Jill has kindly released a few snippets from a fascinating and beautiful ledger from the earliest days of Ingestone Fishery. Beautifully hand written, the leather bound log book dating back to 1899 details the Salmon catches (other species also get a mention), the named pools the fish were caught in, weather conditions, river conditions, times and weights etc. It's quite superb and as well as a detailed insight into Ingestone's highly productive Salmon years, it also captures snippets from moments in our country's history including the first and second world wars.
It's quite amazing seeing the names of the pools we still fish in now referenced from over a hundred years ago - incredible to think that you can be standing in exactly the same spot, casting into exactly the same place on the river as someone did all that time ago...
...and how about the two day tally in the photo from the 29th of Feb and the 1st March 1928 down at Farm Stream (the stretch just up from Foy Bridge) - four salmon at 28, 40, 25 & 34lbs, with the notes referencing the 40lb as being a "very fine male fish"...
