Norfolk Broad and River Fishing - Fishing for Pike and Other Coarse Fish

G. Christopher Davies

Description

“Norfolk Broad and River Fishing” provides a detailed account of fishing for pike and other course fish on the Norfolk Broads and surrounding rivers. This highly-readable and informative guide aims to furnish the reader with all the information relative to fishing in this area, interwoven with personal experiences and wonderful descriptions of the local people and places. “Norfolk Broad and River Fishing” is highly recommended for all fishing enthusiasts, and it would make for a fine addition to allied collections. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new introduction on the history of fishing.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Histoire du sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Sports
• Fishing
• Recreation

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781446549605
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

NORFOLK BROAD AND RIVER FISHING
FISHING FOR PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH
BY
G. CHRISTOPHER DAVIES
Contents
PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH.
NORFOLK BROAD AND RIVER FISHING.
PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH .
NORFOLK BROAD AND RIVER FISHING .
T HERE can be no doubt that the Norfolk rivers with their adjacent Broads present a greater extent of fishing ground for coarse fish than any other district in England, and the average sport enjoyed on them far exceeds that obtainable on other waters.
Putting the Broads, properly so called, on one side, there are at least eighty miles of free fishing water, the takes in which are not counted by the pound or by number, but by the stone. Yet it is a curious fact that while sport of such a character is enjoyed by the native angler and by those visitors who have learned the ways of the natives, strangers coming down, however skilful anglers they may be, have but indifferent sport. This is due chiefly to ignorance of the best places under different conditions of wind, weather, and tide, and to the non-observance of certain well-defined methods of fishing, which the depth of water and strength of current render necessary. In all these miles of free fishing the rivers present to the eye much the same characteristics-broad, placid streams with marshy banks and uniform currents-so that to one unacquainted with the locality one spot looks as good as another. Yet this is not so. The depth varies; there is an imperceptible eddy in one part, where the fish gather with the tide one way, and which they may forsake when the tide flows the other way. The bottom may in one spot be fairly clean, and ten yards away be very foul. A knowledge of the contour of the river bottom is most essential to successful angling, and this knowledge is not obtainable without the aid of local experience. The appearance of the banks affords no reliable indication of the depth of the water a few feet away.
The Broads are not so inscrutable, but nevertheless present certain characteristics which must be borne in mind. Fishing on the actual Broads is a matter of leave. The riparian owners lay claim to the exclusive right of fishing even on those Broads which, in addition to being navigable, are affected by the rise and fall of the tide. Those which have never been used for navigation are of course private, and as the navigation on others falls into disuse, owing to the growing up and shallowing of the waters, the riparians assert their rights. Oulton Broad, near Lowestoft, is practically the only one which the public now fish without let or hindrance. A good deal of fishing goes on in Wroxham Broad, but steps may at any moment be taken to put a stop to it. This uncomfortable state of things has grown up in consequence of the immense increase in the number of anglers of late years. Nevertheless, it is not a difficult matter to obtain leave to fish many of the Broads, and they are still sufficiently frequented by the public to be considered as angling resorts.
The Broads are in reality shallow lagoons from ten to four hundred acres in extent, with weedy bays and reedy promontories, having, as a rule, bottoms composed of exceedingly soft and deep mud. The rivers are generally deep, being from twelve to twenty feet in the channel; but it is difficult to fix on a spot on any of the Broads where there is more than seven feet of water, while generally speaking there is but three or four feet. Parts of Wroxham and Oulton are deep, and the best spots for angling are well known, the deepest water being chosen.
As far as angling (which in Norfolk means bait-fishing, as distinguished from pike-fishing) is concerned, the free rivers afford quite as good fishing as the private Broads.
Mention has been made of the tides. Now the fall of the Yare from Norwich to the sea-twenty-six miles-is barely four inches to the mile, and the other rivers are similar. The flood-tide is salt for the first few miles from the sea, gradually becoming brackish as it meets the river water, which it drives backward with it. For twenty miles at least from the sea there is a strong upward current at flood-tide, and a slight current right up to Norwich. None of the fresh-water fish-pike, roach, and bream-mind a little taste of the salt water, provided the change comes gradually; and the largest bream are found where the water is decidedly brackish, both on the flood and ebb. Occasionally, however, a higher tide than usual brings with it a more sudden influx of salt water, which, surprising the fish, kills a good many, particularly the pike, and drives the others up stream and up the dykes into the Broads. Such an influx of the salts, which happens in a greater or less degree every year, changes the aspect of the fishing for a time. A week or two before the date of writing this (November 1884), the pike were being taken in large numbers and of goodly size in the Yare between Coldham Hall and Cantley. There came a salt tide, which destroyed many, and drove the others away, nobody knows where, or perhaps sickened and put them off the feed. At all events none have been caught since.
Then there is sometimes a land flood, which brings bitter water, or marsh tea, off the marshes, and this drives the fish into the lower and deeper waters, or into the Broads. A few years ago Oulton Broad became crammed with fish, owing to a flood on the Waveney, and the sport obtained for a few weeks was something extraordinary.
Thus the angler has got to follow the fish according to the exigencies of tides and floods, being guided by the reports from the fishing-stations. There is no difficulty as to this, for so many anglers are daily out in all parts that the news as to where the fish are rapidly spreads.
Although the number of anglers is tenfold greater than a genera