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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.



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