Part 3

It is very common in many of our seas, and in some of our rivers which lie near the sea. They run up there in great numbers, and are then very fat; they afterwards become lean, and go down to the sea again. They usually swim in large shoals together.

The Shad is in higher perfection in the Severn than in any other river in Great Britain. It appears there in May, and in very warm seasons, in April; it continues about two months. At its first appearance, it is esteemed a very delicate fish; especially at Gloucester, where it sells dearer than Salmon. The London fishmongers distinguish it from that of the Thames by the French name of Alose. Whether they spawn in the Severn and Wye, is not determined, as their fry has not yet been ascertained. The old fish come from the sea in full roe.

The fishermen imagine, very erroneously, that the Bleak, which appear in multitudes near Gloucester in the months of July and August, are the fry of the Shad: many of these are taken in those months only; but none of the emaciated Shad are ever caught in their return.

The Thames Shad does not frequent the river till the month of July, and is thought a very coarse, insipid fish. At that time, the Twaite, a variety of Shad which makes its appearance in Gloucester, and is taken in great numbers in the Severn, but held in as great disrepute as the Shad of the Thames. The real Shad weighs sometimes eight pounds; but in general from four to five. The Twaite, on the contrary, weighs from half a pound to two pounds, which it never exceeds. It only differs from the small Shad, by having one or more black spots on its side, which are generally placed one under the other.

The TENCH

Is, in Icthyology, the English name of the Tinca of the modern authors; but, according to the Artedian and Linnæan system, a species of the Cyprinus. It is distinguished by Artedi by the name of the blackish, mucous, or slimy Cyprinus, with the end of the tail even.

The TROUT

Is a very valuable river-fish; the characters of which are these. It has a long body; its head is short and round, its nose blunt at the end: its tail is very broad; its mouth large, and each jaw furnished with one row of sharp teeth. In its palate there are three parcels of teeth, each of an oblong figure, in the congeries, and all meeting in an angle near the end of the nose; the tongue has also six, eight, or ten teeth on it. It is very beautifully variegated on the sides with red spots. The colour of the Trout, and of its spots, varies greatly in different waters and different seasons; yet you may reduce each to one species.

In Llyndivi (a lake in South Wales), there are Trouts called Coch y Dail, marked with red and black spots about the size of a sixpence; others, not spotted, and of a reddish hue, which sometimes weigh from eight to ten pounds: they are very ill tasted. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, there are Trouts called Buddagh, many of which weigh thirty pounds; others are taken of a much superior size, in Hulse Water (a lake in Cumberland), the same as those Trouts in the lakes of Geneva.

The stomachs of the common Trouts are very thick and muscular, as they feed on the shell fish of lakes and rivers as well as the small fish; and take gravel or stones into their stomachs to assist in comminuting the testaceous parts of their food. The Trouts of certain lakes in Ireland are remarkable for the great thickness of their stomachs, which, from some resemblance to the digesting organs in birds, are called Gizzards; and the species which have them, are called Gizzard Trouts. These stomachs are frequently served up to the table in Ireland, under the nomination of Gizzards.

Trouts are a very voracious fish, affording the angler great amusement. The under jaw of the Trout is subject to the same curvature as that of the Salmon. There is likewise a species of Trout, which migrates out of the sea into the river Esk in Cumberland, from July to September, and called, from its colour, the Whiting. Its taste is delicious. When they first make their appearance from the salt water, they have a Salmon Louse adhering to them. They have milt and spawn; but no fry has been yet observed. It goes under the appellation of Phinocs, among the Scotch. They are never more than a foot in length; the upper jaw is somewhat longer than the lower; the upper contains two rows of teeth, and the lower one: on the tongue there are six teeth. Its form is truly elegant; the colour dusky, mingled with silver. First dorsal fin spotted with black; the tail quite black, and forked; the first dorsal fin has eleven rays; the pectoral thirteen; the ventral nine; the anal nine.

The WHITING

Is, in Icthyology, the English name of a common fish of the Asellus kind, called by some Asellus Mollis, and by others Asellus Albus, or Merlangus. It is certainly, according to the Artedian system, one of the Gadi; distinguished by that author by the name of Gadus with three fins on the back; without beards, with a white body; the upper jaw longer than the lower.

The Whiting, or Gadus Melangus of Linnæus, has a very elegant form: its eyes are large, its nose sharp; the teeth of the upper jaw are very long, and appear above the lower when closed. The first dorsal fin has fifteen rays, the second eighteen, and the last twenty. The head and back are of a pale brown colour; the lateral line white and crooked; the belly and sides silvery; the sides being marked lengthways with yellow.

They appear in the sea, by large shoals, in the spring, keeping at the distance of about half a mile to that of three miles from the shore. They are the most delicate and wholesome of any of the genus, and seldom grow to more than ten or twelve inches in length.

A DISCOURSE OF FISH AND FISH-PONDS,

BY The Hon. ROGER NORTH.

A DISCOURSE OF FISH AND FISH-PONDS.

Of the Situation and Disposition of the principal Waters.

One great point in the conduct of fish, is, to have them at command; another is, to have perpetual recruits, to supply your stock as you draw it off. This is not to be done without a certain order and method; and with it, nothing is more practicable and easy.

Your method must be, to have some great waters, which are the head-quarters of the fish, from whence you may take, or wherein you may put, any ordinary quantity of fish. Then to have stews, and other proper auxiliary waters, so as you lead the fish from one to the other, whereby you never shall want, and need not abound; and, which is more, lose no time in the growth of the fish, but employ the water, as you do your land, to the best advantage.

This will appear more distinctly in the sequel of this discourse, which shall begin with the situation and disposition of the principal waters, whereupon you must depend for the raising and feeding the greatest part of the stock.

First, you must examine the grounds, and find some fall betwixt two hills, as near a flat as may be, so as there be a sufficient current for the water. If there be any difficulty in judging of such, take an opportunity after some sudden rain, or the breaking up of a great snow in winter, and you shall see plainly which way the ground casts; for the water will take the true fall, and run accordingly.

The condition of the place must determine the quantity of ground to be covered with water. I should propose in all, fifteen acres in three ponds, or eight acres in two, and not less. And these ponds should be placed one above another, so as the point of the lower may almost reach the head or bank of the upper; which will be very beautiful, as well as profitable, as will appear afterwards.

The head or bank, which, by stopping the water in its current, is to raise the water, and so make a pond, must be built with the clay and earth taken from the pan or hollow dug in the lowest ground above the bank; and that pan should be shaped as half an oval, whereof the flat comes to the bank, and the longer diameter runs square from it.

But were there not need of earth for this purpose, it were better to leave the natural soil for the fish to feed upon. I shall give the reason afterwards, and consider the manner of raising and fortifying the bank particularly.

Of the Manner of the making and raising Pond-Heads.

It is obvious, that if you make a dam cross a valley or swamp, where at any time after, the water runs, it will produce a pond; and as the bank or dam is higher at the point or center, which is against the lowest ground, so much is the pond deeper; and if the hills on each side rise steep and quick, the water stopped will cover less ground than if they rise slow.