We had no time to fish, and as a matter of fact I cannot stay to fish, if there is a good breeze blowing; sailing first, fishing after!
We lay to at the mouth of Oulton dyke, to get our lunch, which we had put off rather too long. The dyke is nearly as broad as the river, and a mile and a half long, leading to Oulton Broad, which we intended to visit, after going up the Waveney to Beccles. At the junction of the dyke with the river there is an excellent fishing spot, with a great depth of water. While we lay there, a large two-masted vessel, a brigantine of 100 tons, came along the dyke at a good pace, with topsails only set, and looked as if she were going to scoop all the water out of the river with her great bluff bows. Her crew were pointing out to us, as we lay on the Waveney, and presently the hail came across the narrow neck of marsh, “Do we turn up past you to go to Beccles?”
“Yes, sharp to port; right around!”
The topsails came down, and the mainsail went up with great celerity, and with the aid of her aft canvas, and the helm hard over, she came round the acute angle of the sharp bend with creditable quickness, looking a veritable Goliath on those comparatively narrow waters. As she was now head to wind, down came her canvas, and half-a-dozen men went ashore with a long line to tow, and tow they did all the way to Beccles, 13 miles, by which time they must have had enough of it. She was in sight all day over the marsh.
After lunch, we sailed up the Waveney, having to tack a good portion of the way; but the river is so tortuous that some of the reaches can be sailed whichever way the wind is, without tacking.
“How remarkably clear the water is!” remarked Wynne.
“Yes, those weeds you see are 14 feet at least below us, and the river is deep close up to the banks. It is a very pleasant river to sail upon.”
“And what a lot of small fish there are!”
“Yes. The Waveney ought to be the best bottom-fishing river in England, it is so deep, clear, and sweet, but the poachers used to harry it dreadfully, with their long, small-meshed nets, and it was even trawled up by smacks, to get bait for sea-fishing, but the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Act has stopped all that, or nearly all, and the river is rapidly recovering itself. There are some very large perch in it, and wherever you see the bank gravelly and free from reeds, the bottom will be hard too, and a haunt of perch. Look at those bulrushes.”