five to ten pounds are common, and trout varying from thirty to forty pounds are reported as having been occasionally taken. Take, as an example, one out of many reports which have appeared in our papers, the following from Rod and Gun, March nth, 1893 : — "The Rakaia is a river of forty or fifty miles, stocked with the finest trout, seldom under two pounds, and not un- commonly containing weights of twelve pounds, fifteen pounds, An Angler's Paradise. [ i and even twenty pounds, and it is confined ordinarily to three or four large streams, breaking up constantly into numerous smaller ones. It is stated that the Rakaia is the home of some of the finest trout in the world, and that fish get larger and more plentiful the nearer it approaches the sea. They are often caught in the salt water at the mouth of the river itself. It is one of the snow-fed rivers ; and with respect to it, and all streams that so take their rise, the sensible warning is given that the angler should always make inquiry as to the state of the water before proceeding upon an expedition. It was in Rakaia that the splendid takes of trout reported last year were made. Eight fish, weighing eighty-eight pounds, is something indeed worth entering in the diary ; but that was beaten in February the year before last, by one angler taking thirteen fish weighing a hundred and forty- seven pounds, the largest being sixteen and a half pounds, the smallest eight pounds. Even this, however, was surpassed by a party of three gentlemen fishing along the shingle bank, on the south side of the river, near to the sea. They took forty-four fish weighing three hundred and forty-seven and a half pounds." Such reports as these have been numerous and are most encouraging. From Tasmania also come most gratifying accounts, as well as from other countries, and a friend writing from Tasmania remarks : — •" The English trout that have been acclimatized here have done remarkably well and attain a great size." So then in Tasmania also, trout culture, though carried on under the great difficulty of importing ova from Britain at a time when the matter was but very imperfectly understood, has proved a decided success. The results obtained in America would fill a series of books, and want of space must be my plea for not going into details respecting them. I may say that I have seen quite enough, when over there on fishery business, to be convinced that a great work is going on, both in the United States and in Canada, that is productive of much good. Salmon have for some time been caught on some of the great rivers by machinery, large wheels being fixed at suitable places in the streams, which literally scoop or shovel the fish out by thousands. So enormous is the de- struction of salmon on some of these rivers that there would soon 12 An Angler's Paradise. be none left but for cultivation. The fish crowd up the rivers in the migratory seasons in enormous numbers; quantities, in fact, that we have no idea of in this country. The wheels are placed on scows or barges, or worked from the side of the river, just as may be most convenient for taking the fish. These latter in ascending rivers follow the main currents, and an expert is able at once to fit up a wheel that will do execution among them. The apparatus has, roughly speaking, some resemblance to a large water-wheel fitted with big skeleton scoops covered with netting. The fish in their ascent of the rivers swim into these, which revolve in the opposite direction, and they are carried up to the top of the wheel, when they drop through a shoot, which sends them into a receptacle alongside or behind the machine as the case may be. An attendant knocks them on the head, strings a lot of them together by means of a rope, which is then fastened to a ring in a barrel and the lot flung into the stream. So the work goes on, and these strings of fish are carried down stream for some dis- tance, when they are picked by a small steamer on the look-out for them and taken to the canneries. These wheels are notably in use on the Columbia, Clackamas, and other rivers. Concerning the cultivation of the salmon on some of these rivers, the eminent American fish culturist, Livingstone Stone, says, in one of his letters : — " ... In regard to the success that has attended the culture of the Salmonidce, the Government station for hatching salmon on the McCloud river, California, may be mentioned as an unquestionable instance of labour in that direction well rewarded. It is universally acknowledged that the hatching of salmon at this station, which I had the honour of naming Baird after our distinguished Commissioner, has immensely increased the number of salmon in the Sacramento River, of which the McCloud is a tributary. . . . The good effect of the hatching of salmon at the Government station on the Clackamas river in Oregon, is doubtless very similar. Although the limited output of young salmon at this station is wholly inadequate to the demands of so great a river as the Columbia, of which the Clackamas is a tributary, nevertheless the salmon production, such as it is at this station, is believed to be of An Angler's Paradise. [3 immense benefit to the river, and it is thought to be almost certain, that, without the help of the Clackamas hatchery, the enormous drain on the salmon supply of the river made by its numerous canneries would have caused an alarming diminution of the salmon of this wonderful salmon river. I think it is safe to say further, that unless the hatching and distribution of young salmon is continued at these stations, either the canneries on these rivers or the salmon in them will become a thing of the past. " Very truly yours, " LIVINGSTONE STONE." The result of acclimatizing and cultivating various members of the Salmo?ttdce, as well as other fish, on some parts of the Continent, notably in Germany, has been decidedly successful. Trout are now grown there in large numbers, both for the market and also for stocking waters, and their angling localities are already being advertised in British newspapers. But in our little islands strides are also being made in fish-cultural departures, as I shall endeavour to shew in my next chapter. CHAPTER II. Having reference to the Solway Fishery — Loch Kinder and its trout — Loch Leven trout — An anglers paradise — Poachers — Nature's motive power. " A N angler's paradise ! " Three words that are at once sug- gestive to the lover of the rod of a wonderfully pleasing sensation. And such were the words that escaped the lips of one of the pleasantest and most agreeable anglers who ever visited the Solway Fishery. It came about in this way. I had been down the coast yachting for a few days, studying some of the denizens of the deep sea with a view to their cultivation, and on my return found a card had been left by a visitor who had called to see my fish ponds, and who was described to me as taking great interest in the work, and who, after seeing part of what was to be seen had exclaimed, " What an angler's paradise !" It struck me as being a most refined and appropriate ex- pression, in few words, of the feelings of one who afterwards proved himself to be one of the best anglers I had ever come across. He always caught fish, and what was more, he got them when nobody else could catch them, and in the most skilful and sportsmanlike manner. On loch or stream it was the same. One day I lent him my boat on a loch where other people seemed to have only indifferent success, and he soon captured over forty pounds of pike and perch, some of the latter being about three pounds in weight. It is rather amusing to note the exclamations of visitors on being shown round my fish ponds, expressive possibly of pretty much the same kind of feeling, but certainly varying a good deal in phraseology. My friend to whom I have just referred gave vent to his feelings once and for all in three very expressive words. Another interested party kept on continually uttering the words An Angler's Paradise. 15 " By Jove," and at nearly every pond we came to this expression was repeated. Considering that there are upwards of seventy ponds, and he examined most of them, he must have made use of this expression over forty times during his round. But he ex- hibited, although not so demonstratively, the same keen inward sense of enjoyment, and the repeated utterance of these two words proved no doubt a relief to him. Another visitor kept continually exclaiming " Dear me," and the number of times those two words were repeated must have been something considerable, whilst yet another gave vent to his feelings by saying " What a caution !" Most visitors have expressed great delight at the sights shown, and have evidently highly enjoyed their visits, whilst yet a few would gaze complacently on the scene as if it were all a matter of course, and as if they had seen the same thing a hundred times before. Need I say these were not anglers? No feelings were aroused within them, and no interested enthusiasm was observable as they gazed upon the masses of fish, which to them no doubt were no more suggestive than a pile of herrings on a costermonger's barrow. " Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said," nor to anyone else either, anything which would be indicative of the fact that he was undergoing that deep sense of pleasure which every angler experiences at even a far less impressive sight. I hope that no reader will for a moment think I am unduly poking fun at him — far be it from me to do that ; but whilst giving an indescribable amount of pleasure to so many who come here, it is only fair that we who dwell in this most delightful wilderness should get some amusement in return. I am sure all will agree to this. But to return to my first friend ; I found he was to be in the neighbourhood for a couple of months, having taken a house along with the fishing on a good trout loch and the stream con- nected with it, so took the earliest opportunity of driving over to make a call. He had just come off Loch Kinder with about fifteen pounds of trout, which were brought in for our inspection. Beautiful creatures they were and in excellent condition, averaging about or near a pound each. After a very pleasant fishy chat, 1 6 An Angler's Paradise. and an inspection of his rods and tackle, which were " something numerous " and formed an enticingly interesting collection, and promising, all being well, to meet again another day, we bade adieu. But more about Loch Kinder and its trout. The loch has long been famous for them, and tradition tells us they were originally brought from Loch Leven by the monks of the abbey close by. Be this as it may, the fish are excellent, and some of them which I have seen bear a resemblance to some forms of Salmo Levenensis. But this latter fish is found to occur in great variety, and according to the testimony of Dr. Francis Day and others, it soon assumes in some waters an ordinary fario type, shewing more or less of red on the adipose fin and having red spots. I have made a careful study of this trait in the character of the Loch Leven trout, and I find that even if fish are bred from a pair of typical Loch Levens, or, as we call them on a fish farm, "thoroughbreds," that some, it may be only a few, show these variations, which are looked upon as typical of the ordinary fario form of trout. It is only by careful study that these peculiari- ties can be followed up, but those who are accustomed to handle, year after year, large numbers of these fish of all ages and sizes have an opportunity of noting changes and differences which few others possess. Much has been done but much yet remains to be done in tracing the development of new types, the result it may be of artificial cultivation, and in tracing out the reversion in the case of some individuals, to an origin from which they may possibly have sprung. It is not my province to go into these matters here, but I cannot pass by a subject of such deeply fascinating interest without a brief allusion to it. Wherever these Loch Kinder trout originally came from, they are good fish. There seem to be three varieties in the loch, due no doubt to the different portions the fish inhabit, a feature noticeable in many other lochs. The weakest point about this piece of water is its great want of accessible spawning ground. At present it is entirely inadequate to the requirements of the loch, and beset with natural difficulties, which if removed would make it one of the finest lochs in the south of Scotland, and the work could be quite easily done. An Angler's Paradise. 17 Most of the trout are under the necessity of passing down stream for spawning purposes, and this they do until they reach the junction of the stream with another known as the Glen burn, when they alter their course and head up the latter in large num- bers, pushing right up to its very source, as well as up some of its tributaries. This description of Loch Kinder is applicable, in a more or less modified degree, to a great many of our lakes, the fishing of which might be very materially improved by a little judicious interference on the part of man. I have met many an angler who has very pleasant reminiscences of days spent on the loch, but all agree in saying, that it ought to yield them a far better basket of fish. And so it would under slightly altered conditions. If it be possible to keep up such a constant supply of trout as is now being done in Loch Leven, notwithstanding the pike, how much more easily it might be done in other lochs where no pike exist. Loch Awe, too, is another instance, and I might mention more. Even in lakes containing pike it has been proved that, by using proper means, a splendid stock of trout may be maintained, and it is idle to talk longer of the uselessness of dealing with such waters. That day is now gone by. There was a time when here the land was full of magpies, jays, and hawks ; more of these birds than grouse and partridges. How now ? I have hardly seen a magpie or a jay the last ten years in this part. Hawks there are a few, because they're migratory. And also as to mammals ; why, the polecat and the badger are about extinct, the wild cat's gone, the stoat and weasel too are very scarce, but grouse and rabbits are abundant where formerly they were rarely seen. Pike can be killed or caught alive, and pike are valuable in their proper places, and they should not spoil but help to make "an angler's paradise." So let us put them right. These little matters will get shaken down after a while. I have seen many lakes in which a stock of trout might easily be maintained notwithstanding the pike — waters that now are comparatively barren — the existing pike being chiefly small, having little to feed on but each other, and perhaps a few perch. A few years ago it was supposed that the presence of pike in any water was an insuperable difficulty in the way of stocking with c 1 8 An Angler's Paradise. trout. This is not so, as we have seen, and I fully believe that before long it will be plainly demonstrated that pike can be suffi- ciently banished, when desired, from a great many of our waters in which they now exist. When the mode of dealing with them is as well studied and practised as that of dealing with land pests, we shall soon find out ways and means for getting rid of them. There is an old saying, that he who makes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, is a benefactor to his fellow-men. Many people have dealt with blades of grass, and as we are well aware, some of them have met with a considerable amount of success. Now there are a few of us who have devoted our energies to something else, and I hope to show that it is not only quite possible, but often comparatively easy in a great many cases, to make fish grow where but few fish grew before. The fish culturist has been a long time in " coming to the scratch," but take care he does not beat the botanist after all. That this growing of fish is not only possible, but has in many places already been done successfully, is now an established fact. Ponds have recently been constructed in many places by those who have become alive to the advantages of fish culture as it is carried on at the present day. I have seen as a result the delighted angler filling his basket, not with little fingerlings, such as we have been accustomed to catch in so many of our mountain streams, but bringing to bank, after tough resistance, fish after fish, requiring the use of the landing-net, and weighing pounds instead of ounces. To leave the busy din and bustle of the city, and after a comfortable journey, as it is now accomplished by rail, to find one's-self located in the " Land of the mountain and the flood," to see the mists creeping up the mountain sides, and to stand, rod in hand, in some lonely glen, gazing at the beauty of the scene, as bursts of glowing sunshine are thrown from Nature's lantern upon sheets of mist and mellow-tinted mountain sides, to view the jutting crag o'er which the raven croaks her echoed call of warning, and to see the gaunt pine trees stand forth amid the whirling mass ; to see them growing clearer, more defined, as Sol, more powerful, drives his weaker foe into oblivion ; ah ! that foe An Angler's Paradise. 19 is " cornered " here, and in his power, and before him must melt away ; not so in the great city, where the mist is made by human beings into something else, and even Sol in all his grandeur often cannot lift the curtain when it falls upon St. Paul's and West- minster. But here, to stand and see it lifting, leaving behind a view on which 'tis good to gaze, the moor, the rocks, the trees, the mountains hanging over all, and down below a peaceful valley with its river winding far till lost in the expanse of distance. But at our feet a brook, its mossy sides and rocky buttresses reflected in the still clear pools, the gossamer upon its banks still hung with dew-drops, and the plants upon its margin with their heads still hanging down as if in slumber. Sol has not touched them with his finger tips as yet. To gaze on such a scene inspires the town-born traveller with ecstacy, and a feeling as of awe and wonder rises within him, mixed with keen delight, as the water of the brook beneath him circles round a given point where Salmo touched its surface. A little one, 'tis true, but t'was a Salmo really. See ! there another rises. The traveller smiles a pleasant smile, brings forth his tackle, and essays to tempt the little fish into his creel — at the third cast he is successful, and steps lightly on to the next pool to try again • — another fingerling is thrown upon the bank, and yet another, lured from its watery home. And this the traveller is content to call his fishing, and to view all things round as exquisitely beauti- ful ; more beautiful because he holds a fishing-rod — it helps him to enjoy the scene most thoroughly and to make the best of everything. Then how much more, when climbing yonder bank he comes upon a pool larger than all the rest, and deeper too, a pool which human hands have made, and stocked; and here he tries his " gentle art " — soon has a rise — is into one, " A monster " quoth our tyro. Off goes the fish, out runs the line till thirty yards are gone, then slackens, and he reels him in awhile. But off he goes again, now plunges and then leaps from out the water, shewing for a moment his bright silvery scales — a full three-pounder surely — ah ! yes, he turns the scale at that when he is brought to bank at last, and safely landed. Another cast or two and then another fish is hooked, more playful even than the last ; he plays, 2O An Anglers Paradise. he fights, leaps, rushes, and lies panting in the net, then in the creel. But why the change from fingerlings to what you may call fish? It is because that wonderful provision long ago designed by Nature for mankind, giving him dominion over all her creatures, whether beast, or fish, or fowl, has been made use of, by which the water of a simple moorland rill can now with human aid produce enormously. It must be quite apparent, even to the most casual observer of the laws of Nature, that there exists a wonderful balance of animal and vegetable life, which has been kept up for ages, by the destruction of one species by another. Man has the power given to him of altering that balance, and of adjusting Nature's laws to meet his own requirements. Interference with Nature's balance, however, is a matter which should receive serious consideration before action is commenced. Experience teaches us undoubtedly that where man thoughtlessly interferes with it the result means loss to himself, and as an example of this we may take the rabbit pest at the Antipodes. Where thoughtfully done, however, the result is often one of great benefit. Of this there are a good many examples, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The axiom we know applies very largely to the cultivation of the land, and it also applies in an even greater ratio to the cultivation of the water. Man has now the means of dealing with it in such a manner, that it is quite practicable to utilize the small rills of our mountain or lowland valleys, and make them produce an abundance of large fish, where the merest dwarfs existed before.* It has been done most successfully, and may be done in thousands of other places in this country, and often at a comparatively trifling cost. *In the case of many streams there is, unfortunately, a very bad reason for the fish never or only rarely exceeding a certain size ; and that is that nearly every one above, say, a quarter of a pound in weight is taken out by the poacher. He fishes chiefly with a net which will not take the smaller fish, but which is most destructive amongst large ones. Often have I come across him, or his shadow, out at night, but as long as the law winks at such proceedings, by imposing penalties, when caught, at which he chuckles, so long will he continue to depopulate our streams. The net used in this part is usually the shackle or bag-net. I have sometimes used one for obtaining spawners from a stream, An Angler's Paradise. 21 A great deal has been said and written about the water area of the globe, but when we take into consideration the water facility which we posses in Britain, and realize that it is a great motive power which may be turned to excellent account, the wonder will be that it has been so long allowed to run idly down our hill sides, and along our valleys, where it might have been made, by means of a little ingenuity and engineering skill, to do good work in far more ways than one. I have briefly described a portion of a natural mountain or moorland stream, and nearly everyone who makes any pretence at trout fishing, is acquainted with such a stream in some shape or other. It may be a dashing mountain torrent, careering along over its rocky and boulder bestrewn bed through wastes of heather ; or perhaps at a lower elevation, it may be passing more sluggishly between earthy banks cut through a fertile tract of country ; but it is still the same in one respect — it is a trout stream. Everyone who has been accustomed to frequent the banks of such a stream needs not to be reminded how, in a great many instances, trout of any size are rare. The stream may be replenished by the introduction of other and better breeds, and although this undoubtedly does good, it is necessary that other things be equal, or the result often discourages rather than otherwise, a matter on which I shall have more to say in my next chapter. But by dealing with the motive power which Nature has provided, and making a series of artificial pools which may be kept under absolute control, the stream containing only and can testify to the destruction that may be wrought with such a deadly engine when in improper hands. In private or enclosed waters the matter is now fortunately very different, and several good stiff penalties have been imposed. The case then becomes one of stealing, and will carry a very much higher penalty than that inflicted for poaching. In many cases which come under the latter head, absolute encouragement of the crime has resulted from the absurdly inadequate fines which have been imposed. I have known cases of men who have made a living by poaching, and who, when caught once in a while, have been fined a few shillings, and have within a few hours not only made up the fine, but a good deal more, by the plunder which they have obtained on another robbing expedition. In the interest of the men themselves, the sooner such practices are put a stop to the better. In a case which was brought before the Sheriff at Forfar of a man stealing fish from a private pond, evidence was given shewing that a certain proprietor had stocked the pone, v, ith trout. In such a case the trout, having been put into an enclosed piece of water, are as much the property of the owner as a flock of sheep, and this should be made widely known. The Sheriff said that the case involved a curious point in law. Under some circumstances, a person found fishing for trout could not be charged with theft ; but amid the circumstances connected with the par- ticular case, anyone who caught fish in the pond without the proprietor's sanction committed theft in the same way as if he stole the trout from a bowl. 22. Angler's Paradise, fingerlings may be made to produce big fish that are worth the catching, worth a journey, and without which we cannot make "•An Angler's Paradise." CHAPTER III. CHIEFLY HISTORICAL. Frank Buckland — His prophecies — Their fulfilment — Troutdale Fishery — Introduction of black bass and American trout — Solway Fishery commenced — Its progress— Nocturnal adventures — Discovery in Germany by Golstein — Jacobi — Gehin and Remy — M. Coste — Hiiningen — Gremaz — German Progress. [ ITERATURE tells us of the fish culture of the olden times, the esteem in which fish were held by the ancient Greeks and Romans, the ponds of the monks in Great Britain, and how the Chinese ingeniously collect the spawn of fishes on bundles of sticks and mats placed in the water, and how it is sold in their markets. On some parts of the Continent, too, fish are taken alive to market, and those which are not sold are taken back and returned to their pond living and well. As a pioneer of fish culture in this country there is no more honoured name than that of the late lamented Frank Buckland. How well I remember, some thirty years ago, listening to his talk about trout and salmon, and their ova, and reading his book on " Fish Hatching," published in 1863. More than a quarter of a century has rolled away since those days, and it is exceedingly interesting to look back and see how largely the work has developed since that time, often progressing under considerable difficulties, until it has reached its present magnitude. Frank Buckland said of fish culture that it promised " to be eventually the origin or increase of revenue to private individuals, a source of national wealth, and certainly a great boon to the public in general." The first portion of the prophecy has been fulfilled ; the second is only waiting to be so, as soon as our Government will 24 An Angler's Paradise. step in and take the matter in hand with regard to some of our marine and anadromous fishes, or else by suitable laws make the way easy for private individuals to do so. The third part of the prophecy is now being fulfilled, and the time will soon be when it will be said that fish culture is " a great boon to the public in general." It was this meeting with Buckland, coupled with a great love for Nature, and a strong desire to make its study of some practical use to myself and to my fellow-men, that first set me to work hatching fish ova. The first experiments were tried in a small apparatus rigged up over the water tank in my father's conservatory, and which resulted in trout being grown to a quarter of a pound in a cellar close by, and the subsequent erection of a small hatchery in his grounds, where trout ova were successfully dealt with, and the fish reared for several years. Finding this place and its water supply too small, a site was finally selected, in the year 1868, among the Cumberland mountains, for the first real hatchery ever erected in this country on commercial principles. The work at this, the Troutdale Hatchery was, owing to the nature of the surroundings, only carried on upon what would be considered now a very limited scale, and for twelve years under considerable difficulties, my time being closely occupied more than a hundred miles away, and it was only an occasional visit that I could give to the fishery and its work. In 1880, I was liberated in an unexpected manner, to carry on and devote my whole energy to the work, and I have now the satisfaction of looking upon a most successful issue to my labours. In the working of the establishment in Borrowdale, among the Cumberland mountains, I was assisted by the late John Parnaby, of Rothwell Haigh, in Yorkshire, who had just returned from Canada, where he had for some years been engaged in fish- cultural work under the Canadian Government. His experience was considerable, and coupled with my own knowledge of the subject, and a love of the work, we soon had a good stock of fish. Parnaby made several voyages to America, for the purpose of increasing his practical knowledge of fish culture, and of bringing to this country some of the more valuable food fishes of that An Angler's Paradise. 25 continent. The first living black bass ( Grystes nigricans) ever seen in Britain, were brought over by him in 1873, when I met him on board the ship in Liverpool, and helped to convey the little fellows to the Troutdale ponds. For this work we were rewarded by receiving the silver medal of the Societe' d' Acclimatation de Paris. A number of these fish, weighing about a pound each, were safely brought by Parnaby the year before (1872), as far as the Irish Coast, where they were simply battered to death in a terrific gale which was encountered off the Fastnet Rock. They were landed in Liverpool the next day perfectly fresh, and two of them we ate, and gave the rest away, one being sent to Frank Buckland for his valuable collection. The two which Parnaby and I disposed of proved excellent. In the year 1869 we introduced the American trout (Salmo fontinalis) into this country, and soon had a fine stock of these fish, which did exceedingly well in the ponds at Troutdale. Since those days they have been distributed through the country, and in some waters have done remarkably well, whereas in others they seem to have disappeared. The migratory instinct in these fish f is very strong, and at certain times of the year they will leave a lake or pond and push up stream, or down, as the case may be. They go to the sea, and have been caught in the salt water, in some of our bays and estuaries. This sea-going habit alone proves them to be good fish, but it renders special precautions necessary in order to prevent them from making their exit. Where such steps are taken, by the simple fixing of a screen at the outlet of a pond or lake, the fish are easily retained, and in many instances have given great satisfaction to their owners. In other cases, where they have had free access to a river, they have simply run away. That the S. fontinalis is a real game fish is beyond question, but that it is not adapted for all our waters seems to be also a settled fact. In some waters it is accused of not rising to the fly, but I have not yet met with such a case personally. I have on the other hand made its ac- quaintance in. many places, where it rises in a manner that has astonished many old and skilled fishermen. Where these fish can be kept in a lake, and allowed access to a set of artificial 26 An Angler's Paradise. ^pawning beds, which will be described in my chapter on the construction of fish ponds, they will do well. For a pond near a house they do admirably, and are excellent eating when well fed in suitable waters. No river in this country has ever yet been stocked with them. The turning in of a few thousand fry is not stocking a river. Until 250,000 eyed ova have been planted for three consecutive seasons, we have no right to pronounce the stocking of British rivers a failure. Two years ago, I offered to bear half the cost of the experiment on certain conditions, in the hope that some large proprietor would come forward and join in it, but the offer was not accepted. Until something of this kind has been done, it is premature to condemn the fish as useless for our rivers. The work at the Troutdale Fishery was continued until John Parnaby's death, when I took the whole burden of it on to my own shoulders, and finding the available space and the water I supply wholly inadequate, I began searching for another site. No one could imagine the difficulty experienced in finding a really suitable place for the erection of a hatchery, without having gone through it. However, the right spot was found at last, and upon it now stands the well-known Solway Fishery. Having secured the necessary land, the first step taken was to dig out five ponds and erect a hatchery. The latter was built of granite, eighty feet long by twenty feet wide inside, and has since been much enlarged. Hatching boxes were fitted up in this room, and one corner was partitioned off for an office pro. tern. At this time I was living fifteen miles away, and found that as the work grew my presence was needed on the spot, and therefore I took up my quarters at the hatchery. It was situated in a wild remote corner among the moors, with only one little cottage house in sight, and there being no sort of accommodation whatever, I did as I should have done had I been in America — I camped. Yes ! a whole winter was spent in that hatchery, and a very enjoyable winter it was. Before the next I had built a shanty, in which to live when my presence was required on the spot, and this has since been added to until it has assumed considerable proportions. Whilst engaged in the development of the fishery,, An Angler's 'Paradise. 27 there were, as might have been expected, sundry little bits of adventure, which rather "added a spice to the cake" than other- wise. Perhaps the most remarkable was an occurrence that took place on the night of December nth, 1883, when a terrific gale, of greater force than I had before experienced, burst upon us. Soon after midnight the storm began to reach its height, and at one o'clock in the morning the thick plate-glass of a large window was blown in, the frame being left intact — a few pieces of broken glass still remaining in it, while the rest were scattered over the room, a considerable quantity being found in the fire-place. Hastily calling an assistant, who was soon on the spot, we set to work to block up the broken window, in order to prevent the wind from getting into the house and doing further damage. I remembered a wooden platform that had recently come back from the International Fisheries Exhibition at South Kensington, and we ran to the place where it was lying along with some large cases of hatching apparatus, models, etc., still unpacked, but were met by one of the cases which came careering through the air, passing us within a few feet. The other cases had already gone, and the platform would soon have followed had we not secured it. As it was we had not much difficulty in getting it carried to the window, for we had almost a fair wind, and by steering a little we kept a good course, the only thing needful being to let go just at the right point. To have taken it back would have been impossible for six men. It was speedily fastened up and blocked the aperture safely. The wind at this time (about 1-30 a.m.) was terrific. I have; been in gales both on sea and land, but never witnessed anything approaching this. Every now and again there was a complete lull, and we could hear the wind sweeping down the pine woods in the distance, with a roar as of a mighty flood, and as it struck the house the noise was as if some huge battering ram had been brought to bear upon it. Large timber trees were uprooted wholesale, or snapped asunder, and daylight revealed the awful destruction that had been going on in the woods around, many thousands of large timber trees being blown down. Many of the woods were lying quite flat, the trees torn up by the roots, 28 An Angler's Paradise. as if some giant hand had been doing a little weeding, and after pulling them up, had left them to wither and die. Fortunately the night was clear and bright moonlight, not a cloud being visible, and we soon found the relics of the ex- hibition; the wind had carried them until they stuck in some trees and dropped into a brook, which, being full, carried them off, but fortunately they stranded or stuck fast in bushes before travelling very far. We could do little towards getting them out then, so allowed them to remain till morning, when they were duly recovered. I felt rather uneasy about the spouting that conveyed the water to the hatchery, and we went round to the back of the building to inspect it. The spouts had been firmly nailed to stout oak tressels fixed in the ground. The tressels were immovable, but the spouts had parted company, and were simply " to seek," to use a common Yorkshire expression. It seemed to come in very appropriately here, for we literally had "to seek," and finally found the spouts, sticking in some trees near, well to leeward of course. We soon had them out and commenced to carry them back, but a gust of wind took them out of our hands and overhead back again from where we had brought them. After procuring a hammer and some stout nails, we again commenced carrying the spouts one at a time, and by dodging the wind, got one of them on to its tressels and got in four nails. While we were carrying the next length of spout- ing, however, we saw the first, which we thought we had firmly fixed, flung off its seat by the wind, and the second was no sooner fixed than it was served in the same manner. Just at this moment came a terrific gust which lifted me off my feet, and but for taking a regular dive into the wind as if it had been so much water, I should have been carried into the stream close by, or possibly into the trees. At the same time the crashing of timber in the wood above us was terrific, as upwards of two hundred splendid larches fell flat as the walls of Jericho, knocking each other down like ninepins. The air was filled with flying branches, sticks, and other missiles, and suddenly a cloud rose from the earth a short way off, and obscured the sky for some distance, finally losing itself in a plantation of young Scotch firs. An Angler's Paradise. 29 The effect was remarkable, and as another gust came down upon us, a second cloud proceeded on the same course as the first. Examination proved that a haystack had migrated, and the appearance of the fir plantation the next morning was as if all the sparrows in the three kingdoms had built their nests in it, while of the haystack only some two and a half feet of the bottom part remained. Finding we were absolutely powerless to cope with such a storm, and feeling sure it could not last long, we went indoors, and by this time being fairly hungry, we soon had a good meal prepared, after partaking of which we drew to the fire and smoked the pipe of peace, while the storm continued to howl on, the noise being at times almost deafening. The conversation naturally turned on storms, and several memorable ones were discussed, but none of them would bear comparison with the one that raged that night. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but at the same time hope I shall never see such another. By six a.m. the wind had moderated sufficiently for us to get the spouting fixed, and the water was again turned on to the hatchery. It had been cut off for five hours, and I was rather afraid some of the ova would have suffered, but everything went well, and I never could trace any ill effect to this memorable night. In the morning several of the natives kindly came some distance to render assistance, expecting to find the " shanty " a heap of ruins, and I had a good laugh as one of them seriously told me about this some time afterwards. The water is now, and has for some time been conveyed in underground pipes, and the arrangements are most complete ; no wind or frost having any influence on the regular flow into the hatcheries. For many years all the spawning was done out of doors, but now in bad weather a good deal is done in a spawning house. This is conducive not only to the comfort of the workers, but to the welfare of the ova, as a better impreg- nation can be got by keeping wind and rain and sleet out of the spawning dish, and everything as dry as possible. In addition to this the days are very short in Scotland at spawning time, and with a spawning house the work can go on all night when necessary, without the slightest difficulty. The discovery in modern times in Europe, of the art of 3