The Rivers Wandle And Coln
These rivers are convenient to London, and are famous for fly fishing:
they are in general private property, but the owners are very civil in
granting one or two days' angling on application and sending your card.
There are two or three places on the Wandle that may be angled in at
will, about the neighbourhood of Carshalton, and Ackbridge; and on the
Coln, at Watford and Rickmansworth. The flies to suit the Wandle are
generally well known, which are--the Carshalton cocktail, dark hare's
ear, blue and pale duns, little peacock fly, furnace fly, small soldier
fly, and little black red palmers, the little brown midge and the March
brown made very small, small black gnat, and red ant, these flies may be
seen in my list for the season, they cannot fail to afford diversion.
The flies to suit the river Coln, are--the brown Caperer, large cinnamon
fly, brown-red palmer, and Orl fly with a dun hackle and yellow body,
the stone fly, March brown, brown grouse hackle, wren-tail fly, large
red ant, black gnat, and dun drake, a red hackle fly made full with the
red and grey tail feather of the partridge mixed, bronze peacock harl
body. Hook No. 8.
The Great Whirling Dun, Red Spinner, the Coachman, and the Large
Governor flies will be found with those good for the evening, with a
nice ripple on the water.
The river Itchen, at Itchen Abbas, Hants, is a very nice stream for fly
fishing, and the Avon at Salisbury Plain, the Kennet, at Hungerford,
Berks, is also good, and the river Mole at Leatherhead, Surrey, is a
beautiful stream for fly fishing, in the vicinity of Randal's Park. It
has been preserved in the park for years, and abounds with large trout.
Whitchurch and Stockbridge are also good places for the fly, in
Hampshire; and the famed "Lea" at Ware, the resort of many a good London
angler; the river Stour is another fine trout stream, it receives the
rivers of Wilts in its course, waters Hampshire, and falls into the sea
at Christchurch. My list of flies will kill here.
There are many very beautiful rivers in Devonshire for trout fishing,
which are, the Ex at Exeter and Tiverton, the Ax at Axminster, and the
Tamar which separates Cornwall and Devon, a very considerable river, in
which there are salmon and fine white trout in the spring of the year,
March and April. Launceston would be the most convenient station for the
tourist angler to fish this fine river.
The salmon in it take small flies, with claret and dark brown bodies,
ribbed with gold, mallard wings mixed with a little tipped feather, and
tails of the same; at high water they rise and take more gaudily
dressed ones, made on B and BB hooks.
I sent the colours to a gentleman to suit this river some time ago, who
told me it would be an excellent one for salmon, were it well taken care
of. He made his own flies.
I have also sent fishing colours, hackles, and flies, to suit every
river, or nearly so, in Great Britain, to gentlemen residing on their
banks, which has been a great advantage to me in obtaining the knowledge
of the local flies, but in general my flies have succeeded best in the
hands of those Fly fishers who have made it their study and practice.
It will be seen that I have not withheld the local flies for each river
from accompanying my own, and those great anglers who visit Norway will
find the Salmon flies in the plates most killing, and it will be a great
advantage to them to have this book in their possession, to give them a
knowledge of fishing colours, and the various modes of dressing both
salmon and trout flies, the delineation of which they will see I have
given to a nicety, having studied from my youth, and learned from my own
observation.
I have been all my life too fond of fishing, which has been sometimes to
my disadvantage, but I loved the scenes of woods, green hills, of
singing birds, meadows, and fresh air, rushing rivers, and above all, to
look at the beautiful fish jumping to catch the fly on the surface of
the water.