ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 WILLARD A. KIGGINS, JR. 
 
 in memory of his father 
 
Cornell University Library 
 SH 439.S86C 1892 
 
 The angler's companion, a popular and pr 
 
 3 1924 003 448 150 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003448150 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLER'S COMPANION 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Angling Reminiscences 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RIVERS AND LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 A VOLUME OF COLLOQUIES. 
 
 Large Crown 8vo. Price, Ss. 6d. 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLER'S Companion 
 
 A POPULAR AND PRACTICAL HANDBOOK 
 
 TO THE 
 
 AET OF ANGLING 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS TOD §TODDART 
 
 Author of 
 " Angling Reminiscences," &'c, Sfc, 
 
 THIRD EDITION— REVISED 
 
 LONDON 
 
 SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO 
 
 GLASGOW: THOMAS D. MORISON 
 
 1892 
 
43"? 
 
 360645 
 
EiDITOiilAL PEEl^ACE; 
 
 In placing a revised and cheaper edition of the present 
 work before the public, little need be said regarding either 
 the book or its distinguished author, both are so well 
 known. The work has been a standard one, on this at- 
 tractive and interesting subject, ever since its first appear- 
 ance. Indeed, by the time the second edition appeared, the 
 author had spent nearly half a lifetime in little else, than 
 angling and writing on matters connected with the gentle 
 art. Since the publication of the second edition, it having 
 become illegal to fish with salmon roe, the portion bearing 
 on that matter has, of course, been omitted from the present 
 issue. Likewise the information that appeared -there, re- 
 garding the various lettings for rod-fishing, has been 
 omitted, being now quite superseded by that contained in 
 any recent Sportsman's Guide. The son of, a distinguished 
 naval officer, Mr. Stoddart studied for the bar. Finding 
 this profession ungenial, he withdrew from practice, and 
 settling at Kelso on the banks of the Tweed, spent 
 his life as already mentioned ; became a voluminous 
 writer, and at the same time probably the most noted 
 
6 EDIT^ORIAL PREFACE. 
 
 angler in Scotland. The productions of Mr. Stoddart's pen 
 may be detailed as follows : " The Lunacy or Death Wake : 
 A Necromant in Five Chimeras ; " " The Art of Angling ; " 
 "Angling Reminiscences;" "Angling Songs and Poems;" 
 " Abel Massinger, or the Aeronaut. A Romance ; " " The 
 Angler's Companion," two editions ; " An Angler's Rambles 
 and Angling Songs ; " " Songs of the Seasons and other 
 Poems" — all now being out of print save "The Angler's 
 Companion," and "Angling Reminiscences." The latter 
 volume, though comparatively little known, is an extremely 
 racy, interesting work written in colloquial style through- 
 out, and forms an agreeable companion to the former 
 book. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 CHAPTER II.- 
 
 THE FRESH- WATER TROUT. 
 
 Astonishing Variety of Species. — Instances in Point. — Effect of Trans- 
 ference on this or that Breed. — Cross Breeds. — Food and Habits. 
 —Growth and Size Affected by Sustenance, Range of Water, 
 Breeding Accommodation, &c. — Loch Trout. — River Trout. — 
 Size of Tweed Trout. — Illustration of the Effects of Superior 
 Feeding. — Leet and Esk Contrasted. — Growth of Trout. — The 
 Salmo &£Bc(/er. — Salmo J'eroa:. — Swallow-Smolt . . .18 
 
 CHAPTER III.- 
 
 ANGLER'S TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Silk- Worm Gut. — Its Manufacture. — Recipes for Dyeing. — Tackle 
 that Belonged to Sir Walter Scott. — Making up of Casting-Lines. 
 — ^Anglers' Knots. — Improved Construction of the Reel. —Rods. — 
 General Remarks. — Woods Employed in their Manufacture. — 
 The Ferrule. — Hooks. — Angler's Equipment. — Wading Boots, 
 Pocket-Book, the Box, Gaff, Pannier , , , i 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FLY-DRESSING. 
 
 Comparative Inutility of Written Instructions. — List of Materials 
 Required. — Feathers, *Dubbings, and Tinsels. — Trout Flies. — 
 Author's Method of Dressing Them. — General Remarks on the 
 Dressing of Scotch and Irish Salmon Flies. — Looped Heads on 
 Salmon Flies. — Horizontal or Flat Wings. — Projecting or Up- 
 right Wings ........ 59 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TROUTINa FUES. 
 
 Fastidiousness of Anglers. — Author's Limitation. — Groundwork of 
 a Killing Stock. — The Hackle. — Spider Fly. — Hooks, Round and 
 Irish Heads. — Their Adaptation in Point of Size to the Season, 
 State of Water, &o. — Fly-Fishing Months. — March, April, and 
 May. — Water Insects, &o. — June and July. — Night Lures. — The 
 Stone Fly. — Burn Fishing in Summer. — Loch Flies. —Fly-hooks 
 Employed in August and September. — Condition of Trout during 
 these Months . . . . . , . 
 
 CHAPTER VI.- 
 
 ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 The Fly Cast. — Fixing on of the Droppers. — Double and Single- 
 handed Trouting-Rod. — Their Comparative Merits. — Instructions 
 as to Throwing. — Management of the Line. — Angling Anato- 
 mised. — The Secret of its Delight Unfolded , . .83 
 
 CHAPTER VII.' 
 
 ON FISHING WITH THE WORM FOR TROUT. 
 
 Worm-Fishing in Troubled Waters. — Ditto in Clear Water. — Rod 
 and Tackle Suitable. — Adjustment of the Leads. — Earth Worms. 
 — Methods of Procuring Best Sorts. — Hartshorn Moss. — Prepara- 
 tion of Worms.— Scouring, Toughening, and Reddening Processes. 
 — Season, Time of Day, and State of Water. — Where to Angle. — 
 How to Bait, Manage the Tackle, &c. — Advices and Precautions. 
 — 'Striking, Landing, &c. , ... . . 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.- 
 
 TROUT-FISHING WITH THE MINNOW AND PARR-TAIL. 
 
 Introductory Observations. — Rod. — Fitting up of Tackles. — Ap- 
 proved Method of Attaching the Lure. — The Parr-Tail. — Shaping 
 of ditto. — Various other Tackles. — Arrangement of Leads and 
 Swivels. — Selection of Minnows. — Method of Taking Them. — 
 When to Fish with the Minnow. — When and Where to Use the 
 Parr-Tail. — Playing the Lure. — Edging and Striking. — Live, 
 Diving, and Gfound-Minnow Tackles. — Imitations. — Capping . 105 
 
CONTENTS. 9 
 
 PAHE 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SALMON. 
 
 Its Position among Fishes. — Distinguishing Points. — Marine and 
 Fresh-water Existence. — Internal Colour. — Effects of Rich Feed- 
 ing on Trout and Charr.— Marine Food of the Salmon. — Its Vor- 
 acious Habits. — Sea-Trout in the Moray Firth. — Yarrell and 
 Others on the Food of the Salmon. — Capture of Sea-Trout with 
 the Worm in Salt Water. — Norwegian Fiords . . .125 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SEA-TROUT. 
 
 The Eriox or BuU-Trout.— Its Size and Strength.— Abounds in the 
 Tweed. — Its Instincts and Voracity. — Distinguished from the' 
 SaW.— The Whitling.— Error with Regard to It.— The Finnock. 
 — Its Habits. — Silver-white of Tweed. — Herliugs and Bills. — 
 Bull-Trout of Tarras. — Norway Salmon. — Increase of the Eriox 
 in Tweed ........ 135 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SALMON FLIES. 
 
 Power of a Salmon to Distinguish the Colours of a Fly-Hook.— Its 
 Caprice and Fanciful Tastes. — Irish Fly-Hooks.— Modern Refine- 
 ment in regard to Salmon Flies. — Lists of Approved Salmon 
 Flies. — Adapting Them to Different Rivers . . . 141 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 ON SALMON-FISHING WITH THE PLY. 
 
 Introductory Sketch. — Salmon-Pishing Considered as alffanly Sport. 
 — Its Practice. — Salmon Rivers. — Casts and Resorts of the Fish. 
 — ^Attractive Nature of Certain Rocks and Places of Shelter. — On 
 the Practice of Leistering Salmon. — Advice to the Angler. — 
 Throwing the Line. — Working the Lino. — Depth and Distance to 
 which Salmon will come to the Lure. — Rule to be Observed on 
 Raising a Fish. — Change of Fly, — Management of a Hook and 
 Pish. — Landing, Gaffing, &c. ..... 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SALMON-PISHING WITH THE PARR-TAIL, MINNOW, AND 
 WORM. 
 
 Tackles, Leads, &c. — When and Where to Fish. — ^Directions to Ex- 
 tricate Tackle when Foul Run. — Worm-Fishing for Salmon. — 
 When Available. — Approved Tackle. — Leading. — Baiting of 
 Hook. — Lob-Worms. — Younger's Directions. — Rule to be Ob- 
 served as Respects the Winch Line. — Method of Fishing. — Power 
 of the Salmon to Expel Food. — Seizure of the Worm by the Fish. ' 
 •^General peijiarks , . , , . •, 17§ 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV.- 
 
 PIKE AND PIKE-FISHING. 
 
 Pike-Fishing. — Enormous Eel. — Ravages Committed by Pike among 
 Salmon Fry and Trout. — Increase of Pike. — Pike Tackle. — Gorge 
 " Hook. — Mode'of Baiting. — Spinning Bait Tackle. — Pike Fly. — 
 Peculiar Disposition of the Fish. — When in Season. — Superiority 
 of the Teviot Breed. — Weather and State of Water Suitable for 
 Pike-Fishmg. — Approved Method of Dispatching Large Fish . 186 
 
 CHAPTER XV.- 
 
 COOKING OF SALMON, &c. 
 
 A Tweedside Kettle. — Directions for Boiling Salmon, Grilse, and Sea- 
 Trout. — The Curing or Kippering of Salmon. — Berwick Mode.^ 
 Pickled Salmon. — Method of Roasting Salmon. — Recipe for Pot- 
 ting Charr, Trout, &c. — A Simple Way of Cooking a Whitling or 
 Good Trout by the Riverside. — ^Frying of Trout. — Boiling and 
 Baking Pike . -. . . . . . 200 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLEK'S COMPANION 
 
 A 
 
 POPULAR AND PRACTICAL 
 
 HANDBOOK 
 
 TO THE 
 
 AET OF ANGLING 
 
THE ANGLEE'S SONG. 
 
 BBiNa the rod, the line, the reel ! 
 Bring, oh bring the osier creel I ' 
 Bring me flies of fifty kinds. 
 Bring me showers, and clouds, and winds. 
 All things right and tight, 
 
 All things well and proper, 
 Trailer red and bright, 
 
 Dark and wily dropper — 
 Casts of midges bright. 
 
 Made of plover hackle. 
 With a gaudy wing. 
 And a cobweb tackle. 
 
 II. 
 
 Lead me where the river flows. 
 Show me where the alder grows, 
 Beeds and rushes, moss and mead, 
 To them lead me — quickly lead. 
 Where the roving trout 
 
 Watches round an eddy. 
 With his eager snout 
 
 Pointed up and ready. 
 Till a careless fly 
 
 On the surface wheeling. 
 Tempts him rising sly 
 From his safe concealing. 
 
 III. 
 
 There as with a pleasant friend, 
 I the happy hours will spend 
 Urging on the subtle hook, 
 O'er the dark and chancy nook. 
 With a hand expert 
 
 Every motion swaying. 
 And on the alert 
 
 When the trout are playing ; 
 Bring me rod and reel. 
 
 Flies of every feather. 
 Bring the osier creel — 
 Send me glorious weather ! 
 
THE 
 
 ANGLER'S Companion. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There is no river in Great Britain which affords so many 
 facilities to the angler for the pursuit of his art as the, far- 
 famed Border stream. Taken in connection with its tribu- 
 taries, it includes a range of water sufficient, throughout 
 the season, to engage the skill and assiduity of thousands of 
 the gentle craft ; and this it does, without giving occasion 
 for a single dispute, on the ground of interference with his 
 sport, to any one individual of the whole number. Ex- 
 tending upwards of one hundred miles, the Tweed itself 
 furnishes sufficient elbow-room for the daily plying of at 
 least twice that number of rods, and when I include along 
 with it the Ettrick and its twin sister Yarrow, the Gala, 
 Leader, Teviot, Till, and Whitadder, not to mention the 
 streams of the upper valleys, and the countless rivulets, 
 swarming with trout, from which one and all are supplied, 
 I have expressed in the above statement no over-drawn 
 estimate of the resources, in point of amusement, which this 
 river- comprehends. 
 
 Of all our waters, from its fountain head to the sea, 
 Tweed is unquestionably the most amply stocked with 
 river trout ; it is frequented also throughout the greater 
 part of the year, by different species of the migratory 
 scHmonidcB — ^the salar, the eriox, and salmo alhus; these 
 
 13 
 
14 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 distribute themselves, on their ascent from the ocean, over 
 a large proportion of the main river. They occupy, for a 
 long course of miles, its pools and shelter-places. At certain 
 seasons, they push up in great numbers into the smaller 
 feeders, and although, to the wandering brother of the 
 angle, not always affording the same measure of successful 
 sport that he meets with on some of our Highland streams, 
 yet their presence and taking humour are more to be relied 
 on. They continue haunting the fresh-water throughout a 
 much longer period of the year, and are more independent 
 of rains and temperature, while, by their distribution over 
 a large extent of current, they yield, what is the case- on 
 few of our northern rivers, abundance of exciting recreation 
 for a whole host of salmon slayers. 
 
 But while such are the general features of this river, its 
 individual superiority in this respect wiU be more clearly 
 exemplified, when I limit my observations to the particular 
 portion of its course, which, extending five or six miles up- 
 wards, and as many in an opposite direction from Kelso, 
 may be said to lie in the vicinity of that town. In this 
 stretch of water are embraced, unquestionably, some of the 
 finest salmon casts, as far as rod-fishing is concerned, in 
 Great Britain. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter all 
 furnish their fresh-run supply 'of the scaly tribe. The 
 clean, firm-set, eye-delighting fish of March and April is 
 succeeded, during June and July, by the whitlings and 
 early grilses ; these again, throughout the remainder of the 
 season, are followed by others of older growth intermingled 
 with breeders of every description, while to crown all, the 
 " grey-schule," cleaving undauntedly the December torrents, 
 brings up the rear ; nor is it until they have escaped the 
 perils of the net and coble, and found their way through 
 the arches of Coldstream Bridge, that these — ^the migratory 
 fish of Tweed — discover much appetite for the baits of the 
 angler, or seem inclined to come,- right venturesomely, to- 
 wards his tinselled lures. Here it is, in the stretch of 
 water alluded to, that they most freely exercise their 
 capricious tastes, and here they are found in more abun- 
 dance and perfection than in the upper portions of the 
 river. , 
 
 Nor, while Tweed, in the vicinity of Kelso, excels as a 
 salmon stream, is it less famed as affording, along with its 
 tributaries Teviot and Eden, the choicest of sport to those 
 
TROUT AND SALMON FISHING. 15 
 
 preferring the humbler but not less delightful branch of the 
 art — ^trout-fishing. There, at all seasons, and in all varieties 
 of ways, has the angler an opportunity of showing his 
 address ; he is not, as on some of our northern rivers, liable 
 to become surfeited with an over-abundance of rapacious 
 and unwary fish, or tired with the uniformity in point of 
 size and appearance which these present to his eye ; on the 
 contrary, he has to deal, as befits him, face to face, with 
 craft and caprice, while there is this, moreover, to excite and 
 interest him in the pursuit, that there are ever and anon 
 hovering, within cast of his line, trout, which, on being 
 hooked, will not submit without a struggle, and when 
 captured, cannot fail to call up those feelings of exultation 
 which none but anglers comprehend. 
 
 A ten years' residence on Tweedside, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the town alluded to, along with the further 
 experience of two seasons on the banks of salmon-streams 
 in the North of Scotland, has naturally enough, since the 
 publication of my " Scottish Angler," contributed in a large 
 measure to deepen my acquaintance with the practice of 
 the art. During the whole of this period, I have pursued 
 it with a measure of enthusiasm little inferior to that which 
 actuated my boyish years ; and were I to relate instances 
 in order to prove my attachment to river-side recreations, 
 I should only excite the wonder of many "grave and 
 reverend seigniors" who draw their life and enjoyment 
 from very different, but, by me, unenvied sources. 
 
 Thus located, I have had, besides those already mentioned, 
 various facilities afforded me for bettering my information 
 on points connected with rod-fishing. I have been brought, 
 for instance, much into contact with able and intelligent 
 craftsmen — have listened to the exposition of their notions, 
 as regards the tastes and habits of fish, the attractive nature 
 of such and such a lure, as well as the advantage to be 
 derived from thi| or that form of tackle. The opportunity 
 also has often presented itself of witnessing their feats and 
 good fortune; and I have frequently, with the solemn 
 delight of a child, drank in the wondrous exploits of some 
 river-enchanter, — credulous while I listened, and willing, in 
 spite of reason, to be credulous still. 
 
 Surrounded with these advantages, and encouraged by 
 the solicitations of numerous friends, I have ventured to 
 throw together the following chapters. They ipvolve, all 
 
16 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 of them, plain matter-of-fact subjects, which are dealt with 
 in a corresponding style. I have avoided, as much as 
 possible, dressing them up for favour, expunging, where it 
 could be done consistently, whatever savoured of the super- 
 fluous; and although impelled, now and then, to embellish 
 my remarks with a dash of the ideal, I have resolutely 
 disclaimed its assistance in the relation of all matters of 
 fact and experience. 
 
 The first portion of the volume is taken up principally 
 with what relates to river trout, and the various methods 
 of capturing them. My treatment of this subject I have 
 not allowed to interfere, except in a corrective and elucida- 
 tory form, with what lies embodied in my former treatise. 
 The views presently under submission are the result of 
 more extended practice and enlarged information. They 
 present, it is true, little or no claim to originality ; but, as 
 the cuUings of yesterday from a new field of experience, 
 may possess, perhaps, freshness enough in their details to 
 attract and interest the angling enthusiast. 
 
 On the subject of trouting with the fiy, as well as the 
 method of dressing fly-hooks, I have dwelt briefly and 
 generally. So many treatises have been written upon 
 these matters, that no room remains for their further ex- 
 position ; and when I behold the catalogue replete with 
 entomological science, which forms the sine qud non of the 
 modern angler's pocket-book, I shrink to confess my own 
 unpardonable ignorance in regard to them. On the prac- 
 tice of worm-fishing in clear waters, minnow and parr-tail 
 spinning, etc., I have entered into circumstantial details. 
 These two branches of the art are considered by all anglers 
 of experience to rank as highly as the pursuit of the fly- 
 fisher. They are certainly, although a degree more trouble- 
 some, as exciting ; and they require, even under the most 
 favourable circumstances, a greater exercise of skill and 
 judgment in order to command success. 
 
 In that portion of the volume which treats ofsalmon 
 fishing, I have drawn out lists of the most approved flies. 
 These have been extended by me considerably beyond 
 what, to my own idea, forms in point of material, an efiici- 
 ent stock or variety, under ordinary circumstances, and my 
 inducement to swell the number further than what seems 
 absolutely requisite has proceeded simply from a wish to 
 include every favourite and tried hook. In selecting the 
 
THE PRINCIPAL DIFFICULTY. 17 
 
 fly-stock described in these lists, I have received consider- 
 able assistance from various quarters, and indeed, through- 
 out the remaining chapters of the volume and much of the 
 foregoing matter, I stand indebted to the friendly aids and 
 suggestions of more than one intelligent angler; 
 
 But while drawing liberally upon the oral communica- 
 tions of others, and from those sources which my own 
 experience has opened up, I have not neglected the sinew- 
 ing of a large portion of my work with details and quota- 
 tions from written authorities. In doing this, however, I 
 have taken especial care to avoid pressing heavily upon the 
 original matter of the volume, or interlarding it with 
 extracts which, although confessedly to the point, are not 
 in critical demand. The great bulk of these details has 
 been taken from statistical sources, and stands incorporated 
 in the concluding chapters of the work. It consists, 
 indeed, of facts already recorded, which are at the service 
 and within reach of every one who has leisure and inclina- 
 tion to seek out and arrange them. This portion of my 
 task I have found to be more laborious than I at first 
 anticipated, but the principal difficulty lay, not in the mere 
 collecting of materials, but in condensing and putting these 
 together, so as to form a summary of correct and useful 
 information. 
 
 I feel it unnecessary to add anything further in the 
 shape of introductory matter. What remains to be done 
 is to discharge, simply, an act of duty. It is to express my 
 acknowledgments to more than one individual for the en- 
 couragement as well as assistance I have received, while 
 penning these pages. This means of excitement withheld, 
 I should have ventured to the task with a much greater 
 measure pf diffidence than has been cherished by me 
 throughout its performance. There are many, I feel 
 assured, more qualified to have engaged in it than myself— 
 many, at least, not less enthusiastic, and who have attained, 
 as anglers, to a much higher degree of excellence. I have 
 been bold enough to take possession of their vantage-ground 
 — inconsiderate enough, it may be said, to unfold some of 
 the secrets of their proficiency, but it shall not be added 
 that, in doing so, I have neglected to tender my acknow- 
 ledgments, and give expression to my obligations. 
 
18 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FEESH-WATEB TROUT. 
 
 Astonishing Variety of Species. — Instances in Point. — Effect of 
 Transference on this or that Breed. — Cross Breeds. — Food and 
 Habits. — Growth and Size Affected by Sustenance, Range of 
 Water, Breeding" Accommodation, &c. — Loch Trout. — River 
 Trout. — Size of Tweed Trout. — Illustration of the Effects of 
 Superior Feeding. — Leet and Esk Contrasted. — Growth of 
 Trout. — The Salmo Gmaifer. — Salmo Ferox. — Swallow-Smolt. 
 
 What is a river witliout its trout ? What is the ocean 
 without its navies ? What are the heavens without their 
 stars? There is scarcely a scene or landscape, in Highlands 
 or Lowlands, with which this fish is not in some measure 
 associated. Climb yonder hill, and gaze around and before 
 you. See there an earl's proud mansion, his parks and 
 pleasure-grounds. See there trees of twice a century's 
 growth, 
 
 " Whose very shadows 
 
 Are histories on which to legislate; 
 
 The veteran boughs are hung with oracles 
 
 And legendary song." 
 
 But mark ! seemingly at your feet, the life-blood of the 
 picture, a broad, shining, rejoicing river ! Gaze in turn up 
 along the valley ; yonder, as if from a huge cavern in the 
 distance, you behold it issuing ; you catch with your eye 
 the gleam of its progress ; now, at the base of a green 
 ascent or sheep-walk ; farther on, amid pastures and corn- 
 fields ; now, skirting a forest ; now forming, as it were, the 
 moat of a tower or castle ; and, again, at yonder point, 
 gathering in fresh tribute from a silvery stream. How it 
 progresses ! like the everlasting march of a king — music at 
 every step — homage and increase at every turn. See, now 
 it winds onward below us. The sward freshens where it 
 flows ; the flowers are more varied and abundant. It laves 
 the walls of a town. It glides under a bridge of many 
 arches. It pursues far on, far as the eye can stretch, its 
 radiant and welcome course. 
 
 And this river, one of the noblest of our streams, would it 
 be the same — would it be equally endeared to us anglers — 
 were it a fishless, unpeopled water, devoid of the " mottled 
 
TROUT ENOUGH FOR ALL. 19 
 
 par," the star-sided trout, the glittering salmon. ? What a 
 blank, dreary aspect it would have, unassociated with these ! 
 What chasms there would be in the mind and memory — ^in 
 the forethought and e:?:pectation of the beholder ! Not the 
 landscape, not the lore, not the minstrelsy, not the warble of 
 birds, not the chiming of the sunlit river itself, could fill 
 them up. Unpeopled ! desolate ! The fortunes of a thou- 
 sand rills are woven here. The dew of the mountain, the 
 overfill of the lake, the upwelling of the spring, the boon of 
 the cloud, have met and are mingled in this one great 
 artery. Its material is life, its fiow is life, its sound life ; 
 the shadows that fleet over it are all life, and yet, imagine 
 it, ye that can, it is an unpeopled river ! No anglers' 
 festivals are held here ; no fisher moves along the bank ; 
 no wily nets are cast across the pool; no torch-light reveals 
 the secrets of its channels. It is an unpeopled river ! The 
 salmon is a stranger to its fords and strongholds ; the 
 water-fly sports unharmed on its surface ; the otter refuses 
 to frequent it ; the heron over its own shadow languishes 
 and dies. 
 
 Visionary ! there is no such stream in broad Scotland. 
 The chemist's art, the bleach-field, the paper-mill, the rail- 
 way, acids and vitriol, gases, lime, sheep-washing, manures, 
 and machinery combined, have not yet produced this result 
 as respects a single rivulet. Our very mill-runs still con- 
 tain trout — our lakes and rivers abound in the scaly tribe. 
 Ramble with me from shire to shire, and I warrant thou 
 wilt cull from each a measure of sport, ample enough to 
 satisfy a man of moderate wishes. Art thou otherwise, I 
 have no key to thy humour ; in these times, alas ! of ex- 
 clusion and selfishness, I have no power to assist thee. But 
 there are trout enough for all, for the sport of the peasant 
 as well as that of the peer ; and a malison seize the churl 
 who would grudge to the labouring man his snatch of 
 pleasure, or deny him, although obtained through his own 
 skill and industry, the morsel that economises or adds life- 
 prolonging zest to his homely and everyday fare. 
 
 Unquestionably, there exists no species of fish, which, 
 judging of it by the external marks, holds claim to so many 
 varieties as the common fresh-water trout. In Scotland, 
 almost every lake, river, and streamlet possesses a breed 
 peculiar, in outward appearance, to itself. To prove and 
 illustrate this, I do not require to go farther than the 
 
20 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 district in which I reside. Within a circle of about twenty 
 miles from Kelso, I find embraced the following streams 
 and rivulets! — Tweed, Teviot, Ettrick, Leader, Ale, Kale, 
 Eden, Blackadder, Whitadder, Leet, Coquet, Till, CoUedge, 
 Bowmont, Gala, Rule, all trouting waters ; yet, strange to 
 say, there is not one of the whole number but lays claim, as 
 far as regards the point of distinction in question, to its 
 own variety of trout; and this is the more remarkable, 
 that, with tjie exception of Coquet, all the streams I have 
 mentioned have connection with the- Tweed, or ultimately 
 contribute to it. 
 
 To describe, within reasonable compass, the marks and 
 features which characterise and distinguish each of these 
 varieties is utterly impossible ; and the task, happily, is not 
 required. They consist, generally speaking, in the size, 
 number, disposition, and colours of the beads or spots ; in 
 the formation of the head and tail ; in the shape and pro- 
 portions of the fish ; its tendency to become thick, deep, or 
 round ; to fatten, or remain lank ; in the tints also, change- 
 able as seasons and even states of water will render them, 
 which most frequently pervade the skin. Nor, in fact, is it 
 to be wondered at, when we consider the almost infinite 
 number of changes which even the size, disposition, number, 
 and colours of the beads alone will effect in the external ap- 
 pearance of the trout, that the breeds or varieties thus 
 judged of should baffle all power of computation. 
 
 But in regard to the waters above mentioned (and I have 
 omitted none, within the limits assigned, of any note), the 
 trout peculiar to each are distinguished, not merely by their 
 external features, but by another point of character as well ; 
 to judge of which, in relation to so many different streams, 
 may be esteemed a matter of some difficulty. I allude to 
 their edible qualities, the flavour and degree of curd and 
 richness they possess, when in season. Now, in regard to 
 this feature or point of character, I can safely affirm that 
 it is almost as varied as the outward marks which dis- 
 tinguish the fish of one river from those of another. I 
 make this observation, not merely upon my own judgment, 
 although I have exercised it oftener than once, as regards 
 the produce of all of the streams in question ; but I do so 
 on the authority of others, and there are many such, who 
 can attest as to the truth of what I have stated. In Kelso 
 itself, there is scarcely an inhabitant but what can at once, 
 
THE TEVIOT TROUT. 21 
 
 by the exercise of his palate and organs of taste alone, dis- 
 tinguish betwixt a Tweed, a Teviot, and an Eden trout, or 
 the produce of the main river and its two tributaries that 
 flow in the vicinity of the town. Externally, the legitimate 
 breed of each is unmistakably marked, (there occur, I 
 allow, mixed varieties or crosses, frequenting in common all 
 the three waters, and the presence of which may be ac- 
 counted for in various ways) ; but, more than this, the very 
 colour, and consistence of the flesh when cooked, the flavour 
 and richness it exhibits, are all severally unlike. The true 
 Eden trout, for instance, is a deeply-shaped fish, small- 
 headed, and of dark complexion on the exterior. The stars 
 or beads are by no means numerous, but they are large and 
 distinctly formed ; those on either flank being of a deep 
 crimson or purple hue, and encircled with a whitish ring or 
 halo. Its flesh, when in season, on being cooked, is of a 
 fine pink colour ; the flakes interlayered with rich curd. At 
 the table, it is highly esteemed for its firmness and general 
 excellence. 
 
 The Teviot trout, externally, is a more beautiful fish 
 than that of the Eden. The back is finely curved, and the 
 head small. It wants depth, but possesses considerable 
 breadth of form. The spots, which are large, stand well 
 out, and engage the eye. They are generally of a purple 
 colour, inclining to crimson. A fine gold or orange tint 
 pervades the exterior of the fish, which, towards the belly, 
 fades away into pearly whiteness. In its edible qualities,^ 
 the Teviot trout is certainly somewhat inferior to that of 
 Eden. When beyond half-a-pound in weight, it cuts red 
 and possesses considerable richness of taste. What are 
 caught in the lower parts of the river, from Oxnam down- 
 wards, are much superior, both in size and flavour, to those 
 taken higher up ; and I have noticed that in certain pools, 
 they are firmer and better shaped than in others. 
 
 As regards the proper Tweed trout, it is quite easily dis- 
 tinguished from those of Teviot and Eden. The general 
 shape of this variety is by no means faulty. Its head, 
 except in the case of overgrown individuals or such as are 
 found in the rocky parts of the river, is moderate-sized. 
 Its paunch alone has the appearance of being out of pro- 
 portion to the rest of the body. This receptacle is capable 
 of holding a large quantity of food, and is usually met 
 with much distended, or in a loose flabby state. 
 
 2 
 
22 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 In Tweedj the cross breeds are very numerous, and they 
 all, in some degree, grow to partake of the peculiarity I 
 mention. The true stock, however, is easily distinguished. 
 It inhabits the river from its very sources, as far down, I 
 may say, as Norham. The cross breeds, on the other hand, 
 are severally, according to their varieties, found in the 
 neighbourhood of such tributaries as contribute to their 
 production ] for instance, in the Tweed below where Teviot 
 discharges itself, trout are frequently met with which unite 
 the characteristics belonging to the fish of both rivers. 
 
 The trout of Tweed, I allude to the pure bond fide breed, 
 is plentifully decorated with stars or spots. Of these, the 
 most attractive are of a vivid crimson hue. The general 
 colour or outward complexion of the fish is yellow; its 
 back having an olive, frequently a grey shade or tint. In 
 its edible qualities, it is much inferior to an Eden or Teviot 
 trout. It seldom possesses any tendency to redness in the 
 flesh, and unless cooked shortly after being taken, becomes 
 soft and curdless. It is, however, when in season, quite 
 sweet and palatable, and in some parts of the river, where 
 there is good feeding-ground, acquires a considerable degree 
 of richness. . ' 
 
 I have described the trout of these three streams, all 
 running within a short distance of each other, in order to 
 exemplify the existing varieties of this species of fish. It 
 is needless to extend my observations Tipon the subject any 
 further. The most lengthened inquiry can only lead to 
 the conclusion, that every lake, river, or streamlet, be their 
 connection with each other what it may, possesses its 
 peculiar breed of trout ; and all I shall do further to 
 establish this fact is, to instance, in general terms, a few 
 additional localities where it has fallen most strikingly 
 under my own observation. I take the neighbourhoodlof 
 St. Mary's Loch, in Selkirkshire. The loch itself is" con- 
 tiguous to that of the Lowes, and. united with it by a small 
 run, not a hundred yards in length. The two sheets of 
 water contain distinctly marked varieties of trout. Of 
 streams connected with these lakes, there are the Chapel- 
 hope and Corsecleugh burns, the Summerhope burn, the 
 Meggat water, with its tributary, Winterhope burn ; 
 Yarrow, with its feeders ; Douglas bum and Altrive lake, 
 — every individual water possessing its own peculiar breed 
 of fish. Extend the range to Ettrick, and the same obser- 
 
EXTERNAL MARKS. 23 
 
 vation holds, good. The main stream, the Back burn, Faa- 
 hope burn. Rankle bum, Timah, etc., all have their own 
 varieties. Go to Dumfries-shire, to Loch Skene, Moffat- 
 water, the Annan, the Esk, the Liddle, and the case is ex- 
 actly similar. Ascend the rivers of Perthshire — the Tay, 
 the Earn, the Almond, the Isla, the Tummel, and the Garry : 
 or its smaller streams, such as May, Ruchil, Erochty. Go 
 to Lochs Tay, Earn, Tummel, Rannoch, Freuchie, Broom, 
 Turit ; or retreat northward, as far as Ross-shire, to the 
 Conan, Blackwater, Meig, and Orrin, — to Lochs Luichart, 
 Ledgowan, Achnanault, Garve ; or to a spot in that county 
 embracing, within a short distance of each other, four 
 small lakes, Lochs Laran, Nech Beann, na-Dhream, and 
 Achilty ; each of which has its own peculiar breed of trout, 
 differing in size, shape, quality, and external appearance. 
 To every stream and range of water mentioned, and I have 
 caiught trout in all, the fact here stated applies ; and to 
 adduce, as could easily be done, additional evidence in cor- 
 roboration from other districts, I esteem quite unnecessary. 
 
 In entering, as has been done, into details upon this 
 subject, it may be asked what purpose I have in view ; or, 
 in other words, does the fact of their being such numerous 
 varieties of the fresh-water trout assist in forming any con- 
 clusions beneficial to science ? I leave this to be judged of 
 and considered by others better adapted for the task than I 
 am. One or two observations, however, I venture to make 
 relative to the varieties in question ; and first I hold, that 
 trout, on being transferred, whether by accident or other- 
 wise, from their parent stream or lake to another range of 
 water, rapidly undergo a great change; one, however, 
 that does not affect their external marks or embellishments, 
 which features I therefore regard as best denoting the breed 
 or variety. 
 
 For instance, the trout of Teviot carried accidentally into 
 Tweed lose, in fact, after a few weeks, many of those dis- 
 tinctive points which the superior feeding of the first- 
 mentioned stream afibrded them. They lose their redness 
 of flesh, their strength, liveliness, etc. ; but in no case can it 
 be proved that the change has so affected their outward 
 appearance as to alter the character and arrangement of 
 the stars or maculae. These they retain as the indices of 
 their origin; and they are as essentially theirs in this 
 character, as are its spots the distinctive property of the 
 
24 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 leopard. With regard to the general colour or complexion 
 of the fish, that is quite another matter. Nothing is so 
 readily operated upon, even within the precincts of its own 
 parent stream, as the skin of the trout, in relation to 
 colours. In this respect, it is like that of the chameleon. 
 During a top-flood, when the river is clayed or thick, and 
 fish are only to be captured by the pout, hand-net, or some 
 such contrivance, they present a white, I might almost say 
 sickly, look. On the water becoming brown or porter- 
 coloured, they assume a fine yellow, healthy, and inviting 
 appearance ; and on its recurring to the ordinary size, they 
 are again transformed, and partake of a complexion agree- 
 ing to that of the stream itself. The character of their re- 
 treats also, the nature of the stones or banks they lurk 
 under, influence, not unf requently, the general complexion 
 I speak of, and sometimes lend a parti-coloured appearance 
 to the fish, quite independent, however, of its fixed decora- 
 tions in the shape of stars, etc. 
 
 I have stated that fresh- water trout, on being transferred 
 from the parent stream to another range of water, are cap- 
 able of undergoing great changes. To what extent these, 
 in any instance, will take place, must depend upon the 
 nature of the transference. I have mentioned very cursor- 
 ily the eSect upon a Teviot trout when shifted to Tweed ; 
 but in respect to such a ca^e, the transference is farfrom being 
 violent. Besides the relation that exists betwixt the two 
 rivers, as the tributary and its recipient, there are other ac- 
 commodating circumstances which prevent the occurrence 
 of any great change in the size, appearance, and flavour of 
 the trout. For instance, the action and qualities, nay, in 
 some measure, the feeding capacities of Teviot become 
 diffused on its junction through Tweed ; then there is the 
 similarity of climate ; the fact, also, that both rivers abound 
 in trout of a similar size, — all of which circumstances oper- 
 ate as I have stated. 
 
 In order, therefore, better to illustrate my position, I 
 shall assume the transference to be one of more violent 
 character. I shall take the produce of a small stream, say, 
 up to the number of four or five dozen trout. The breed or 
 variety inhabiting this stream, I shall suppose seldom at- 
 tain the length of nine inches, or weigh more than half-a- 
 pound ; as food, they are of inferior quality ; in point of 
 shape, they offer nothing attractive. These individuals I 
 
GROWTH OF TROUT. 25 
 
 transfer to a pond, or lake, hitherto devoid of fish, and 
 occupying a space of several acres. Its soil or bottom I 
 shall suppose to be composed of marl, or some such feeding 
 substance. It is provided with ample shelter, and everj' 
 requisite that can encourage the growth of trout. Well, 
 what will be the effect of this change upon the character of 
 the fish in question ? It will not alter the setting or ar- 
 rangement of their stars or distinguishing marks; but it 
 will, and that most materially, improve, in a short space of 
 time, their size, shape, and edible qualities. A single season 
 itself would, in all probability, suffice to fatten them up to 
 thrice the weight which it was possible for these trout to 
 attain to in their own native stream. They will acquire 
 more seemly and captivating proportions, and derive from 
 liberal and luxurious feeding a corresponding richness of 
 flavour and firmness of flake. That these latter results are 
 frequently accompanied by a heightening of the internal 
 colour — a change from its pristine whiteness to pink or red, 
 I do not deny. Where there is shell marl, or abundance of 
 insect food, this transmutation is likely to occur ; but it is 
 by no means, even under these circumstances, an infallible 
 result of the transference. I am acquainted with a natural 
 sheet of water, forty or fifty acres in extent, and stocked, 
 as I have described, from a small streamlet, or hill burn, 
 where, while the trout acquired large dimensions, and im- 
 proved both in shape and fiavour, they still retained the 
 original white colour. Nor is redness in the flesh always 
 an indication of superiority, as respects the edible qualities 
 of the fish. I have partaken at table of trout distinguished 
 for their high colour, and yet, in point of taste, they were 
 soft, rank, and mud-flavoured ; while, on the other hand, I 
 have met with white-fleshed trout, firm, curdy, and good. 
 
 In regard to this matter of redness, peculiar to the flesh 
 of salmon, trout, and charr, I am led more naturally to re- 
 fer to it in a future chapter: it is therefore, at present, 
 quite unnecessary to expatiate on the subject. Nor, in re- 
 newing my remarks relative to the transference of trout 
 from one range of water to another, need I multiply in- 
 stances. What has already fallen from me will suffice to 
 bring out and illustrate some points in the natural history 
 of the fish hitherto unrecorded. Their astonishing variety, 
 every lake and river possessing its own distinct breed — the 
 effect of change of circumstances on their appearance — the 
 
26 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 chameleon-like transitions in point of hue undergone by 
 them during a flood, and while it continues to abate — their 
 shape, growth, and edible characteristics, have all cursorily- 
 been brought under view. 
 
 Of the food and. habits of the trout, however, I have said 
 comparatively little; nor have I called direct attention, 
 while treating of their varieties, to what may be termed 
 the cross breeds, in contra-distinction to the true or original 
 breed, peculiar to each stream or lake. This last-mentioned 
 subject I shall dismiss with a very few observations ; and, 
 first of all, I may notice, that the cross breeds to which 'I 
 refer are simply those which have their origin in varieties 
 of the common trout (fario) brought into contact with each 
 other at the breeding season, and do not implicate the 
 questionable produce, or mule breed, arising from any hap- 
 hazard connection betwixt the fa/rio and bull-trout, or 
 whitling ; a connection altogether discountenanced by 
 nature, and which (if my notions respecting the breeding of 
 fishes be correct) is not likely to take place. I may also 
 remark, that, although cross varieties may, for a season or 
 term of seasons, rival in number the true breed belonging 
 to this or that stream, and threaten to extirpate it alto- 
 gether, yet there is no fear or likelihood of such a result ; 
 the peculiar nature and qualities of the water, aided by the 
 remaining original stock, always tending to reinstate the 
 breed. 
 
 Thus, for instance, it has happened in the case of the 
 upper part of Eden, above Stichel Linn ; where, owing to 
 the accidental escape of considerable quantities of another 
 variety of trout from inclosed water at Mellerstain, the 
 stream itself became the haunt, and continued so for three 
 or four successive years, of a cross breed, which vied in 
 nuinbers with the proper stock, and appeared, during the 
 greater part of this period, as if it would ultimately sup- 
 plant them altogether. This breed, however, and its after- 
 crosses, have nearly disappeared, and the original trout are 
 resuming, in point of numbers, their old position. I cannot 
 add in point of size. In this respect there is a marked 
 falling off, attributable, no doubt, to drainage and various 
 agricultural improvements, which have been carried on at 
 the sources and along the banks of the stream. 
 
 Again, in the case of Yarrow, in Selkirkshire, where, 
 owing to an excess of trout having descended during the 
 
A VORACIOUS FEEDE,R. 27 
 
 spawning season of 1832 from St. Mary's Loch, the stream 
 in question, its sole drainer, became in a manner over-run 
 with the Loch variety, so that the real " yallow fin," as the 
 Ettrick shepherd used to term them, was, for a space of 
 some years, a fish of rare occurrence. Crosses betwixt it 
 and the Loch trout occupied completely the upper part of 
 the river, as far down as Yarrow i^eus, aad extended them- 
 selves from thence, in thinner distribution, to the vale of 
 Ettrick. 1 am happy to state, however, from recent ex- 
 perience, that the original stock once more prevails in 
 5(f arrow. 
 
 The trout is unquestionably a voracious feeder. It con- 
 sumes, in proportion to its size, a greater quantity of 
 sustenance than other fresh-water fish ; nor, in respect to 
 the quality of its food, is it quite so scrupulous as is. 
 generally imagined. , Look, for instance, at the variety it 
 indulges in, according as the seasons, hours of the day, and 
 state of the water or atmosphere prompt and direct it. In 
 this variety are embraced the whole of the insect tribes, 
 winged or otherwise ; frogs, leeches, worms, slugs, snails, 
 maggots, cad-bait, every sort and size of fly, beetle, and 
 moth, the water-spider, etc. Then there are fish — the 
 smaller ones of its own species, parr or fingerlings, minnows, 
 loaches and sticklebacks, along with the roe or ova of 
 salmon : and I doubt not even young birds and water-rats 
 are occasionally made prey of by hungry river-trout. Ex- 
 amine the stomach, and you will generally find a large 
 mass composed of insect-remains in a partly digested state, 
 and superadded sometimes to these, the remnants of a parr, 
 loach, or minnow. The carp, the tench, the perch, are not 
 more ravenous or varied in their feeding than the common ~ 
 fresh- water trout. Even the pike itself, although a fearless, 
 vindictive, and rapacious fish, is less gluttonous in its habits, 
 and in its tastes infinitely more simple and congruous. 
 
 What is it then, it may be asked, that renders the trout 
 diflicult of capture ? Its greedy propensities, one might 
 imagine, would naturally allow little room to the angler for 
 the exercise of skill and judgment. But experience has 
 taught otherwise, and the simple reason of this is, that with 
 these propensities the trout unites epicure habits, caprice in 
 its hours and seasons of feeding, cunning, shyness, and 
 watchful distrust. As an epicure, it battens one day upon 
 surface or winged food, and the next upon ground susten- 
 
28 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 ance. Sometimes the minnow will attract it, sometimes the 
 worm ; sometimes, turning from both with dislike or satiety, 
 it will amuse its palate with delicacies of the minutest de- 
 scription, the larvse of water-insects or pellets of ova, 
 picked up with address and assiduity from among the 
 interstices of rocks and stones, from the foliage or roots of 
 water-plants, or while floating past it in the descending 
 current. And this caprice as to its food, while it tests the 
 skill and experience of the angler, is assisted in doing so by 
 the cunning and natural mistrust of the fish; its quick, 
 vigilant eye; its keen, distinguishing sense of smell, and 
 similar instinctive endowments and perceptions. 
 
 The wariness and caution observable in trout frequenting 
 certain localities are often, in fact, the result of circum- 
 stances, and indicate the existence of memory and other re- 
 flecting powers. It is not necessary, however, that a trout 
 be pricked with the hook in order to give so uncommon a 
 degree of acuteness to its faculties and render it more than 
 ordinarily circumspect ; the circumstance of its being - 
 frequently disturbed by the apparition of an insect clumsily 
 imitated, or tackle of any other description, will of itself 
 produce this effect. The disposition, also, of light and 
 shadow near its haunt, the description and quantity of 
 sustenance yielded within its feeding range, all subserve to 
 create or banish distrust, to add to its wariness, or lull its 
 suspicions. On the other hand, the pricking of the hook, 
 unaccompanied by any exposure of the angler's contrivance 
 wherewith the pricking was effected, will often fail to 
 excite alarm ; sometimes, when it does so, the pang will be 
 of brief continuance : nay, in my experience, I have met 
 with instances where the fish actually, a short time before, 
 broke and carried away tackle, yet, retaining the willing- 
 ness to feed, on a new lure being presented to it, returned 
 eagerly to the charge^ and, I may add, became captured. 
 
 One of these instances happened several years ago, when 
 angling in Yarrow. A gentleman who preceded me on the 
 river had the mischance to have his tackle, comprising a set 
 or cast of flies, three in number, carried away by what he 
 described to be a fish of unusual dimensions. On his re- 
 lating the circumstance, at the close of the day's fishing, I 
 produced, much to his amaze, the identical cast he had lost, 
 and along with it the fish, an ordinary-sized trout, from 
 whose jaws I had abstracted it. 
 
THE PARR-TROUT. 29 
 
 A similar instance occurred to me in 1845, at the Makers- 
 ton fishings, on Tweed, when angling with the worm in 
 clear water. Happening to capture a trout of about a pound 
 and a half in weight, I observed; while extracting the 
 tackle from its mouth, the presence of another hook, quite 
 free from rust, and with a small portion of gut attached to 
 it. On mentioning this afterwards to the fisherman's 
 assistant, he inquired if I had caught the trout at such a 
 spot on the river, naming the foot of a particular stream or 
 gullet, the South Clippers. He also described the hook and 
 piece of gut attached to it, remarking, that on the previous 
 day, a gentleman whom he attended had, while trouting 
 with the worm, his tackle broken by a large trout at the 
 place in question. His conjectures were correct. 
 
 I could relate, were it necessary, other similar occurrences 
 met with from time to time, which prove that trout, 
 although pricked and actually retaining the hook in their 
 lip or jaw, are not necessarily excited to distrust or sus- 
 picion, or thereby, through the continued irritation, deterred 
 from feeding. Not two days ago, during the week in which 
 the above was penned, I caught a trout presenting the 
 same appearances as the. one just referred to, only that, in 
 this case, the abstracted hook, No. 12 Adlington, had 
 actually been swallowed ; and as a proof of this having been 
 done recently, the worm with which it had been baited 
 still remained, occupying the shank and portion of broken 
 gut attached to it. The marvel to me is, how, with this 
 choking substance (it was a lob-worm, and of large 
 dimensions), filling its throat, the fish could live, much less 
 feed or swallow. Such instances, however, although oc- 
 casionally met with, are not to be held as hostile to my 
 prior statement, that the river-trout is of shy, cunning, and 
 capricious habits ; that it is a fish wary and vigilant, 
 possessed of much natural discernment and strong instincts. 
 They only show how circumstances will render these defen- 
 sive qualities of little or no avail, and how, on certain oc- ' 
 casions, its very instincts endanger their possessor. 
 
 I am not possessed of any authentic information, with 
 regard to the greatest size attainable by the fario, or what 
 is erroneously termed the parr-trout. The largest in- 
 dividuals are undoubtedly to be found in our lochs, where 
 they batten most securely and luxuriously. There is one 
 fact, however, to be urged in respect to the size of the 
 
80 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 trout, namely, that it depends entirely upon the quantum 
 and quality of food yielded to it, whether from channel or 
 surface, and not upon the age of the fish. The range of 
 water also is a matter to be taken into consideration in 
 connection with its growth ; for let a single trout be planted 
 in a spring well, and tamed to such a degree- as to take its 
 food from one supplying it regularly and abundantly, still 
 it will not increase much, if at all, in weight ; and this is 
 owing solely to the circumstance of its being confined, and 
 not at liberty to choose its aliment according to the caprice 
 of the moment : whereas in localities where the food varies 
 with the seasons, and where there is choice at all times, and 
 room for exercising it without challenge or interruption, 
 trout will grow rapidly and to a great size. 
 
 In all lochs characterised by good feeding-ground and 
 abundance of shelter, trout have a tendency to acquire 
 large dimensions. This tendency, however, is frequently 
 counteracted by the breeding accommodation in the shape of 
 streams or feeders, which attbrd great facility for spawning. 
 Under such circumstances, the stock, instead of attaining to 
 great size, become numerous, as is the case in many of our 
 lochs, where the feeding-grounds are both extensive and of 
 good quality. The introduction of pike into such lochs aids, 
 no doubt, in improving the dimensions and quality of the 
 trout, but has not always this elfect. 
 
 For instance, St. Mary's Loch, in Selkirkshire, contains 
 pike and perch in considerable abundance, and yet the 
 trout contmue comparatively numerous, and are not dis- 
 tinguished on account of their size, seldom exceeding a 
 pound in weight, and averaging little more than halt-a- 
 pound. The breeding waters, consisting of Meggat, Yarrow, 
 and five or six hill burns which help to people the lake in 
 question, are, in this instance, quite sufficient to keep up 
 the supply, notwithstanding the Tavages presumed to be 
 committed by the fresh-water tyrant, which fish, I may 
 mention, infests only the weedy portions of the loch, and is 
 not found equally distributed, as is the case in Loch Leven, 
 and many of our Highland sheets of water, around the 
 margin. Were it so, — were every point of access to the 
 shallows held in keeping by pike, most assuredly the trout 
 would decrease in number ; and should a fair proportion of 
 their feeding-grounds remain at the same time accessible to 
 them they, as certainly, would increase in respect to size. 
 
GROWTH AND SIZE. 31 
 
 We have illustrations of the fact afforded us by what has 
 been noticed in a number of our Highland lochs : for in- 
 stance, in Loch Tummel, in Perthshire ; in Loch Vennachar, 
 near Callander; also in Lochs Garve, Achnanault, and 
 Ledgowan, in Ross-shire. In all these expanses of water, 
 the pike are numerous and pretty equally distributed along 
 the margin, having the desirable shelter and accommodation. 
 The trout associated with them are consequently not abun- 
 dant : but, generally speaking, of large size. They vary in 
 point of weight from one and a half up to ten or twelve 
 pounds weight. 
 
 It may be remarked, however, that lochs containing few 
 or no pike, and where small trout, averaging from a quarter 
 to one pound weight, are found in great abundance, not un- 
 frequently, along with these, possess large individuals of 
 the species, chiefly predatory in their habits, and which un- 
 questionably commit havoc to a great extent among the 
 others. Such fish have frequently been taken by trolling 
 in Lochs Laggan, Tay, Ness, and Earn, where the trout 
 captured with the fly seldom exceed a pound in weight, and 
 are generally not so heavy. These monsters, I may observe, 
 are quite diflerent in character from the SaVmo ferox of 
 Lochs Awe and Shin; they are merely over-grown loch 
 trout, of the same variety as the general stock of the lake 
 they inhabit, or one or other of its tributaries. They have 
 been captured, I am told, weighing 20 lbs., and upwards ; 
 nor shall I dispute the accuracy of this statement, but feel 
 inclined to giveit full credence. 
 
 In July, at Fort Augustus, I remember seeing a fish of 
 the above description captured from the boat with trolling- 
 tackle in Loch Ness — its weight being fourteen pounds. 
 This, with the exception of several stufied specimens of the 
 SoLtm) ferox of Loch Awe, is the largest fresh- water trout I 
 recollect ever to have seen. In point of shape, I may state, 
 it was, to my eye, symmetrically faultless, being deep in the 
 flank, small-headed, and beautifully curved in the back and 
 shoulder — properties not always possessed by the descrip- 
 tion of trout I am alluding to, which, as overgrown indi- 
 viduals of their species, are inclined to show a monster 
 front ; big, bony jaws ; a long, straight, thick-hided hull ; 
 and huge, flapping tail : in fact, all the characteristics which 
 age, hunger, and roving habits are apt to engender. 
 
 The above observations regarding the size of fresh -water 
 
32 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 trout hold reference entirely to those contained in our lochs, 
 and to such, no question, the precedence ought to be allowed, 
 for undeniably they excel our river-trout in many respects. 
 Not only do they attain a greater size, and that, considering 
 their advantages in point Of shelter and feeding-ground, 
 naturally enough, but in general, also, they possess a finer 
 quality, and bear away the palni with regard to external 
 beauty. Eiver-trout, however, although inferior in all 
 these respects, command to a larger extent the esteem of 
 the angler. They afford him sport of a more varied and 
 delightful character than that which he obtains from the 
 exercise of his art over lakes and fish-ponds. The passing 
 from stream to stream — from rough water to smooth — from 
 shoal to deep — from rock to weed and gravel, is of itself 
 enjoyment, and increases one's zest for the pastime ; where- 
 as in loch fishing, there is a certain degree of tameness and 
 monotony arising from the circumstance of there being no 
 great essential change in the position of the angler. 
 Whether the surface be calm, gently rippled, or wrought 
 into foam-covered waves, still, be it from boat or marge, he 
 has to ply on, without relief, in the same uniform style. 
 No wonder, therefore, that he attaches- more consideration 
 to the trout of the stream than to those of the lake, and 
 holds in higher repute a three-pounder captured with 
 gossamer tackle out of some wandering rivulet, than one of 
 twice that weight — a lumbering, wiry -jawed, disheartened 
 monster, hauled by main force through a medium whose 
 ' resistance, at tlie best, is of a sluggish and passive nature. 
 
 I am unable to state accurately the largest size to which 
 trout, bred and nourished in our Scottish rivers, have been 
 known to grow. It is probable that individuals, purely of 
 the river sort, have attained the weight of ten or twelve 
 pounds. In the " Aberdeen Journal," September 1833, one 
 is made mention of, caught by the gamekeeper at Haughton, 
 in the Don, with rod and line, which weighed eleven pounds, 
 and measured in girth seventeen inches. On Tweed, they 
 have frequently been captured in the cairn-nets, and other- 
 wise, upwards of six pounds ; and more than once, above 
 seven pounds in weight. I have taken them with the rod 
 on this river, and its tributary Teviot, weighing four and a 
 half pounds ; and I make no doubt but that there are many 
 scattered up and down its pools and streams fully as heavy. 
 The trout in Tay occasionally grow to a large size, but I 
 
SLUGGISH STREAMS. 33 
 
 am not aware that any surpassing in weight the biggest 
 found in Tweed have of late years been taken from this 
 river or its tributaries, those excepted which have made 
 their way into its streams out of the loch above Kenmore, 
 Loch Tummel, or some other sheet of water bearing the 
 same relation ' to it, and containing trout of considerable 
 weight. 
 
 Sluggish streams, that traverse a rich soil, or have a 
 marly channel, are greatly favourable to the growth, I do 
 not say the increase, of trout. Of this sort are several of 
 the Fifeshire waters — the Orr, the Leven.and the Eden 
 In all these, river-trout were wont to be caught of a large 
 size, excelling in point of shape and quality those of our 
 more notable streams. Machinery, drainage, and other 
 agricultural improvements have, however, contributed 
 greatly to thin the breeds in question, and in their place, 
 yjike, perch, and eels hold to a certain extent the ascend- 
 ancy. 
 
 Of all streams that I am acquainted with, the Leet, 
 which discharges itself into the Tweed above Coldstream, 
 was wont, considering its size, to contain the largest trout. 
 During the summer season, it is a mere ditch ; in many 
 places, not above four or five span in width, and where 
 broadest, still capable of being leapt across. The run of 
 water is, comparatively speaking, insignificant, not equal- 
 ling in the average a cubic foot. This, however, as it 
 proceeds, is every now and then expanded over a consider- 
 able surface, and forms a pool of some depth ; in fact, the 
 whole stream, from head to foot, pursuing, as it does, a 
 winding course for upwards of twelve miles, is a continued 
 chain of pools, fringed during the summer on both sides 
 with rushes and water-flags, and choked up in many parts 
 with pickerel weed, and other aquatic plants. The channel 
 of Leet contains shell-marl, and its banks, being hollowed 
 out beneath, afford, independent of occasional stones and 
 tree-roots, excellent shelter for trout. Not many years ago, 
 the whole course of it was infested with pike, but the visit 
 of some otters, irrespective of the angler's art, has com- 
 pletely cleared them out, and thus allowed the trout, which 
 were formerly scarce, to become more numerous. 
 
 On the first occasion of my fishing Leet, which happened 
 to be early in April, before the sedge and rushes had as- 
 sumed the ascendancy, I captured with the fly twenty-six 
 
34 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 trout, weighing in all upwards of twenty-nine" pounds. Of 
 these, five at least were two-pounders, and there were few, 
 if any, small-sized fish. On the 2nd day of June, the 
 weather being bright and hot, I killed with the worm, out 
 of the same stretch of water, betwixt Castlelaw and 
 Boughtrig, forty-two trout, weighing upwards of -twenty- 
 three pounds ; also, on a similar day in June, betwixt ten 
 and two o'clock in the forenoon, I managed to encreel three 
 dozen and five fish, the largest of which was a three- 
 pounder, and there were at least twelve others that 
 weighed a pound a-piece. The gross weight on this 
 occasion I neglected to take note of, but it certainly ap- 
 proached two stone. 
 
 I mention these facts, not by way of recounting any- 
 thing extraordinary achieved with the rod, but simply in 
 order to show that the size of trout does not depend 
 greatly upon the size of the stream they inhabit, but to a 
 large degree upon the superiority of the feeding, and the 
 accommodation, or shelter, afforded them. As a contrast to 
 the above-mentioned rivulet, I may name the Esk, in 
 Dumfries-shire, a river entitled from its width and discharge 
 to be reckoned among our second-class waters. The trout 
 which this river contains seldom attain the weight of half- 
 a-pound. They are also, comparatively speaking, thinly 
 scattered throughout its streams ; and these circumstances 
 are owing, partly to the scarcity of food, and partly to the in- 
 convenient nature of the shelter which is furnished, not, as 
 in Tweed or Teviot, throughout the course of the channel, 
 but only here and there, in irregular pools, among rocks 
 and shifting gravels. It is the same on the Dee, and other 
 rivers of a similar character ; while streams, wholly in- 
 significant in point of dimensions, often produce large and 
 well-conditioned trout, or, what is equivalent, an abundance 
 of small and middle-sized ones. Leet, Eden, Kale, Bow- 
 mont water, are instances of this sort, in my own neighbour- 
 hood ; in Perthshire, the May water ; in Selkirkshire, the 
 numerous bums that fall into Ettrick, and so on. 
 
 The trout, if well fed, grows with astonishing rapidity^ 
 under any circumstances not absolutely hostile to its ex- 
 istence, it acquires, in the course of four or five months, 
 dimensions which entitle it to a place in the angler's creel — 
 at any rate, in the frying-pan. . Its growth, in point of fact, 
 is not greatly disturbed by lack of food during the first 
 
THE TWEED AND TEVIOT. 35 
 
 season of its existence; and, accordingly, in almost all 
 rivers, it attains a certain size, I do not say condition, in 
 the same extent of time. This is easily accounted for. 
 During what may be termed its infancy, it requires little 
 nourishment, and this, the quantum it requires, the most 
 barren streams can afford ; whereas to a fish of more mature 
 growth, such waters are quite inadequate to furnish it in 
 the requisite sufficiency. Accordingly, in streams of this 
 nature, trout seldom or never attain to a large size. They 
 naturally become dwarfish and ill-conditioned, obliged as 
 they are to subsist upon a measure of food, not a whit more 
 ample than what they had the power of obtaining and 
 actually did engross, without either craving or surfeit, 
 during the first year of their existence. 
 
 In the generality of our Scottish rivers, for example the 
 Tweed and Teviot, furnishing an ample, but not extra- 
 ordinary supply of food, the growth and age of the trout 
 inhabiting them may be reckoned as follows : — The fry, I 
 presume, hatched in the month of April. They continue 
 growing, during the first year, as long as a regular supply 
 of ground and surface food is afforded them, until the latter 
 end, probably, of October. By this period, they have ac- 
 quired a length of six or seven inches, and a corresponding 
 weight of from two and a half to three and a half ounces. 
 Feeding precariously during the winter, they gain no -ad- 
 ditional weight, but rather the contrary, until the spring 
 months. About the latter end of March, the river-flies 
 making their appearance, they begin to feed regularly, and 
 as a consequence, recommence growing. By the time the 
 supplies have again become stinted, they have acquired an 
 accession to their length of about a couple of inches, and 
 weigh from five up to seven ounces. A considerable pro- 
 portion of the trout of this, the second year's growth, are 
 in spawning trim during September, and others part with 
 their milt a few weeks later, but a great number there are 
 among them which do not arrive at breeding condition 
 until the autumn and winter following. The trout of the 
 third year's growth form the generality of those captured 
 by the angler with fly about the end of April and beginning 
 of May, averaging, -as they do, from seven to nine ounces 
 each, and occupying at that period, to the exclusion of 
 smaller fry (which still hold to the pools and deeper 
 portions of the river), the main streams and currents. 
 
36 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 During the first showers of March-browns, these, the 
 trout of the third year's growth, are generally foremost on 
 the feed, interspersed, however, with a few of their seniors 
 — the survivors of a former generation. Of this latter 
 description are those approaching to or upwards of a pound 
 in weight — a stage of growth, on reaching which, I believe 
 that many of our river-trout cease progressing. Others, 
 however, which have taken up a convenient haunt or post 
 of attack, and instinctively prefer coarse and abundant 
 feeding, attain to a much larger size. A few individuals 
 also, the inhabitants of the rivers I speak of, awing, in the 
 same manner, to the advantages they possess in acquiring 
 food of a finer quality, locating themselves, for instance, 
 under a range of alders, or at the mouth of a feedgr, reach, 
 without any loss of proportion, more than the average 
 weight of full-grown trout. These latter subsist, almost 
 entirely, upon ground and surface food, and only occasion- 
 ally, as a change, and when the other is scarce, resort to the 
 minnow or parr. 
 
 The above remarks bear reference, as I have already 
 stated, to the trout frequenting a large number of our 
 Scottish streams, both main rivers and their tributaries, 
 and, with such modifications as are imposed upon them 
 through some peculiarity in the feeding afibrded by this 
 or that water, may be held as of general application. 
 When the feeding supplied by a stream or bum falls — I 
 am talking of quantity only — below the average, trout 
 seldom attain to more than a quarter of a pound in weight. 
 They may abound in numbers, but these, in general, are 
 lank, large-beaded fish, that give little or no sport. Many 
 of our Highland streams are of the description above 
 mentioned. They have no winter supply of food at all. 
 They travel, at least half their course, over rocks. Their 
 banks have undergone little or no tillage. They are in- 
 capable of receiving it. Here, like the channel itself, they 
 are solid rock ! there, they are the debris of the torrent ; 
 sometimes they present to the eye a fringe of heather; 
 sometimes a miry swamp ; sometimes a forest nurtured by 
 its own sheddings ; seldom do they give indication of being 
 supplied, during a flood, with loam or rich soil, yielding in- 
 sects and their deposits ; but, on the contrary, the occur- 
 rence of a winter spate only despoils their courses of such 
 unappropriated aliment as found lodgment therein during 
 
HIGHLAND STREAMS. 37 
 
 the summer months. Such, along the greater portion of its 
 career, is the Dee ; such are the Coe and the Spean ; such, 
 also, are many of the mountain feeders in Perthshire, Inver- 
 ness-shire, Aberdeenshire ; "in fact, throughout the northern 
 highlands of Scotland. Hence \7e find the trout inhabiting 
 them dwarfish in size, lean, and unhealthy. Even in the 
 course of summer, when insect food is tolerably abundant, 
 they make little improvement, and seldom do we see them 
 encroached upon by varieties from neighbouring streams or 
 lochs, unless with the intent, on the part of larger trout, to 
 assail and devour them ; or, it may be, when forced by cir- 
 cumstances to deposit their spawn. 
 
 Should the feeding, however, greatly exceed the average, 
 I still speak in respect to quantity, although it rarely does 
 so without the implication also of a superior quality of 
 subsistence, trout will not only attain to a weight exceeding 
 what I have mentioned to be that common to a full-grown 
 Tweed fish, under ordinary circumstances, but they will 
 arrive at it, in a far shorter period of time — in the course, it 
 may be, of two, or at most three years ; whereas the Tweed 
 trout needs four to acquire its sixteen ounces, and then 
 ceases growing. Thus, in Leet or Eden, a trout of the 
 second year's growth is as heavy as a three or even a four 
 years' old fish pastured among the channels of Tweed or 
 Ettrick; and were the trout of these insignificant waters 
 suffered undisturbed to reach their full size, which there is 
 no question they would do in the course of five or six years, 
 numbers would be found among them, as was the case not 
 long ago, weighing severally upwards of two pounds. Thus, 
 also, in respect to many lakes, fish-ponds, and old marl-pits, 
 into which the fry of trout have been put. As long as these 
 possess a superabundance of both ground and surface food, 
 the young fish will thrive astonishingly, and arrive, in an 
 incredibly short space of time, at dimensions exceeding 
 those of average sized river-trout. 
 
 But without enlarging any further upon this subject, I 
 shall conclude, with a single observation, all that is essential 
 to be said in regard to the growth of fish, namely, that as 
 sheep and cattle will not fatten and thrive on stinted 
 pastures, or barren, exposed moorland, so neither will the 
 finny tribe, be the stream ever so pure and abundant, ac- 
 quire size and condition, unless sufficiently sheltered and 
 amply and regularly provisioned. On the other hand, 
 
 o 
 
38 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 possessed of these advantages, they have all that is re- 
 quired in order to do thein justice ; while breeds or varieties 
 of fish, hitherto pronounced shapeless and impracticable, 
 will, when transferred to such favoured localities, become 
 seeinly in their proportions, active in their dispositions, and 
 relishable, if not rich-tasted, as food. 
 
 Besides thp Sahno fario and its countless varieties, there 
 are three other species of fresh- water trout, held by natura- 
 lists to inhabit our Scottish lakes and rivers. These are 
 the Gillairoo or Gizzard trout, the Salmo ccecifer or Leven- 
 ensis, and the Salmo ferox. 
 
 The Gillakroo, I have every reason to believe, is no- 
 thing more than the common fario, and that the gizzard or 
 indurated portion of stomach which distinguishes it, is 
 entirely the result and not the occasion of its peculiar 
 feeding. This is true, at least, that all fresh-water trout 
 engross some measure of testaceous food, and, when theop- 
 portunity offers, will greedily devour, and abundantly thrive^ 
 upon small shell-fish and homy substances. These, as well' 
 as grains or pellets of gravel, I have frequently taken out 
 of the stomachs of common river trout, mixed with their 
 ordinary fiy sustenance ; and I have reason to believe they 
 can digest them without difficulty. 
 
 Of the strong digestive powers possessed by the river 
 trouii, I recently met with a singular illustration. Last 
 year, while taking a cast with the fly, for the amusement 
 of my children, in Maxwheel pool, below Kelso Bridge, 
 among other trout, I caught one not exceeding six inches in 
 length, which, from the circumstance of its being slightly 
 extended in the paunch, I was induced to cut open. On 
 my doing so, a large Irish-tempered bait-hook presented it- 
 self, the barb and turn of the wire imbedded in the fleshy 
 parts of the fish, while the shank lay in the stomach, ex- 
 posed to its action. On making an attempt to remove the 
 silk dressings, with which the latter portion of the hook 
 was still encircled, the iron beneath crumbled away, like 
 lamp-black, betwixt my fingers, leaving only an irregular 
 skeleton of wire, in some parts not one-fourth of the 
 original thickness. The remainder of the hook, which I 
 have in my possession, was not in the slightest degree in- 
 jured or corroded. The effect described being, as I am in- 
 clined to think, produced solely by the action of the 
 digestive organs, and not in consequence of any chemical 
 
SALMO FEROX. 39 
 
 process put into operation by the contact of the resin and 
 silk with the iron below, what must the effect of that 
 action be upon the ordinary food of the fish, and even upon 
 shells and other hard substances, especially, when encased 
 in the stomach of a full-grown trout ? To return, however, 
 to the gillarroo, I am inclined to believe that, on strict ex- 
 amination, what is held to characterise a species of trout, 
 found only in certain lakes, will be discovered to exist, in a 
 greater or less degree, in the stomachs of many varieties of 
 the Fario. 
 
 Salmo Ccecifee, oe Levenensis. — The far-famed trout 
 of Loch Leven are distinguished, I understand, many of 
 them, from the common fresh-water trout, by the numerical 
 superiority of their coecal appendages. In the SalTno fario, 
 these do not exceed forty-five or forty-six, whereas, in what 
 is appropriately termed the coecifer, they range from seventy 
 to eighty. The largest trout known to have been captured 
 in Loch Leven weighed eighteen pounds ; but it was not 
 uncommon, before the loch was partially drained and the 
 feeding grounds, in consequence, reduced in extent, to take 
 fish of the species described eighty or nine pounds in 
 weight. 
 
 Salmo Feeox. — According to Mr. Yarrell, this species of 
 the SalmonidcB is met with in various lakes in the High- 
 lands of Scotland. It is well known to inhabit Loch Awe 
 in Argyleshire, but it is found also in Lochs Laggan, Shin, 
 Layghal, and Assynt. It has also 'been captured occasion- 
 ally in Loch Lubnaig, near Callander. I very recently was 
 shown, by Charles Ker, Esq., Edinburgh, the skin of a trout 
 of this species, taken by him while trolling on the above- 
 mentioned sheet of water. This fish, when newly captured, 
 weighed fifteen pounds and a half. The ferox is identical 
 with the great trout or Buddagh of Lough Neagh, in 
 Ireland, where the small ones are termed Dolachan. I 
 have been told, upon good authority, that it exists in the 
 chain of lakes, including Lochs Rannoch and Lydoch, which 
 extends upwards, along the moor of Rannoch towards 
 Kingshouse. Its discovery in Loch Awe has been attri- 
 buted to a Mr. Morrison from Glasgow, upwards of sixty 
 years ago ; but the ferox must have been known to the in- 
 habitants of thQ district long before that period. It has 
 now, I understand, as far as regards the loch in question, 
 become scarce ; besides which, the individuals occasionally 
 
40 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 captured are, in point of size, very inferior to those taken 
 twenty years since, few of them exceeding ten or twelve 
 pounds in weight, and the generality not so heavy by one 
 half. I have seen stuffed specimens of the Salmo ferox, 
 which were said to be those of fish which weighed, when 
 newly caught, about twenty pounds ; but the late Mr. 
 Maule, a persevering and successful frequenter of Loch Awe, 
 has taken them, I am told, half a stone heavier. In the 
 spawning season, when numbers of these fish push down to 
 the outlet of the loch, they may be tempted to rise at the 
 salmon lures ordinarily used on the river Awe ; but, at 
 other times, they are only to be captured by trolling for 
 them from a boat, at a considerable depth and with strong 
 tackle, the bait employed consisting of a trout of five ounces 
 in weight, fortified with hooks in all directions. The ferox 
 is a more powerful fish than the Sahno salar, but not quite 
 so active ; still, it often manages to make its escape when 
 hooked, and will ensconce itself securely among weeds, 
 leaving to the angler no remedy but to break and part 
 company. 
 
 The Swallow-Smolt of Tweed. — Allied in some respects 
 to the ferox, is what, in the lower districts of Tweedside,, 
 has been designated a Swallow-smolt. It forms, I am in- 
 clined to think, not a mere variety of the qpmmon fario, 
 but a distinct species of trout. I am not, indeed, aware 
 that the swallow-smolt, or any breed of river 'trouts at all 
 resembling it, is to be found, except in Tweed itself. This 
 fish is of highly predatory habits, and will seldom, if ever, 
 rise at the common trouting-fly. It is caught generally by 
 means of the parr-tail tackle, about the latter end of May 
 and beginning of June, when the last of the smolts are on 
 their way seaward. Its appearance resembles, in some re- 
 spects, that of the bull-trout ; the head is large, the teeth 
 particularly strong, the Tnaculce irregularly but profusely 
 distributed, the whole formation that of a powerful and 
 rapacious fish. As regards its edible qualities, it is, at all 
 times, coarse and rank-flavoured. The swallow-smolt, 
 when on the outlook for prey, frequents the hings or 
 breaks, at the head of strong, rough water, and is frequently 
 taken, by rod and cairn net, from the rockiest portions of 
 the river, such as the turbulent eddies and foam-runs of the 
 Trow Crags. Its average weight is from two to four 
 pounds, but individuals have been caught that weighed 
 
TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT. 41 
 
 nearly half a stone. Were the production of a breed of 
 hybrids betwixt the fario and eriox a thing of likely occur- 
 rence, I might possibly have fixed upon the swallow-sraolt as 
 the issue; questioning, however, the existence of such a 
 production, 1 cannot help regarding it as distinct species of 
 the Salmonidce. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ANGLER'S TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Silk-Worm Gut. — Its Manufacture. — Recipes for Dying. — Tackle that 
 belonged to Sir Walter Scott. — Making up of Casting-Lines, — 
 Anglers' Knots. — Improved Construction of the Reel. — Rods. — 
 General Remarks. — Woods Employed in their Manufacture. — The 
 Ferrule. — Hooks. — Angler's Equipment. — Wading Boots, Pocket- 
 Book, the Box, GaSy Pannier. 
 
 GUT, a material so useful to the angler, it is necessary to 
 state, is a preparation from the entrails of the silk- worm. 
 It is fabricated, principally for our British market, in 
 various parts of Spain, Portugal, and Italy, also in Sicily 
 and the Greek islands. Spanish gut is, unquestionably, 
 in higher repute thaii any other ; its quality either being 
 intrinsically tiner, or more attention is paid to its manu- 
 facture and getting up. It is not nearly so long as some of 
 the Sicilian article, which evidently is produced from a 
 larger variety of silk-worm. This advantage, however, in 
 the latter, is counterbalanced by the coarseness of its tex- 
 ture, as well as by the want of roundness and equality in 
 the thread or fibre. Good, useful gut is always distin- 
 guished by the possession of these two properties. It 
 should also be quite transparent, not lacteous in its appear- 
 ance, and free withal from flaw, film, and flossy matter. 
 The descriptions of gut most difficult to procure are those 
 used for flne trouting and for salmon-fishing. What inter- 
 venes betwixt the above-mentioned sorts is abundant 
 enough, and very excellent hanks of this accommodating 
 description may be picked up, now-a-days, at a small 
 expense, and with little trouble. Still it is desirable that 
 the angler have a larger choice of the qualities above-men- 
 tioned ; and I think a little trouble on the part of those 
 
42 'fdE ANGLER'S COMPAltiOif. 
 
 importing it would secure an ample supply of both. The 
 following is a recipe I have copied, from a small anonymous 
 treatise on " Angling," relative to the manufacture of silk- 
 worm gut : 
 
 " Take the largest and best worms you can procure, just 
 when they begin to spin. This may be known by their 
 refusing to feed, and by their having a fine silk thread 
 hanging from their mouths. The worms must be kept in 
 strong vinegar, and covered close over for twelve hours, if 
 the weather is warm ; if not, two or three hours longer will 
 be necessary. When taken out, they must be pulled asunder, 
 and you will see two transparent guts of a yellowish green 
 colour, as thick as a straw, bent double, the rest of the 
 inside resembling boiled spin age ; you can make no mistake. 
 If you find the guts soft, or break upon stretching them, 
 you must let the worms lie longer in the vinegar ; when fit 
 to draw off, you must dip one in the vinegar, and stretch it 
 gently with both hands to the proper length. The gut 
 thus drawn out must be stretched out on a thin piece of 
 board, by putting each end in a slit therein, and placed in 
 the sun to dry. This is the real gut, and the mode of 
 dressing it is the cause of its ends being cramped." 
 
 I am of opinion, from experiments made by me at 
 various times, that it is advantageous for the angler to 
 employ stained or dyed gut, in preference to the material 
 in its natural state. I have ascertained also, that there are 
 two colours, or rather tints, that take the precedence over 
 all others, in producing the desired eflFect, that is, in con- 
 cealing or rendering it invisible to the eye of the trout or 
 salmon, as well as the observation of the onlooker. With 
 regard to the experiments in question, they were made, 
 some at the bridge below Coldstream, and others at Teviot - 
 Bridge, near Kelso ; a party on each occasion being 
 stationed to report, on the keystone of one of the arches, 
 and immediately superintending the cast underneath. The 
 conclusion I have come to is, that the walnut leaf, or brown 
 dye, is best calculated for the purpose required ; although, 
 in a bright day, and in clear water, a bluish or neutral 
 tinge is perhaps more desirable. The former of these 
 colours is obtained simply from a decoction of walnut leaves, 
 or bark, using two handfuls to a quart of water. Into this 
 liquid, when in a cool state, the gut should be placed, and 
 allowed to soak for two or three hours ; or it may be 
 
RECIPES FOR DYEING. 43 
 
 immersed, for a few seconds only, in the hot fluid, and then 
 rinsed well in cold water. ' Let care be taken thelt the 
 shade or tint be not too deep. It should approach io a 
 light amber colour, and on no account be allowed to lose its 
 transparency. 
 
 As to the bluish dye. This is obtained from a decoction 
 of shavings of logwood, a handful to the quart of water. 
 Boil these for about a quarter of an hour, and throw in a 
 small piece of alum about the size of a horse bean. On 
 removing your pan from the fire, dip the gut in while the 
 liquor is still hot, allowing it to remain five or six seiConds, 
 and then transferring it, as before, to cold water. 
 
 After you have washed it, shake off the superfluous 
 moisture, and allow the hank to dry thoroughly before 
 laying it by. Silk-worm gut, I may here remark^ when in 
 the hank or considerable quantities, should be wrapt up 
 lengthwise, in a piece of chamois leather, which keeps it in 
 much better trim than paper does. The following are the 
 recipes for the dyeing of this material : — 
 
 1. An azure or neutral tint, 1 draehm logwood, 6 grains copperas, 
 
 2. A pinkish azure, ... 1 drachm logwood, 1 scruple alum. 
 
 3. A dingy olive, .... ditto, adding 3 scruples of .quercitron bark. 
 
 4. Light brown, .... 1 drachm madder, 1 scruple alum. 
 
 These being the proportions of the materials, the water 
 can be applied to suit tastes. Immerse the gut fully a 
 minute. 
 
 Horse Hair, Lines, &c. — Before the introduction arid 
 general use of silk-worm gut, I can readily undfSrstand how 
 valuable a really good selection of this article must nave 
 been to the angler. Indeed, judging from the specimens 
 that, from time to time, have come under my notice of the 
 fishing-tackle used by our forefathers, I am led to the 
 opinion that there is no horse-hair to be obtained, in our 
 modern days, which, in point of roundness, length, and 
 power, at all approximates to what was employed by them. 
 This is owing partly to the practice, now in vogue, of dock- 
 ing our stallions before the tail has had time to acquire its 
 full strength, and partly also, to the care and attention 
 formerly exercised in the selection of the article. One of the 
 finest specimens of good horse-hair I ever remember to 
 have met with was presented to me, along with a bait 
 hook and some red hackles, by the late Mr. William Laidlaw, 
 
44 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the friend and factor of Sir Walter Scott. This and its 
 accompaniments were part and parcel of the identical fish- 
 ing-tackle discovered along with the, mislaid MSS. of 
 "Waverley,.and alluded to by Sir Walter, in the General 
 Preface to his Novels. I make no doubt, but with the 
 single hair in question, I could have managed, provided 
 my rod was a pliant one and my reel-line ran easily, a 
 salmon of ten or twelve pounds in weight, not indeed in 
 such water as the Trow Crags, or any of the rocky straiks 
 and clippers that afford facilities for fish to cut or wear 
 through the line; but in an open, unobstructed cast or 
 pool, where the salmon could show no cunning, and, at the 
 same time, exert its full strength and speed. The hair 
 alluded to, I may mention, was white, clear, and long, not 
 of the coarse, black description, which even now-a-days is 
 common enough, and possesses, without question, strength 
 to capture the largest of our river fish. 
 
 As to colour, however, the natural chestnut is preferable, 
 especially for casting-lines. With regard to the reel or 
 winch-line, it is of little or no consequence what colour of 
 hair is put into requisition. A mixture of black and white 
 is most commonly employed in its manufacture, and per- 
 haps, next to good chestnut hair, is really best adapted for 
 the purpose. I am not partial to pure white hair, either 
 for casting or running lines ; but my objection rests chiefly 
 on the circumstance of the material, as found in the market, 
 being, in nineteen cases out of twenty, bad or unequal. 
 Casting-lines, especially, should always be formed of choice 
 hairs. They should be selected to correspond one with the 
 other, and ought to possess, besides, length, roundness, and 
 perfect equality. 
 
 In speaking of hair casting-lines, I may observe, that 
 although the above remark applies equally to the trouting 
 and other sorts, it is intended to hold reference chiefly to 
 what is employed, under that denomination, in salmon fish- 
 ing ; indeed, for my own part, I have long ago abjured the 
 use of hair altogether, in the formation of my casting-line, 
 except for the purpose I am referring to ; nay, I would 
 reject it even for this purpose also, were there any ex- 
 pedient or contrivance known to me that could advan- 
 tageously be substituted in its place. 
 
 The upper casting-line, generally used by salmon-fishers, 
 and requisite as an assistance in throwing the fly, is com- 
 
MAKING-UP OF CAST-LINES. 45 
 
 posed of three or four links of hair, and extends, when 
 these are joined, to., about six feet. Each link contains 
 from eighteen to twelve hairs, according to the strength and 
 thickness of the winch-line to which it is intended to, be 
 attached. The upper casting-line ought also to taper" 
 gradually, so as to admit of the lower or gut one forming, 
 when looped on, a continuation with it, in point of thick- 
 ness. This is managed by diminishing the number of hairs 
 in every successive link ; that is to say, supposing the upper- 
 most length is formed of eighteen hairs, the one following 
 should contain fifteen, and so on, down to twelve and nine. 
 
 In the making-up of casting-lines, great attention should 
 be paid to the knotting and tying, as well as twisting, 
 which some prefer executing solely with the hand, in pre- 
 ference to the machine. I can affirm, however, from ex- 
 perience, that the machine answers the purpose better, not 
 only in point of expedition, but it produces more equal and 
 trustworthy work. Take care, however, not to overtwist 
 the links, and see that the hair, which ought previously to 
 be washed with soap and water, is quite dry. Silk-worm 
 gut, on the contrary, when spun up into casting-lines, ought 
 to be soaked in lukewarm water, and attached to the 
 machine while wet, and before losing its pliancy. And as 
 to gut casting-lines, they ought always to be constructed of 
 long, choice gut, carefully assorted. Every separate length 
 should consist of three threads, equal in thickness, I mean 
 as regards that individual length ; for, to regulate the 
 tapering of the line, lengths of various thicknesses are re- 
 quired to be spun, and a careful sekction made from them 
 before joining. 
 
 The triple gut casting-line ought to extend fully six or 
 seven feet, and is intended either to succeed the hair casting- 
 line, in salmon-fishing, or to be appended immediately to 
 the winch-line, by the trout-fisher. Linked to it is the 
 single gut casting-line,. composed of three or four successive 
 strands of picked material, carefully knotted, and if in- 
 tended for large fish, tied over at the joinings with silk 
 thread. Of course, by salmon-fishers, this addition is dis- 
 pensed with, when triple gut is found necessary or more 
 useful. In fine waters, on the contrary, it is often expedient 
 to add to the length of this portion of the casting-line, as 
 well in salmon as in trout-fishing, in order, to keep up the 
 deception and not alarm the fish. 
 
46 TttE ANGLEl*S COMPANION. 
 
 But I think it unnecessary further to enlarge upon the 
 subject of lines in the present chaptei", as various instruc- 
 tions respecting them lie interspersed throughout the 
 treatise ; and as to the knotting together of the threads or 
 strands, I deem it proper merely to mention one or twO of 
 the most approved methods of joining. 
 
 The Water-Knot, Single and Double. — This knot is 
 completed simply by laying the ends of the two threads, 
 links, or strands, required to be joined, alongside of each 
 other ; then, doubling the one round the forefinger of the 
 right hand and passing one of the links and its correspond- 
 ing end through the loop thus formed, draw all tight. 
 Should the material be silk-worm gut, allow the knot to 
 soak a moment in the mouth before drawing. In making 
 the double khot, pass the lengths twice through instead of 
 once : this will give greater security to the line, and pre- 
 vent all possibility of the ends slipping. The double water-, 
 knot should always be adopted in making up fine or single 
 tackle for salmon, but gives a clumsy appearance to the 
 trouting line. After the knot is completed, clip away the 
 useless portions of the lengths, but not too closely ; and in 
 the case of casting-lines, tie over what is left with fine silk 
 thread. I seldom tie over the knots of the single gut or 
 foot-line in this manner, unless at such a distance from the 
 hook that they do not generally come into contagt with the 
 water, and are thus rendered liable to be mistaken for flies. 
 The water-knot is unquestionably the simplest and most 
 expeditious, if not the safest, knot used by the anglet ; but 
 there is another mode of joining lengths of single gut, occa- 
 sionally practised on Tweedside, and which it behoves him 
 to become acquainted with. This is executed by laying the 
 ends of gut, intended to be joined, side by side ; form a 
 simple knot over each, with the other, thus : — 
 
 Draw the knots tight, and pull them together. They 
 will hold fast, in the right direction, but can be separated, 
 so far, without trouble, by simply drawing them asunder. 
 In affixing bobs or droppers, this mode of joining together 
 
Catch or rack. 4^ 
 
 the lengths which compose the foot-line has its advaiitages ; 
 the bob or dropper requiring no loop, but simply a small 
 knot at the head of the gut it is attached to. When in- 
 serted betwixt the closing ends above described, this knot, 
 on their being drawn together, will prevent the dropper 
 from slipping off: at the same time it can readily be dis- 
 engaged, and another, at the option of the angler, substituted 
 in its place. 
 
 The Reel, or Winch. — A great improvement has of 
 recent years taken place in the form and construction of the 
 reel, or winch. By reducing the length of the barrel and 
 pillars, and enlarging the diameter of the brass plates be- 
 tween which they are confined, the line can be wound up 
 with much greater speed and regularity than when the plates 
 used were narrow, and the distance betwixt them consider- 
 able. 
 
 This improvement was originally suggested by the late 
 Mr. W. Brockie, tenant at Laughton, Berwickshire, and the 
 first brass reel, on the narrow principle, constructed under 
 the superintendence of Signor Justinelli, a friend of the 
 late Earl of Hume, by Mr. Sharp, watchmaker at Cold- 
 stream. 
 
 The catch, also, or rack, is generally abolished, although 
 some anglers naturally enough retain a prejudice on its be- 
 half. This appendage, however, and all machinery intended 
 to assist the winding up, can beneficially be dispensed with. 
 The simpler, in fact, in these respects, the reel is, the 
 better ; it not only lets off the line more readily, but is less 
 liable to become deranged in its action. That the line may 
 be and often is thrown off too easily, I make no question, 
 but this is the fault of the angler, who ought with his hand 
 to restrain and regulate its measure^ according to the power 
 and caprices of the fish he is playing. As to the reel itselE, 
 the more smoothly and swimmingly it parts with the line 
 the better, for whatever advantages the multiplier and 
 rack-wheel may be esteemed to possess, these, without 
 question, are counterbalanced by the liability such adapta- 
 tions incur to become disturbed in their action and rendered 
 completely at fault, during moments of need and extremity. 
 
 Among other improvements recently made upon the reel or 
 winch, are those which relate to the handle. This is now 
 constructed so as to fold over or be teadily detached, 
 according to the pleasure of the angler, and thus facilitate 
 
48 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the carrying or packing up of the machine. Checks, also, 
 have of late years been introduced, and the mode of affixing 
 the reel to the rod altered and improved. 
 
 The Rod. — Caprice and custom regulate largely the 
 fancy of individuals in respect to this implement. One 
 holds stiffness as a requisite, another pliancy ; one prefers 
 the single-handed, another the double-handed rod ; some 
 use a butt-piece of hickory, some of ash, and others of fir- 
 wood; this angler, again, in the matter of the top-piece, 
 esteems lance, that bamboo ; and, as to the ferrule, I meet 
 with one who commends the plain joint and socket, another 
 who countenances the Scottish screw, and a third who dis- 
 claims the use of brass joinings altogether, and stands up in 
 behalf of tie system. In short, there is no termination to 
 the variety of tastes and prejudices on the subject of fish- 
 ing-rods. The rings, the colouring, the varnish, the lower 
 fittings, all fall, as matters of dispute, within the contentious 
 circle ; nor, indeed, does the observation of many years, 
 and the most ample and unprejudiced testing of rods of 
 every description, stiff and pliant, light and heavy, single 
 and double-handed, enable me so decisively to pronounce 
 an opinion upon one and all of these matters, as even to 
 approach an adjustment of differences in respect to them. 
 
 I can only state, from personal experience, that a very 
 few days' practice will frequently suffice to reconcile one to 
 the use of a rod which, at the first handling, he felt some- 
 what dissatisfied with. I do not say that it discovered any 
 glaring fault in the build or material, for these are matters 
 requiring strict scrutiny and attention; but it wanted a 
 particular virtue, which he imagined the implement he 
 was accustomed to use possessed ; it could not, in fact, 
 heave out the line so satisfactorily, or drop the fly with so 
 much nicety, or assist in hooking the fish, on rising ; 
 perhaps it exhausted the wrist or arm sooner ; there was 
 about it, in fact, some vice, it might be an indescribable one, 
 and yet, on a succession of trials, this vice or defect com- 
 pletely vanished. It had been got the better of by 
 practice ; nay, in reality, it was not a fault in the rod, but 
 a pre-existing prejudice on the part of its possessor, which, 
 as it arose through habit, could only become extinguished 
 under the same influential dominion. 
 
 I have made these remarks as a prelude to this subject, 
 because I consider that many anglers lay a great deal too 
 
MATERIAL FOR BUTT-PIECE. 49 
 
 much stress upon, and are fancifully exact as to the length, 
 the pliancy, the weight, the balance, — even the colour of 
 their fishing-rods, not to speak of rings, etc. At the same 
 time, I allow that the purpose for which a rod is made, 
 whether -for salmon-fishing, for trolling with minnow, or 
 for trouting with the fly ; for streamlet, lake, or broad river, 
 ought to regulate, not merely its proportions, but in certain 
 cases, its material, number of lengths, and description of 
 finish. I shall now treat very shortly of the kinds of wood 
 best adapted for rod-making, their peculiarities and ad- 
 vantages. 
 
 The material in general used for the butt-piece, both of 
 the salmon and trouting-rod, is ash. For hollow butts, 
 most rod-makers employ saplings, or young trees, of six or 
 seven years' standing, well-dried and seasoned. These of 
 course possess a core or inner growth of tender wood, the 
 extraction of which, by means of a gimlet bitt, does not 
 greatly impair the main strength of the piece, while there 
 is this additional advantage, that it can be performed more 
 in accordance with the lie, run, or grain of the material 
 than were the operation attempted on a portion of plank 
 or sawn tree, out of which solid butts are constructed. 
 Hollow butts, when formed out-of plank wood, which they 
 sometimes are, require to be bored with an instrument 
 termed a phipple bitt. The boring may advantageously be 
 enlarged by a tool of the same description, only smaller in 
 size, as that used by the cooper in the formation of bung- 
 holes. It is called in Scotland a schulop. It would be an 
 improvement in the manufacture of the hollow butt-piece, 
 were the lower or root end of the ash sapling made to 
 receive the ferrule, instead of the upper extremity, which is 
 less tough and consistent, consequently more apt to break, 
 or split. 
 
 I am of opinion that Memel fir, although not generally 
 used in rod-making, is an excellent substitute for ash, in 
 the construction of the solid butt-piece for a small salmon 
 or grilse-rod. It has the advantage over it, in respect of 
 lightness, while, if judiciously selected, there can be no 
 question as to its strength and durability. I have used it 
 for many years, in preference to any other wood, and find 
 that it stands the test thoroughly. Indeed, with regard to 
 two rods manufactured by Mr. Forrest, of Kelso, under my 
 own directions, some years ago, the butt-pieces of which are 
 
50 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 made of the wood in question, I can safely affirm that 
 they have stood the test of rough and frequent usage better 
 than any fishing-rods I ever had in my possession ; and that 
 still, although I have killed with each of them scores of 
 pike and salmon, as well as creel-loads of river-trout, the 
 lower lengths are sound and trustworthy as ever. 
 
 Hickory-wood, on account of its heaviness, is seldom em- 
 ployed in the construction of butt-pieces : but the middle 
 divisions of the generality of fishing-rods are made of it. 
 Of hickory there are several kinds ; the most serviceable of 
 which, for the purpose of rod-making, is the red. White 
 hickory, however, is a tougher and more durable material, 
 only it warps when cut up into lengths. Hickory-wood is 
 brought principally from North America, in billets of the 
 thickness of a man's leg and upwards. 
 
 Lance-wood is closer grained and somewhat heavier than 
 hickory. It is a native of Cuba and other West Indian 
 islands. For top-pieces, it is reckoned invaluable, possessing 
 a spring and consistency, together with a capability of being 
 highly wrought and polished, not found in any other wood. 
 The great objection to lance-wood is its weight and con- 
 sequent tendency, when used as a top-piece along with 
 different woods, to injure or discompose the just and desir- 
 able balance of the rod. In order to obviate this, rod- 
 makers are now in the habit of constructing the top-lengths, 
 partly of lance-wood and partly of bamboo. The bamboo 
 portion consists of a thin slit or slits detached from one of 
 the jointed divisions of the cane. This is rounded off and 
 otherwise cut and planed, so as to admit of being accurately 
 glued on to the lance-wood section of the intended top-piece, 
 the parts thus annexed being afterwards strengthened by a 
 wrapping of waxed thread and coatings of varnish. Eods 
 constructed almost entirely of bamboo are in use in some 
 parts of England, but they do not suit our Scottish rivers, 
 being possessed of little throwing power, and adapted more 
 for trolling with and the pitching out system, peculiar to some 
 localities where pike are fished for. Of other woods used 
 by rod-makers, I may mention log and purple wood, which 
 are frequently employed in the construction of the angler's 
 weapon by Irish artists. They are not, however, much 
 appreciated in Scotland. 
 
 The Ferrule. — In my younger days, I preferred to any 
 other the Scotch screw-joint, as a mode of affixing the lengths 
 
COATING WITH BKASS. 51 
 
 or part of a fishing-rod. I am now convinced that the 
 English system is a better one; nainely, that o£ simply 
 introducing the lower end of each length into a correspond- 
 ing sheath or socket in the division it surmounts. This 
 socket is fenced round with a projecting portion of brass 
 tube, which accords in thickness to the end or joint it is 
 intended to receive. A fastening of small twine or thread 
 is then required to make all secure, for which purpose there 
 are affixed hooks or projections of brass wire on each length, 
 immediately above and below the place of conjunction. 
 
 I am by no means partial, however, to an innovation 
 lately introduced, namely, the coating with brass of that 
 portion of the inserting joint, which comes into juxtaposition 
 with the tube or ferrule. This is done with the view of 
 counteracting the petty annoyance which is liable to occur 
 during wet weather, or in case of the accidental submersion 
 of the rod; an annoyance arising from the swelling 
 of the confined part of the joint, and that frequently to 
 such a degree, as to render it impossible for the angler, by 
 means of mere manual exertion, to separate the pieces. 
 That the brass coating in question does, to some extent, 
 obviate the evil I aUow ; but the remedy, and a partial one 
 it is, has its own very objectionable points. These, also, 
 proceed from a similar cause, the alternate action of drought 
 and moisture, which action, while it but temporarily affects 
 the wooden joint, produces a more lasting and injurious 
 result upon the brass one; for, in the latter case, by its 
 operation upon the coated portion of the joint, it subserves, 
 in a short time, to slacken and disturb the overlapping 
 metals,, and thus the adaptation of length to length, as well 
 as the general firmness and entirety of the rod, becomes 
 materially impaired ; whereas, when the joint is used in its 
 simple or naked state, the slight contraction or expansion 
 of the wood resulting from drought or moisture, occasions 
 no such injurious effect, inasmuch as there is no necessity, 
 when fitting in the lengths, to be overnice or 6xact about 
 the point of conjunction. 
 
 It is proper, however, especially in the prospect of en- 
 countering rain, to grease that portion of each length which 
 is intended to be inclosed. By so doing, you prevent in 
 some measure the swelling of the wood below the ferrul«, 
 and render comparatively simple the disengaging of the 
 several divisions. In event, however, of this operation 
 
52 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 having been neglected, should the angler find it impractic- 
 able, by the exercise of a moderate degree of manual 
 strength, to effect the taking down of his rod, he ought by 
 no means, on the instant, to press his object, so as to render 
 possible the racking or injuring of the wood or ferrule, nor 
 should he, if he can possibly avoid doing so, resort to the 
 application of strong heat, in order to reduce the expansion 
 of the wood. I would recommend him to take home the 
 implement in its undetached state, and if convenient, to lay 
 it by for a few months, either in an upright or recumbent 
 position, until the wood has become thoroughly dried, when 
 he may readily, without much effort, unfix the lengths. 
 When necessitated, however, to apply heat, let him employ 
 a pair of common fire-tongs made red-hot at the extremities. 
 In using these, one must be careful to seize hold of the 
 ferrule or brass tube, at or near the centre, so as not to in-- 
 terfere with the waxed wrappings which secure the lower 
 fastening-pin. A very few moments will suffice to com- 
 municate the requisite heat equally throughout the joining ; 
 the moisture confined in the wood will gradually find vent 
 in steam along the edges of the ferrule, and as it does so, 
 the extrication of the joint from its socket may be accom- 
 plished without difficulty. 
 
 As a guard against the injury done by rain, etc., many of 
 the Irish rods are constructed with the ferrules inverted,, 
 that is, with the tube or socket fixed on the low&r end of 
 the length, so as to cap or lie over its corresponding joint. 
 In this case, the rain or moisture trickling towards the butt 
 is prevented from insinuating itself, by the. crevices of the 
 joining, into the wood below. This alteration in the 
 position of the ferrule will also, there is no question, give 
 additional stability to the hollow butt-piece, and materially 
 favour its construction. The butt-pieces, however, I may 
 mention, of the Irish rods are'generally made solid. 
 
 Rings. — Stiff or fixed rings I have always held in dis- 
 favour, and decidedly condemn them, as appendages to the 
 fly-fishing rod. They are employed, I am aware, by many 
 anglers, in preference to loose or movable ones, and it is 
 asserted that, in trolling, they possess a marked advantage 
 over these, in regard to the facility of escape they give the 
 line. I cannot say, for my own part, that I perceive it ; 
 on the contrary, they are- apt, I think, greatly to embarrass 
 its movements, and often occasion its entire stoppage 
 
MATERIAL OF WINOH-LINE. 53 
 
 ' In point of weight and size, the rings of a^rod ought 
 severally to correspond with its power and dimensions. 
 Regard also must be paid to the thickness and material of 
 the winch-line which they are intended to give escape to. 
 In order to maintain this regard, it is not necessary, how- 
 ever, to sacrifice proportion in any great extent. The reel 
 line itself is of faulty thickness, sho'uld suclT sacrifice to its 
 accommodation be found needful. In fact, the two ought 
 so to suit each other that the rings on the taper or light 
 portion of the rod will admit the passing through of the 
 line in a looped state, or even when a single knot occurs. 
 
 Hooks. — ^1 have tested, during a long course of practice, 
 hooks of all sorts, shapes, and sizes, and have come to the 
 conclusion that there are few to be met with, in the market, 
 excelling those of Philips and Adlington^the former being 
 a Dublin maker, and constructing his wire, as to the bend 
 and temper, on the Limerick or Irish system, while the 
 latter chiefly manufactures what is well known under the 
 name of the round-bend hook. I may mention, however, 
 that there are many other makers, throughout the kingdom, 
 who vie with them, to a certain extent, in the fabrication 
 of this article, 
 
 I like, however. Philips' hooks and those of Adlington 
 better than any in use ; the former as adapted for all sorts 
 of large flies, from those used in spring trouting, up to the 
 biggest salmon ones^the latter, as suited for the smaller 
 kinds of trout-flies, also for bait-hooks and minnow-tackles. 
 
 I would recommend the purchaser of hooks, in any 
 quantity, always to test them, more especially if they are 
 badly dressed. This is easily done, by pressing the point 
 into a piece of wood, and exerting a due degree of strength 
 on the bend, and other portions of the wire, the shank of 
 the hook being firmly held betwixt the thumb and fore- 
 finger. Nothing can be more annoyiqg to the angler than 
 to find himself on a fishing excursion, equipped with an as- 
 sortment of worthless wire, and yet, as regards trouting- 
 flies, how frequently this occurs. 
 
 Varnish. — No angler, as part of his equipment, should 
 neglect having a small phial containing spirit varnish. It 
 is serviceable to him in many respects ; it strengthens and 
 improves the appearance of all worm and minnow-tackles j 
 it may be applied, wi^h advantage, at the finishing point of 
 fly-hooks, the head or tail ; in the construction also of cast- 
 
 4 
 
54 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 ing-lines, where the ends require to be tied over with silk 
 thread, its employment is beneficial ; but that part of the 
 angler's stock to which its application, from time to time, is 
 most needed, consists of the rod itself. When the upper 
 portion of the top-piece is manufactured of bamboo slits, it 
 should be applied, as far as these are concerned, frequently, 
 and in layers or coats of moderate thickness. Rods in much 
 use ought to varnished over, at least twice or thrice during 
 the season, and always at its close. This rule attended to, 
 they will be found to last much longer and retain their 
 springiness-in its early perfection. Of varnish so employed 
 for rods and tackle, the most generally useful consists in a 
 solution of various gums among spirits of wine. Copal 
 varnish is also made use of, but, in comparison with the 
 other, dries slowly. The best mode of laying on the pre- 
 paration is by means of a small paint-brush or hair pencil. 
 
 RECIPE FOR MAKING SPIRIT VARNISH. 
 
 Sandarao ... 4 ozs. | Elemi (true) . . . 1 oz. 
 Pale seedlac ... 2 ozs. { Alcohol . . . . 1 qrt. 
 Digest with agitation till dissolved, then add Venice turpentine, 2 ozs. 
 
 The Gaff, ob Landing-Hook. — This implement is ex- 
 ceedingly useful to the salmon-fisher. It consists of a large 
 hook, fastened upon or screwed into a shaft or handle, 
 varying in length from three to five or six feet. It is much 
 used in the neighbourhood of Kelso, and facilitates greatly 
 the capture of a tired fish, economising the time of the 
 angler, and lessening the hazards which are frequently 
 incurred by an attempt to land or bank it. In using the 
 gaff-hook, the person employed should take care not to 
 come into contact with the line, and keep well out of sight, 
 until an opportunity occurs of stretching his weapon over 
 the fish. He should then jerk the point into its body, no 
 matter what part of it, and haul in rapidly. Some gaff- 
 hooks are furnished with a small scythe or pruning-blade, 
 which is intended for cutting through any weeds or branches 
 that may happen to interfere with the tackle, in landing. 
 This appendage will be found of more service in pike than 
 salmon-fishing. Instead of the gaff, a small hoop-net is 
 sometimes used to take in exhausted fish. It is especially 
 of advantage in angling for trout from a boat, or even when 
 wading in a broad streamj where, without its assistance, 
 
GENERAL DRESS OF THE ANGLER. 65 
 
 one has to march to shore with every half-pounder he 
 hooks, or else to incur the increased risk of its escape, 
 should he attempt to haul it up within grasp. . 
 
 I do not think it necessary to enter into further details 
 regarding tackle, etc., in this chapter. What remains to be 
 said is treated of more appropriately as I proceed. 
 
 Angler's Equipment. — There is no material that I am 
 acquainted with more suitable, as respects colour, warmth, 
 and durability, for the general dress of the angler, than 
 properly manufactured Scotch plaiding. It has this 
 advantage, to boot, that it dries quickly, after immersion in 
 water or exposure to rain, and from the varieties of pattern 
 it embraces, there is always sufficient scope for a display of 
 taste on the part of the selector. 
 
 I would recommend that the coat, and trousers be usually 
 fabricated of this article. In the spring season, however, a 
 dress of warmer texture is often found essential ; and there 
 are fifty stuflfe, suitable for cold weather, on the shelves of 
 every clothier, which the most fastidious of our fraternity 
 could- not object to wear. But I have no design to inter- 
 fere with the taste or tailor of any man, and shall, therefore, 
 refrain from entering into details upon this matter, or 
 giving directions as to how a fishing jacket ought to be 
 made and furnished, or what description of head covering 
 the angler should use. With regard, however, to what, 
 strictly speaking, forms the equipment of our craft, apart 
 from rod and tackle, I think it requisite to otter a few 
 observations. First of all, then, as to an article, which, in 
 many localities, it is almost essential for the angler to 
 possess : I mean 
 
 Wading-Boots. — It is quite true, that, in my younger 
 days, I regarded these a cumbersome and unnecessary part 
 of my equipment, and so they would prove in all pedestrian 
 excursions, undertaken by juvenile anglers, in the hey-day 
 of health and vigour ; but as one becomes sobered down, 
 and more chary of his exertions, he not only reconciles 
 himself to their use, but actually feels out of place in their 
 absence. To a salmon-fisher who has no boat at command, 
 and who, to obtain sport, requires to plunge knee-deep in 
 the element, during the months of March and April, as well 
 as October, in seasons?, in fact, when the temperature is by 
 no means high, they are absolutely necessary ; and even to 
 the trout-fisher, in May and June, who is liable to suffer 
 
56 THE ANGLEK'S COMPANION. 
 
 from habitual exposure to wet, they constitute a desirable 
 means of protection. I need not, therefore, to recom- 
 mend them as an article of expediency, the more especially 
 as the various inventions and improvements of the age 
 render them of easy acquisition, and that at a cost more 
 moderate than a rheumatic attack, or even a twinge of 
 toothache, coupled severally with doctors' and dentists' 
 fees. 
 
 It would be quite superfluous, were I to enumerate the 
 different descriptions of India-rubber wading-boots, which, 
 from time to time, have been submitted to my inspection. 
 I am not partial to wares fabricated of such slender material 
 as the generality of these happen to be, and prefer instead 
 a sturdy, workman-like pair of leg-defenders, such as are 
 worn by the Berwick fishermen and those of our principal 
 salmon rivers. There is no necessity, however, that wading- 
 boots of this description, to last well and answer all the 
 purposes of the angler, should be nearly so coarse and heavy 
 as those manufactured to resist damage from salt water and 
 incessant usage. They ought not, in fact, to weigh more, 
 when properly ironed, than eight or nine pounds. To 
 maintain leather wading-boots in good order, it is necessary 
 they should be used every now and then, or else filled 
 occasionally with water, and allowed to stand an hour or 
 two in this condition. The leather also requires to be kept 
 soft and pliant, for which purpose I recommend the use of 
 the following mixture, — the materials named to be melted 
 together above a slow fire, and smeared, when cool, over 
 the leather : 
 
 1 pint of neat's-foot oil. | 2 ozb. of yellow wax. 
 
 2 ozs. of turpentine. | 1 oz. of Burgundy pitch. 
 
 Before pulHng on the boots, draw a large-sized worsted 
 stocking over the trousers. 
 
 The above recipe is of tried value ; but as neat's-foot oil 
 is an expensive ingredient, and not easily obtained, I subjoin 
 a more economical preparation. 
 
 1 pint of linseed oil. 
 4 ozs. of beeswax. 
 
 2 ozsi of spirits of turpentine. 
 
 Melt all slowly together. 
 
 2 ozs. of best tar. 
 
 2 ozs., of Burgundy pitch. 
 
 Fishing-Book. — It is astonishing what fancies some 
 
ANGLER'S TROUTING BOOK. 57 
 
 anglers entertain, in respect to their tackle. They ac- 
 cumulate hank atter hank of gut, gross after gross of flies, 
 a whole bolster charge of feathers, and an anchor weight of 
 hooks, without for one moment considering the damage 
 done by age, moths, and corrosion, and the unlikelihood of 
 their ever existing to employ all this amassed hoard of 
 fishing gear. No doubt, these whimsical enthusiasts draw 
 a world of satisfaction from the review of their varied 
 accumulations, and love to expatiate upon the merits of 
 this or that contrivance ; the shade of a tackle, or the shape 
 of a hook, forming with them sufficient subject of discourse 
 for more time than they have spent in testing the advant- 
 ages of either the one or the other. I confess I have but 
 little sympathy with men of this humour, and have always 
 met with the most efficient and sterling anglers, in those 
 who possess a simple but select stock, intermixed with no- 
 thing doubtful or new-fangled in the shape of tackle — the 
 gut hank fresh and clean — the hooks free from rust — ^the 
 flies recently dressed — the pocket-book ample in size, yet 
 not crowded in its contents — everything having elbow-room 
 and being in its proper place. 
 
 The angler's trouting-book, in order to give suitable ac- 
 commodation to the tackle required, should measure at least 
 eight inches in length, by five and a half in breadth. The 
 number and arrangement of the divisions and cases are pure 
 matters of taste, upon which no remarks need be offered. 
 For salmon flies, I would recommend a pocket-book of 
 still larger dimensions, and .instead of vellum, let there be 
 introduced divisions of flannel moderately fine. These, in 
 fact, should be glued on, or otherwise affixed to strong 
 parchment, and the rest, in stitching up, disposed of be- 
 twixt them. By the adoption of this plan, the salmon- 
 fisher is enabled to arrange a large stock of fly hooks, one 
 by one, over a comparatively small space ; he can distribute 
 them, according to his fancy, equally over the various 
 divisions, so that this portion of the pocket-book when 
 closed shall not press too heavily upon that, and thus tend 
 to injure the wings or general dressing of the flies ; more- 
 over, he has access, at a few glances, to the whole collection, 
 and when induced to substitute one hook for another, 
 does not require to consume time in ransacking his cases 
 for the necessary fly, but can detect and extricat§ it \yitti- 
 out the slightest delay, 
 
58 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 Tin Box. — ^Although not generally so convenient as a 
 pocket-book, an oblong or circular box of tin is better 
 adapted, in some respects, to hold tackle, especially trout- 
 ing-flies made up into casts, salmon hooks, the wings of 
 which are otherwise liable to be crushed, and casting-lines 
 of all descriptions. 
 
 This box may be constructed to open with a hinge on 
 both sides. If circular, it should measure four and a half 
 inches in diameter ; if oblong, as many in breadth, the 
 depth, in either case, being two or two and a half inches. 
 Slips of white paper, fitted to shape, ought to be placed in 
 the interior, for the purpose, as they are required,- of 
 dividing the contents. 
 
 Of the remainder of the angler's equipment, it is unneces- 
 sary to say much. With regard to the creel or pannier, 
 few improvements, that I am aware of, have recently taken 
 place. Mpre attention perhaps, than formerly, is now paid 
 to its shape, which has been considerably elongated, the 
 depth reduced, and the curve behind increased, so as to fit 
 close to the back of the wearer ; but in point of material, 
 no changes have occurred. It is essential to the enjoyment 
 of the trout-fisher, that this part of his equipment be kept 
 always clean. During summer, a few handfuls of moist 
 grass, or a wet cloth will aid, both to efiect this object, and 
 to preserve, until the expiry of his day's sport, the fine 
 tints and fresh appearance of the fish captured. 
 
 The angler, for his own satisfaction, ought to provide 
 himself with a patent spring weighing-machine. This 
 instrument is now made so small, that it can be carried, 
 without giving any inconvenience, in one's waistcoat pocket ; 
 at the same time, it will indicate the weight of fish captured 
 with great exactness. 
 
 As a general advice, in concluding this chapter with re- 
 gard to tackle, the angler, before committing^ lines and flies 
 to his box or pocket-book, should always take care that 
 they are properly dried; for which purpose it is recom- 
 mended that he dispose of them about his hat or hat-band, 
 on changing his tackle or leaving the river. He ought also, 
 especially if it be a salmon one, and, in consequence of rain, 
 soaked to the centre, to unwind his line from the reel or 
 winch, and lay it up," in loose coils, over the back of a chair 
 or peg,'' until thoroughly freed from moisture. Mixtures of 
 Jiair and silk will retfiin the wet much longer than lines 
 
IRT OF FLY-DRESSING. 59 
 
 manufactured of hair alone, and in consequence, they will 
 rot more readily, on the above precaution being neglected 
 or but partially acted upon. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FLY-DRESSING. 
 
 Comparative Inutility of Written Instructions. — List of Materials Re- 
 quired. — Feathers, Dubbings, and Tinsels. — Trout Flies. — Author's 
 Method of Dressing Them. — General Remarks on the Dressing of 
 Scotch and Irish Salmon Flies. — Looped Heads on Salmon Flies. 
 -^Horizontal or Flat Wings. — Projecting or Upright Wings. 
 
 I FIND it impossible, by means of a few cursory directions, 
 to make the art of fly-dressing sufficiently intelligible to the 
 reader. In order to become an adept, he requires to be 
 instructed, not by book but by practice ; nor should he trust 
 slavishly to the method of this or that artist, but allow 
 room for the exercise of his own taste and ingenuity, 
 especially in the selection of feathers and dubbing for 
 salmon hooks. Before venturing to describe the process 
 generally followed in dressing the artificial fly, I shall jot 
 down, as a matter of course, the materials useful to the 
 general dresser, enlarging upon them here and there, as I 
 think it expedient. ' 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 
 
 1. Hooks, Philips and Adlington, of all sizes. 
 
 2. Gut, dyed and of its natural colour, both salmon and trouting de- 
 
 scriptions. 
 
 3. Nippers, of thick wire, brass or iron. 
 
 4. A pair of fine scissors, curved at the points. 
 
 5. Silk threads of various degrees of fineness, colour, and shade. 
 
 6. Floss silks to correspond, wound up on small bobbins. 
 
 7. Phial of fine spirit varnish. 
 
 8. Wax, shoemakers', worked up with white resin, to give it con- 
 
 sistency. 
 
 9. Dubbings, pigs-wool, mohair, wools and worsted of all shades and 
 
 colours, muscle silk, hare-leg, water-rat skin, combings of cow- 
 hair, &c., &c. 
 
 10. Tinsels, gold and silver, flat, corded, and fretted, of various breadths. 
 
 11, Wing-divider or point. 
 
 J2, Feathers, among which may may be principally mentioned— 
 
60 
 
 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 Hackles from the Baen-Door Cock. — These, upon the 
 whole, are the most essential feathers used by the fly- 
 dresser. They require to ,be selected with great care and 
 judgment. I know some anglers who are particularly fas- 
 tidious with regard to them, and would on no account use 
 a hackle, which did not come up, in point of shape and 
 colour, to the exact .standard of their taste. One gentleman 
 in particular, of my acquaintance, indulges in the fancy of 
 collecting large quantities of these feathers. This he has 
 done for many years, and as his avocations lead him from 
 time to time to visit various parts of Scotland, he has been en- 
 abled to store up a very considerable collection. The hackles 
 thus gathered are placed, according to date, in a portfolio : 
 the history of the cock from which each lot was taken 
 given along with them, and all are neatly prepared and 
 made ready for the dresser. Many of these he holds in such 
 regard, as to look upon them purely as specimen hackles, 
 which he has no intention of ever putting to use, but retains 
 them for the purpose of showing off their matchlessness of 
 build and colour. 
 
 Subjoined are lists of various feathers useful to the 
 dresser, those used in the construction of trouting-flies 
 being distinguished from the more gaudy and coarse ones 
 employed in the trimming of salmon hooks. 
 
 
 FEATHERS FOR TROUT FLIES. 
 
 Wings of Woodcock. 
 
 Feathers of Partridge (hackles and 
 
 „ Landrail. 
 
 
 tail). 
 
 
 , Snipe. 
 
 n 
 
 Mallard (back and 
 
 
 , Thrush. 
 
 
 breast). 
 
 
 , Lark. 
 
 
 Teal. 
 
 
 , Starling. 
 
 
 Starling (hackles). 
 
 
 Blackbird. 
 
 
 Golden plover. 
 
 
 , Dotterel. 
 
 
 Lapwing (crest hackles). 
 
 Feathers of Grouse. 
 
 
 Wren (used as hackles). 
 
 
 
 Ostrich (hackles). 
 
 
 FEATHERS FOR 
 
 SALMO 
 
 N FLIES. 
 
 Turkey, all varieties, including 
 White and double-white tops from 
 
 rump. 
 Duns and dun-white tops. 
 Mottles, streaks, and pure white. 
 Silver pheasant, male and female, 
 
 tail and tring feathers, pencilled 
 
 f^nd n^ottled, 
 
 White top from mallard wing. 
 Swan. 
 
 Snipe, pencilled feather under wing. 
 Salmon-tailed gledd. 
 Capercailzie. 
 
 MaUard and teal feathers mottled- 
 Domestic drake, 
 payen, 
 
FEATHERS AND HACKLES. 
 
 61 
 
 Golden pheasant, crest, tippet, and 
 tail. 
 
 Argus of Sumatra. 
 
 Jungle cock. 
 
 Jay, blue feathers on the wing. 
 
 Blue lowrie of Australia. 
 
 Blue and buflf macaw, tail, etc. 
 
 Green ditto. 
 
 Parrots, for tail tufts, red and yel- 
 low, etc., parroquets. 
 
 King-fishers. 
 
 Guinea-fowl. 
 
 Wood-duck of Canada. 
 
 Bustard. 
 
 Heron, male bird, pendant breast 
 
 feathers, etc. 
 Ostrich. 
 Java dove. 
 Cormorant. 
 Bittern. 
 Peacock. 
 Common pheasant, etc., etc. 
 
 In dressing small or trouting hooks, I pursue the follow- 
 ing method. My intention, for instance, is to complete a 
 dozen fly-hooks. _ Accordingly, in commencing arrange- 
 ments, I select, from a hank of fine gut, twelve choice 
 threads. These I prepare, by clipping off, with a pair of 
 fine scissors, the ragged extremities, and by straightening 
 the lengths with my fingers, I then place them together on 
 a table before me, and proceed next to lay. out, and at 
 hand, an equal number of hooks of the sizes intended to be 
 dressed, along with nippers, resin, etc., after which," I cut 
 and wax a dozen portions of fine silk thread, varying in 
 length, according to the size and description of the fly-hook 
 in contemplation, say from eight to fourteen inches. The 
 colours I prefer are orange, yellow, straw-tinted, and crimson ; 
 but as to this matter I am more indifferent than with 
 regard to the quality of the silk, which cannot, if it 
 possesses suflScient strength to take on the wax without 
 giving way, be used too fine. 
 
 I now open my repository of feathers and hackles, plac- 
 ing before me the required, number of the latter or a small 
 quantity of prepared dubbing instead. My next step is to 
 make ready and lay out before me, in convenient order, the 
 wings of the intended fly-hooks. In detaching these from 
 the feather, I do not, like many fly-dressers, use knife or 
 scissors, but generally strip them off by means of my 
 thumb and forefinger. Such, I allow, is not the most 
 economical mode of procedure, but it embraces this advan- 
 tage, that it preserves to the fibres or strips of feather 
 composing each individual wing, their co-adhesive power, 
 so that, on tying on the wings, less derangement or separa- 
 tion of the parts is liable to take place ; for although the 
 fibres of some feathers are naturally linked to each other 
 EiU along, to the very rim or e:^tremity, others, especially 
 
62 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 where the turn of the wire commences, or else, for variety's 
 sake, confined immediately under the wing, so as to re- 
 those of the maldrake and birds of soft and oily plumage, 
 have but a small measure of this peculiarity, and depend, 
 as the principle of their connexion, chiefly upon the roots 
 or lower ends of the fibres in question. 
 
 Having assorted and paired off the wings, as well as 
 arranged, and made ready the hackles, dubbing, etc., I 
 proceed forthwith to accomplish the dressing. This I com- 
 mence, by lifting one of the hooks with the thumb and 
 forefinger of my left hand, and applying at the same time 
 to its shank the requisite length of gut. These, by means 
 of one of the waxed silk-threads, above-mentioned, I firmly 
 unite together, commencing about the centre of the shank, 
 and turning the silk over them, at least four or five times, 
 in an upward direction, towards its head or extremity. I 
 then fasten with a single hitch-knot. The hook, etc., will 
 appear thus : 
 
 Having cut off the superfluous gut, I now proceed to fasten 
 on the wings. These, which lie paired before me, I lift 
 together, their heads pressed close betwixt the thumb and 
 forefinger of my right hand, and the inner sides of the 
 feather of which each happens to be formed, turned face to 
 face. 
 
 I then place them, in their proper position, over the head 
 and shank of the hook, substituting, as I do so, the corre- 
 sponding fingers of the left hand, in order to keep all fast. 
 This done, I take up the portion of waxed silk hanging 
 below, and give it two, or at most three turns, over the 
 root of the feathers, gut, and wire-shank ; then, without 
 fastening, bring it over, betwixt the intended wings 
 (which, if pressed together during one of the above opera- 
 tions, so as in a manner to adhere to each other, I divide 
 with a fine point, such as that of a needle or penknife), 
 and running it below them, fetch it up again, in the form 
 Qf a cross, 
 
FLY HOOKS. 63 
 
 In making large fly-hooks, when it is»desirable that the 
 wings stand well apart from each other, I sometimes repeat 
 this part of the process, recrossing the silk thread betwixt 
 them. Having cut off the superfluous ends of feather, I 
 now form the head. This is done, simply by continuing to 
 wrap the silk over the extremity of the hook shank, above 
 the wings, until what remains of the fag portions or roots is 
 concealed and made secure. I now bring down the thread 
 and fasten it, with a simple hitch-knot, underneath. 
 
 The wings being finished, I have only to complete the fly, 
 by the affixing and laying "on of the hackle or dubbing ; 
 these materials sufficing, either in their separate or joint 
 capacity, to represent both the legs and body of the insect. 
 In the case of simply attaching and running on a hackle, I 
 require, first of all, to lift one of the assorted feathers of 
 this description previously placed within reach, and laying 
 the root end towards the bend of the hook, so that the 
 fibred or unstripped portion has its position in immediate 
 conjunction with the wings at the point of fastening, to cast 
 round it the dressing thread already employed, having 
 carefully re-waxed it for the purpose. I then continue the 
 wrapping so far down the shank of the hook as it is my in- 
 tention to bring the hackle. This done, I take hold with 
 my nippers of the fine end of the feather, and commence, 
 close under the wings of the fly, to wind it on. Four or 
 five turns generally suffice to fetch' it down to the desired 
 point, when, having cast the silk thread round it twice, for 
 security, I either twitch off the tip with my nippers, or cut 
 it close with the scissors. A succession of hitch-knots, or 
 what is preferable, the common whip fastening, concludes 
 the process. 
 
 Hackles, in the case of the trouting-fly, may either be 
 <!£irried down nearly the whole length of the shank, to 
 
64 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 semble only the legs of the insect. When so applied, it is 
 expedient, in some cases, to complete the body by the ad- 
 dition, either of a little floss silk or of dubbing taken from 
 a hare's ear, water-rat skin, etc. In putting on dubbing, 
 take care to twist it well up with the dressing thread, by 
 means of the thumb and forefinger, before commencing to 
 form the body. It should be applied, as well as the hackle, 
 very sparingly. I cannot reconcile myself to the taste for 
 bushy flies exhibited by some anglers. As imitations of the 
 natural insect, they are caricatures at the best, and although 
 not refused on general occasions by hungry and hasty flsh, 
 are nevertheless ill adapted, from the circumstance of the 
 barb of the hook being choked and muffled up, to strike 
 and secure them. 
 
 No trouting-flies, used "purely as such, on most of our 
 rivers, are a whit the better of tinsel. To adopt an inter- 
 mixture, however, of gold and silver thread in the body of 
 loch flies is generally advisable, on those lochs especially, 
 such as Loch Tummel, Ledgowan, Ness, etc., where the trout 
 are of a large description. Tinsel, I may also state, is a 
 favourite addition to the materials of sea-trout, whitling, or 
 finnock fly-hooks. This is not, be it remarked, a general 
 rule, for the fish alluded to, in clear waters, will often pre- 
 fer a plain, dark-hackled fly of small dimensions, to one that 
 is gaudy, or seemingly apportioned in size to their weight 
 and feeding powers. 
 
 Although the method of dressing a trouting-fly above 
 described is the one I generally adopt, and such as for 
 many years I have found to be at once expeditious and 
 satisfactory, still there are artists of great skill and merit 
 who fashion their lures upon quite a different system ; nor, 
 in fact, does there exist any fixed scroll of regulations for 
 the fly-dresser to hold by. No doubt, it is quite allowable 
 for him to experimentalise a certain length, and vary, not 
 merely his materials, but his mode of putting them together ; 
 for instance, instead of finishing off" at the body or tail of 
 the insect, he may do so, more tastefully, at the head or 
 with the wings ; he may also, by way of change, leave the 
 wings undivided or append them so as to turn oyer, and 
 thus maintain a more upright and life-like position, when 
 drawn along the water's surface. 
 
 But while conceding, in this respect, to the fly-dresser, T 
 must maintain that there is no refil service done to the 
 
DRESSING OF SALMON FLIES. 65 
 
 angler, as regards trouting-flies, by a multiplication of their 
 names and varieties, or by useless disquisitions upon certain 
 virtues peculiar to this or that imitation ; nay, further, I 
 regard, as unessential and elaborately trifling, the attempts 
 made by many theoretical writers on the subject of angling, 
 to sort out and classify, according to the month, the diflerent 
 ephemeral and water insects which they think it necessary 
 should be included in the stock of the fly-fisher. I am of 
 opinion that, with a hare-lug, a brown and a black hackle — 
 these three — it being a matter of indifference whether the 
 wing adapted to them is formed of the brown mallard, the 
 woodcock, landrail, or grouse feather, or indeed whether the 
 hackles are provided with wings at all, — I express my belief, 
 founded on the experience of more than twenty years, that, 
 with the three simple fabrications above mentioned, accom- 
 modating them in point of size to the season and state of 
 water, trout can be captured, and^ihat as readily as by means 
 of the most slavish and subtle imitation of the natural insect, 
 from any river or loch throughout Scotland. In my chapter 
 upon trouting-flies, these observations will be found consid- 
 erably enlarged upon, explained, and applied. 
 
 It now remains for me to say something relative to the 
 dressing of salmon flies. This is a subject involving such a 
 variety of practice, and s6 much detail, that to attempt the 
 discussion of it in full is much beyond my intention. The 
 task, fortunately, is not required, and I shall therefore confine 
 myself to a very few remarks, which, if they do not bear so 
 immediately upon the matter in question as to expound and 
 illustrate it, may, nevertheless, be admitted to possess some 
 connection therewith. 
 
 First of all, as to the dressing of the Scotch salmon fly. 
 It is generally imagined that, because of its sober, if not 
 homely look, the fabrication of this lure is a matter of no 
 difiiculty, in comparison with the fabrication of an Irish 
 killer, such as the Doctor, or any other well-known magnet. 
 I admit the materials are not so costly, nor, in many cases, 
 nearly so numerous ; still there are points in the dressing of 
 the former, which, in order to make it please the eye, require 
 more nicety of execution, as well as the exercise of more 
 taste and discrimination, than are necessary to be employed 
 in the construction of the latter. Among these is the 
 proper adaptation and tying on of the wings, the selection of 
 the hackles and dubbing, the harmonising of the colours, the 
 
66 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 meting out and apportioning to its special purpose the 
 quantity of each material. True, all these matters command 
 considerable attention on the part of the Irish fly-dresser, 
 but he is relieved by the showiness of floss, feather, and 
 tinsel, from the necessity of exercising anything like that 
 degree of taste which the working with dull and sombre 
 colours calls forth ; and in the case of the wings, he is not 
 hampered with one tithe of the difiiculty which attends the 
 neat adjustment and fixing on of these appendages, severally 
 and without break of fibre, all of which is requisite in regard 
 to most of the Scottish salmon flies. 
 
 Still, in either capacity, whether as a dresser of Irish or 
 Tweed flies, it is essential, if .aspiring to excellence, that the 
 artist be endowed with a tasteful and correct eye — the eye 
 in some measure of a painter, who can understand the 
 arrangement and mutual relation of colours to each other ; 
 he must also possess the ready use of his fingers, so as to be 
 able to execute delicate and minute work, to give, as it were 
 to a spider's thread, the sufficiency of a strong cord, to conceal 
 and varnish over all breaks and finishes, so that the entirety 
 of the performance may, in a manner, challenge or defy' 
 question. 
 
 As regards the salmon fly, one great improvement, of 
 recent date, consists in the substitution, as a mode of attach- 
 ing it to the line, of a small loop or 6yehole of gut at the 
 head or shank-end of the hook, instead of a full length of 
 the same material. This loop, as in the case of the length 
 in question, may be formed either of triple or of single gut, 
 Eiccording to the size of the wire. It is of advantage in two 
 or three respects : first, its adoption gives increased facilities 
 to the dresser to finish off his work in good style ; again, it 
 renders an assortment of salmon flies capable of being carried 
 without crushing or disarranging their plumage ; and lastly, 
 while hooks tied oh the length or strand are apt to become 
 chafed or weakened at the neck, or to crack off altogether, 
 the adoption of the loop prevents this evil ; for, should the 
 strand it was originally fitted to appear worn or damaged, 
 one has only to remove it and attach a new one in its stead. 
 The loop in question ought, on every- occasion, to be made 
 as small as possible, just sufficient to admit the passing and 
 repassing of a triple or single gut length through the eye- 
 hole. 
 In the dressing of salmon flies, there are two modes of 
 
BUOYANCY TO THE HOOK. 67 
 
 laying on the wings, before fastening. They may be set 
 either horizontally, the one with the other, as they are 
 placed in the moth, the bee, common house-fly, and various 
 other insects, or in such a manner that they shall correspond, 
 in point of position, with the wings of the butter-fly and of 
 the generality of water-ephemerse, that is, with their inner 
 sides turned face to face, at a considerable angle of eleva- 
 tion from the body. The mode first described is, I find, 
 preferred to the other by many salmon- fishers, because, say 
 they, the horizontal position of the wings assists in giving 
 buoyancy to the hook, enabling one to hang it with more 
 effect over the fish, especially in currents of sluggish rate or 
 in dead water under an uncertain breeze. At the same 
 time, to set the wings so as to retain this position, requires 
 greater address and attention on the part of the fly-dresser, 
 and is, in fact, a good test of his skill and proficiency. In 
 tying on the wings of a salmon hook, care should be taken 
 not to break or disarrange the slips of feather of which each 
 wing is separately composed. Some feathers, such as the 
 brown mottled ones taken from the back of the mallard, are 
 less adhesive than others, and consequently more liable to 
 become disarranged. The hold which the slips in question 
 possess seems, in this feather, to exist merely at the root ; 
 the portion in demand therefore for the formation of the 
 wing requires to be stripped away from its support with 
 the thumb and forefinger, whereas, in the case of a turkey 
 or silver pheasant tail-feather, the wing may be cut off" and 
 
 shaped with more neatness and economy by means of a 
 sharp pen-knife. Eump-feathers, those of the turkey 
 
68 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 especially, and some tail and breast ones taken from other 
 birds, admit of being readily shaped out into connected 
 pairs, so as to form horizontal wings, corresponding accur- 
 ately together in point of colour, mark, or mottle, a,nd 
 length of slip or fibre. These in the tying-on give the 
 dresser less trouble than when he has to work with de- 
 tached slips. 
 
 Of mixed wings in Irish fly-hooks, all that is necessary 
 to be said I have incorporated in my chapter on salmon 
 flies, among the general observations appended to a list, 
 there introduced, of Irish favourites. The dubbing, hackle, 
 tinsels, etc., employed in the construction of our standard 
 killers are also treated of in the same chapter, and I shall 
 not at present fatigue the reader by enlarging upon these 
 subjects. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TEOUTING FLIES. 
 
 Fastidiousness of Angters. — Author's Limitation. — Groundwork of 
 a Killing Stock. — The Hackle. — Spicier Fly. — Hooks, Bound and 
 Irish Heads. — Their Adaptation in Point of Size to the Season, 
 State of Water, &c.— Fly Fishing Months. —March, April, and 
 May. — Water Insects, &c.— June and July. — Mght Lures. — The 
 Stone Fly. — Bum Fishing in Summer. — Loch Flies.— Fly-hooks 
 Employed in August and September. — Condition of Trout during 
 these Months. 
 
 The fastidiousness of many anglers with respect to their 
 trouting-flies has always occasioned me astonishment. I 
 cannot, for my own part, be made very exactly to under- 
 stand the grounds of it. Certainly, when brought to bear 
 upon our waters, it is altogether out of place ; yet how 
 frequently do I meet with those in my fishing excursions 
 who, exulting in the possession of five or six dozen varieties 
 of insect imitations, consume the primest portion of the 
 day in testing their attractive powers — now unlooping one, 
 because it is, they opine, a shade too dark, now another 
 on account of its want of tinsel, attaching in turn the latest 
 urban conceit redoubted as a killer, the fail-me-never of 
 some sporting parson or half -pay hero. 
 
DIVERSITIES OF TROUTING FLIES. 69 
 
 What, r naturally ask,, are the notions of such anglers 
 with respect to the tastes or, it may be, the optics of the 
 trout ? Do they suppose this fish, in regard to its surface 
 food, so singularly capricious as to refuse all others but the 
 insect of the day, so whimsical as even to resist the claims 
 of hunger itself, unless wrought on by the appearance of 
 some peculiarly streaked water-fly ? Do they fancy it dis- 
 criminative of every shade or hue in the wing, body, and 
 feelers of its prey ? — keenly sensible of the smallest devia- 
 tion in colour, more so than of a defect in shape from' the 
 natural insect ? If such their conclusions, I cannot help 
 affirming that they give credit to the fish in question for, 
 possessing a power of discrimination, not less than a degree 
 of daintiness or epicurism altogether extraordinary. J am 
 not, however, denying that to a certain extent their con- 
 clusions are correct. The error lies in their being over- 
 drawn. The trout, confessedly, is a capricious feeder, 
 dircumspect in its habits, and possessed of great quickness of 
 eye, as well as an acute sense of smell ; but that it holds 
 these properties in such measure as to require not only the 
 utmost skill, but the greatest choice and variety of fly- 
 tackle in order to capture it, is a position, with regard at 
 least to our Scottish rivers, altogether untenable. 
 
 The experience of twenty years and upwards has led to 
 the conviction, on my part, that a stock, consisting of three 
 or at most four diversities of trouting-flies, is quite sufficient 
 to insure , success at all seasons On any of our lakes and 
 streams. I am talking of diversities, and in doing so allude 
 to the colour, shape, and material of the imitation employed, 
 not at all to its size ; that I leave to be regulated wholly 
 by circumstances, such, for instance, as the season of the 
 year, the low or flooded state of the water, calms or winds, 
 etc. 
 
 The fly-stock of the trout fisher may then, I opine, in 
 point of colour, be restricted without detriment to the 
 following varieties: — 
 
 1. The red or brown hackle, with or without wings. 
 
 2. The black hackle, ditto, ditto. 
 
 3. The hare-lug or water-mouse body, with wings. 
 
 These, as noted down, are essentially the . ground woi'k of 
 a killing fly-stock. They are the elements most requisite 
 in the construction of those lures which pendant authors 
 
 5 
 
70 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 on angling have chosen to dignify with entomological names, 
 and by the addition as well as substitution of other 
 materials increase and vary to such a degree that all count 
 of what really is a taking and trustworthy fly is over- 
 whelmed in their teeming and bulky store page. 
 
 The above simplification, however, of a fly-stock is not 
 introduced by me as one which I propose to be adopted or 
 even to run greatly counter to general ideas on the subject. 
 It is an enumeration merely of certain constituent elements 
 in the construction of the lure which, whenever used, I have 
 found to be inviting. Indeed, I may safely affirm that on 
 every Scottish stream and loch, one or other of the flies 
 above specified may, in the absence of others, be used with 
 a fair measure of success ; the sizes, of course, as before 
 observed, being regulated by the condition of the water, 
 the state of the season, weather^ and other influences. 
 
 And as to the wings which at option, for they are not 
 absolutely necessary, may be used as appendages to the 
 hackle flies, I would recommend them, in the case of the 
 brown or red hackle, to be taken from the snipe, starling, 
 or brown-speckled feather found on the back of the mallard; 
 in the case of the black hackle, to be constructed of grouse, 
 woodcock, landrail, or speckled breast-feather either of the 
 teal or wild drake. When used on lochs in dull, windy 
 weather, a streak of tinsel or gold thread wound over the 
 body of the lure will be found, in regard to the larger de- 
 scriptions of hackle flies, of some little service, especially 
 where good-sized fish abound, or when there are chances of 
 obtaining sea-trout. 
 
 The silk thread employed in the fabric of the fly should, 
 on general occasions, be pretty freely exposed, especially 
 below the hackle, and as it approaches the bend of the 
 hook. It may be used of various colours, but by far the 
 most accordant and captivating when exposed are yellow 
 and orange. Crimson, blue, green, and even white thread 
 can be employed, however, without detriment to the sport 
 on many occasions, while dull, mixed hues are seldom or 
 never rejected. 
 
 And now, with regard to the hackle itself. This I con- 
 sider a matter of some little importance, not as concerns its 
 exact tint or shade of colour (for along with what is un- 
 questionably black or unquestionably brown, regard may 
 be paid justly enough, .though in a less degree, to those 
 
SELECTION OF THE HACKLE. 71 
 
 more dubious hues denominated by anglers, ginger, chocolate, 
 dun, grizzle, etc.), but with respect to its shape, fibre, and 
 quality. These points I cannot help reckoning worthy of 
 some measure of consideration. Disregarding them, the 
 neatest-handed fly-dresser will produce but a clumsy piece 
 of craft-work, uninviting to the eye of the angler, and 
 thereby, as a matter of consequence, seeing it will be 
 used with distrust, unlikely to do much execution among 
 trout. 
 
 The selection of the hackle, then, requires considerable 
 care and knowledge. Not one cook in ten walking the 
 farmyard yields feathers of this description truly available 
 to the angler. They are generally found to be too stiff" and 
 long in the fibre, seldom prettily tapered, and when colour 
 is brought into consideration, perpetually at a discount. 
 The annexed is a sample of what may be reckoned, in point 
 of shape, a good trouting hackle. 
 
 Birds yielding such feathers, although infrequent, may 
 always, with a little exertion on the part of the fancier, be 
 picked up and purchased. The hackles themselves ought 
 to be selected about or after the middle of winter, before at 
 least any symptoms of moulting take place. Those pulled 
 i'rom an old cock are often too wiry and stiff" for use. Herls 
 from the plover's crest, and the neck of the male starling 
 will be found excellent substitutes for the hackles of the 
 barn-fowl in the manufacture of small dark-coloured flies ; 
 indeed, feathers of many descriptions, and from a great 
 variety of birds, are useful for this purpose. The ostrich 
 and peacock furnish, in their way, valuable herls; but an 
 admirable resemblance to the legs, feelers, and body of the 
 insect may be constructed, by lovers of variety, from the 
 neck-feather of the partridge. 
 
 Having thus treated of those lures in which the hackle 
 forms an important item, I proceed to notice the hare's ear 
 fly, commonly, in Scotland, denominated the hare-lug. The 
 virtues possessed by this imitation have long been known, 
 and are generally appreciated. For my own part, as a 
 
72 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 purely trouting-fly, I hold it in higher regard than I do the 
 hackle itself. On waters much thrashed, and where the fish 
 have become shy and cunning.itis infinitelymore serviceable; 
 on the Tyne, for instance, in East Lothian, etc., etc. ; also, 
 during summer, on lochs and rivers slightly reduced by 
 drought. The wing used with it may, as in the case of the 
 hackle, be varied according to taste. I prefer that formed 
 of the woodcock feather, when dressed on a good-sized hook, 
 but the snipe, landrail, and brown mallard furnish excellent 
 substitutes. 
 
 A very killing lure for trout may also be fabricated, by 
 surmounting a twitch of the hare's ear with the hackle of 
 the partridge or grouse, taking care that the fibres of the 
 latter be of luoderate length, just exceeding that of the 
 hook itself. This, by some anglers, is termed the spider-fly, 
 and should be used as a stretcher at the extremity of the 
 line. On gleamy days, at the commencement of June, 
 when trout, in our southern rivers, are apt to prove lazy, I 
 have found it very successful, especially on the lower parts 
 of Tweed, near Kelso. 
 
 A good hare-lug will provide body material for several 
 dozens of flies, and that of various shades and complexions, 
 from a swarthy black on to a dingy white. The back or 
 furry part of the ear, however, is that which, in point of 
 colour, is most acceptable to the fly-dresser. Excellent 
 moth or night flies are also fabricated from its lighter 
 portions. 
 
 Classed with' this material, so valuable to the angler, I 
 may mention the furs of the water-rat, the mouse, weazel, 
 squirrel, monkey, opossum, combings of a red cow, etc., all 
 of which are made use of in fly-dressing. As to their 
 attractive qualities, however, there is no necessity for say- 
 ing much. I certainly hold in some esteem the pile of the 
 first-mentioned animal ; but its equivalent may always be 
 discpvered in the substance just treated of, which, although 
 differing equally in colour and texture, will be found, in the 
 same state of water, quite as effective. 
 
 I shall now treat shortly of the description of hooks most 
 serviceable to the fly-fisher, their sizes and the adaptation 
 of these to the humour of the fish, the forwardness of the 
 season and state of water. And first, as to the description 
 of wire best adapted for hooking and securing trout. I 
 have already ,5.in a former chapter, approached closely to 
 
DIFFERENT SIZES OF HOOItS. 73 
 
 this subject, while discussing, in a general manner, the 
 merits of the article, as manufactured in various parts of 
 the kingdom. Without giving the absolute superiority to 
 either, I have, in the place alluded to, divided my recom- 
 mendations pretty equally betwixt what is called the round- 
 bend, and that adopted by Philips, or the Irish form of 
 hook. The former, the round-bend, I prefer using for all 
 sorts of bottom and under-surface fishing ; for worm, roe, 
 and minnow tackles of every description ; but I do more, 
 I allow it the preference also, and that decidedly, as a 
 ground- work for the smaller kinds of flies ; not that it 
 possesses even half the strength of a properly tempered 
 Irish hook, but in shape, it is much better adapted than the 
 other, both to fasten upon the lip of the fish, and what is of 
 as much importance, when fastened, to retain its grasp. All 
 trouting-flies, therefore, from the size 00 up to No. 5, 1 re- 
 commend to be dressed upon hooks of the above description. 
 At this point, however, I find it advisable to substitute the. 
 Irish bend; the turn of the wire being now suflBcient to 
 allow a ready admission to its entire barbed portion through 
 the cartilaginous parts of the fish's mouth; which ac- 
 complished, every thing, else, as regards the hook itself, is 
 in favour of the substitution. It possesses, for instance, to 
 a greater extent the virtues of temper and durability, is 
 more retentive of its colour, and less liable to become 
 corroded or rust-worn. These remarks, be it observed, 
 have no reference to the many spurious imitations of the 
 hook in question, which crowd the general market ; they 
 are confined entirely to the best descriptions of manufac- 
 tured wire. /' 
 
 On quitting this subject, namely the form of hooks most 
 serviceable to the fly-fisher, I have only to add that the 
 Kirby sneck-bend, and other numerous innovations upon 
 the two established shapes above recommended may be 
 held as faulty. They possess, at any rate, no certain ad- 
 vantage over them, and in point of temper are generally 
 inferior. 
 
 I am now brought to treat of the adaptation of the 
 different sizes of hooks to the season of the year, state of 
 the water, and humour of the fish. Upon this subject, a' 
 very great deal might be said : indeed, to handle it with 
 effect, and at the same time bring it within the desirable 
 compass, is altogether impracticable. It would be other- 
 
?4 5^HE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 wise, were I to confine my observations to a single stream 
 or locality, but in extending them to the whole range of 
 lochs and rivers in Scotland, they must necessarily prove 
 defective, frequently misplaced, and if not really inaccurate, 
 liable at least to be thought so. I shall therefore avoid 
 running into this error, by venturing merely a few general 
 remarks on the subject. 
 
 Fly-hooks used early in spring ought to be of full size 
 and body on all our main or first-class waters and many of 
 their branches, especially those which contain large trout, 
 and are accessible to marine fish. On rivers like the Tweed 
 or Tay, I recommend the use of a whitling hook, -as the 
 trail-fly or stretcher, during March and April. This may 
 be exchanged for one of smaller size and duller colours, 
 during mild weather, and when the waters run low and 
 clear. On a casting-line made up with three flies, use 
 generally the red hackle at the extremity, attaching the 
 others as bobs or droppers. The distance betwixt each 
 ought to vary with the length of the rod and the width and 
 condition of the stream. On an average, there ought to be 
 four lengths of small single gut, carefully knotted, betwixt 
 the trail or stretcher and'the hook immediately above it, 
 while three of the same material are sufficient to divide the - 
 droppers. 
 
 Always, in making up the fly-cast, attend to proportion. 
 As regards the gut, this advice is particularly necessary, but 
 it is not less so when applied to the arrangement of the 
 hooks. The heaviest wire ought, invariably, to form the 
 trail-fly ; that which is lighter being disposed of, at due 
 distance, as a bob or dropper. Attention to this rule will 
 greatly facilitate the management of the line and tackle. 
 
 Reverting to the matter in hand, namely the adaptation 
 of fly-hooks in point of size, to the seasons, state of water, 
 etc., I have to remark, that the use of .large hooks, during 
 the early portion of spring, is, on many rivers, absolutely 
 expedient. Trout seldom rise freely before the middle of 
 April ; until, in fact, the appearance of what are termed, 
 not very appropriately, the March-browns. These insects, 
 which, it is well knowu, have their prior state of existence 
 at the bottom of the streams and pools, and assume the 
 winged condition only when acted on by a certain warmth 
 of temperature, create, on their appearance, the earliest 
 natural cravings in the fish for surface food. Accordingly, 
 
WEATHER AND STATE OF WATER. 75 
 
 before this event takes place, tbe trout has no inducement 
 to rise, except what is afforded it by the angler in the shape 
 of an artificial fly ; nor is it easily provoked from its re- 
 treat by a single imitation or two, and that unseasonably 
 small, of what at the proper period it is accustomed to 
 have oflfered it in amplest abundance. It is therefore in a 
 manner necessary, by way of bribe, to present a large-sized 
 fly, taking care, however, that no violence is done to nature 
 in this or any other respect. The shape, colour, and pro- 
 portions of the lure ought respectively to be considered. 
 Sometimes, it is true, in the season referred to, trout, and 
 those of ordinary dimensions, are taken on the huge gaudy 
 flies used for kelts and spring salmon ; but to angle with 
 such, exclusively for the purpose and in a purely trouting 
 stream, were absolute folly. On the occasions in question, 
 the fish evidently seize the lure, as they do a minnow or 
 parr-tail, not as an insect or anything resembling one. 
 
 While recommending the use of good-sized fly-hooks 
 during March and the early portion of April, I allow that 
 there are several of our Scottish streams where the trout, 
 from natural shyness and other causes, repudiate or disre- 
 gard them ; yet when effective, as on most lochs aad rivers 
 they unquestionably are, one great advantage they have 
 over the lesser sizes of wire lies in their superior capacity 
 to retain fish when hooked — a matter which some anglers 
 affect to make light pf, but one, in reality, of very consider- 
 able consequence when the contents of the creel have, at the 
 close of the day's sport, to pass muster. 
 
 Advancing from the middle of April into the months of 
 May and Juae, considerable changes, regulated chiefly by 
 weather and state of water, will be found to take place with 
 respect to the size of their surface food, in the tastes and 
 inclinations of our river trout, especially in the southern 
 districts of Scotland. The flsh, during this period of the 
 year, having left the still, deep places, betake themselves 
 towards the streams and rapids, not yet, however, be it ob- 
 served, into the true shallows and thinnest portions of the 
 water, which they do about the middle of summer, when 
 minnows, small-fry, and ground-bait of various sorts be- 
 come abundant. Here, in the resorts first mentioned, at 
 the necks of pools, they watch the passing of the March- 
 browns and other flies, snatching now and then, in the in- 
 tervals, at a stray insect wafted in advance of the general 
 
76 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 shower or body. The ample supply of this sort of food, 
 now afforded them, naturally induces a measure of satiety. 
 They begin, ere long, to play the epicure, picking and 
 choosing only such individuals of the winged horde as suit 
 their fancy, and rejecting with disdain those maimed 
 imitations wherewith the angler attempts to- dazzle and 
 ensnare them. 
 
 All this has been over and again observed by experienced' 
 fly-fishers, and it certainly is in some degree tantalising to 
 be approached, almost to within rod's length, by numbers of 
 feeding-trout, and yet, find oneself unable to secure even 
 half-a-dozen of the smallest. How then, the question occurs, 
 is this to be obviated ? Fully and efficiently it cannot, but 
 in a certain measure I have reason to think it may, and that 
 by the adoption of a different size and species of fly from the, 
 one astir. Instead, for instance, of an artificial March-brown, 
 let the angler use a dark-coloured hackle or hare-lug dressed 
 upon No. 4 Kendal wire. On Tweed, the brown or red 
 hackle is generally more killing ; but one or other of the 
 three flies already recommended I have found, on many 
 occasions, a suitable remedy under the circumstances above 
 detailed. In truth, it is but natural in the trout, half -gorged 
 by a superabundance of one species of insect, to prefer for 
 the moment what it conceives to be a rarer and more deli- 
 cate variety. Sated with and grown indifferent to the 
 former, it is only in accordance with its instinct to resort to 
 the latter as a novelty, or, it may be, a provocative. 
 
 On many of our streams, those especially which flow south 
 of the Grampian range, May, as far as the fly is concerned, 
 is the principal angling month for trout. I make no refer- 
 ence, at present, to loch fishing, which may be pursued with 
 success during the whole of the summer quarter. The be- 
 ginning of the above-mentioned month is generally, like the 
 latter wetks of April, distinguished by the prevalence of the 
 March-browns and other ephemeral insects of what may be 
 termed gregarious habits. These, floating on the surface in 
 occasional swarms, influence very considerably, as I have 
 already stated, the movements and inclinations of the fish. 
 Among other results omitted to be mentioned, they induce 
 them to frequent certain localities, and by tbeir crowding 
 into these pell-mell, the range or extent of cast becomes, in 
 some rivers, very materially lessened. As the month how- 
 ever proceeds, the birth of the ephemerce is rendered less 
 
THE ARTIFICIAL FLY. 77 
 
 dependent on vernal gleams and sunbursts; the days are 
 longer and the weather more steady and genial. Conse- 
 quently, river insects of various sorts burst into winged 
 existence, not as before, in simultaneous swarms, the effect, 
 to boot, of their long thraldom during winter, but in gradual 
 and almost imperceptible succession. The deeper portions of 
 the stream are also moved by the sun to yield their measure 
 of sustenance. Into these, and .throughout the whole course 
 and current, trout accordingly distribute themselves. Now, 
 they select, apart, one from another, places of ambush — the 
 covert of a rock, stone, bank, or tree-root, where concealed 
 and defended, they may watch for their fluttering victims ; 
 nor are the exposed and open channels left altogether unfre- 
 quented. Thither too, as the day advances, resort the bolder 
 and greedier fish, less eager after fly food than aliment of a 
 more substantial nature, yet not unwilling, during the month 
 we speak of, to gratify their epicurism upon such tiny and 
 delicate morsels as, partaking of this character, are borne 
 towards them by the current. 
 
 The sizes of hook adapted for fly-fishing throughout May 
 are, in general, smaller than those used in April. They 
 vary, of course, in different waters. On Tweed and Teviot 
 I have found Nos. 2 and 3 answer well, while on other 
 streams less, or it might be larger sizes, proved more suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 There is one rule respecting the artificial fly the angler 
 ought always to hold in regard. It is applicable to every 
 season and to all waters, and is simply this. Never use 
 small hooks when larger ones serve the purpose and prove 
 equally enticing. It is plain that a small wire can never 
 have the same hold on a fish that one of greater size has. 
 The latter, being proportionately thicker, is less apt in 
 playing the trout to cut through the fleshy or gristly part 
 of the mouth ; its barb also enters deeper and is not easily 
 detached or thrown out by any sudden spring or exertion. 
 
 As to the imitations of what is, termed the May-fly — a 
 fly, by the bye, which, like the March-brown, makes its 
 appearance on our Scottish waters fully a month later than 
 is indicated by its appellation — I never reckoned them very 
 deadly. They look well enough cased up among other 
 fancies and curiosities in one's pocket-book, but it is seldom 
 that an experienced angler will put them to the test, know- 
 ing as he does, that their chief virtue lies more in the name 
 
t8 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 than in anything else, and that, with all their acknow- 
 ledged resemblance to the natural fly, in reality, as a river 
 lure, they are comparatively speaking worthless and ineiE- 
 cient, attractive chiefly on Highland lochs, and among 
 waters frequented by sea-trout or whitlings. 
 
 June and July are not, in general, on our larger streams, 
 greatly esteemed as fly-months. On warm nights, however, 
 trout, and these frequently of great weight, are taken by 
 the angler using this lure. It is not necessary for night- 
 fishing that the artificial fly should have any definite 
 colour, or that it be made, as many suppose, to resemble a 
 small moth. I have found black, brown, and hare-lug flies 
 equally as effective as white and yellow ones. Trout, at 
 night, roam more freely than during the day, often forsak- 
 ing the lower potions of the pool for the head and stream, 
 and vice versa. They also frequently indulge in a cruise 
 among the shallows, and although thus exposed, are not so 
 ready to take alarm as one from their general caution 
 might conjecture, when approached by the wader. Indeed, 
 I have captured them, in more instances than one, close to 
 where I stood, in water agitated altogether by my own 
 movements. 
 
 In night-fishing, two flies are sufficient to form the cast, 
 a greater number being very apt to perplex the angler 
 without insuring him any accession to his spbrt. These, in 
 general, should -approach in their sizes to the spring hooks, 
 and be dressed upon tried gut. During the months in 
 question, trout, on fine evenings, immediately before and 
 after sunset, are generally observed to rise freely at the 
 natural fly. , On such occasions a very small black midge, 
 No. 00, will be found attractive. 
 
 The large flesh-maggot, previously toughened in a little 
 oatmeal, and used at night as a fly, is reckoned very 
 deadly. The hook employed should be No. 4, 5, or 6, and 
 have a long shank, at the bend of which is attached a piece 
 of gut or bristle, pointing upwards, so as to prevent the 
 bait, when run over it, from slipping back. A single turn 
 of a fine red hackle at the head of the wire will be found 
 an improvement. 
 
 Dipping with the natural insect is also appropriate to 
 the summer season, but is not much pursued in Scotland. 
 On calm water, overhung with wood, I have killed occa- 
 sionally large trout by this expedient. The stone-fly, or a 
 
HItL tetJRN FISHII^G. ^9 
 
 couple o£ them, fixed on a small bait-hook, I also know to 
 be very deadly ; but lures of this description have always 
 their substitute in the worm itself, and are, moreover, 
 scantily met with on many of our rivers most suited to 
 their employment. 
 
 Although, as I have stated, the months of June and July 
 afford but indifferent sport to the fly-fisher frequenting 
 our larger streams, it is otherwise among hill bums and 
 on Highland lochs. The former, during this portion of 
 the season, and especially after a summer flood, are gener- 
 ally at their prime ; and many of the latter also, but not 
 all of them, claim regard from the angler. One inducement 
 to fish at this period is the fine condition and appearance 
 of the trout. It must be admitted, indeed, that even still, 
 when captured in certain localities, they are, at their best, 
 but soft and tasteless fish, yet such occasions are compara- 
 tively rare ; for in general, throughout Scotland, and more 
 especially, in our Highland lochs, they acquire, when in 
 season, a colour, fiavour, and curdiness which the , salmon 
 itself has no pretensions to. 
 
 The fiy-hooks best adapted for hill burn fishing, are in 
 general small, varying from No. 1 to No. 5, round-bend. After 
 great rains, larger ones may be used advantageously. On a 
 narrow stream, the banks of which are overgrown with reeds, 
 brushwood, heather, or long grass, anything in fact that is 
 apt to interfere with the management of the line, I would 
 recommend the angler to employ only two flies, and these 
 set at a short distance from each other. 
 
 Loch flies for trout, I have as yet only alluded to, nor is 
 a great deal required to be said upon this subject. In 
 common with river flies, they are capable of being reduced 
 to two or three varieties. These, in their simple state, ate, 
 as before-mentioned, the black hackle, the red or brown 
 ditto, and hare-lug fly. A division, however, so very primi- 
 tive and elemental, when applied to loch flies is apt, I am 
 aware, to be ridiculed and sneered at by pedants in the art; 
 nor in fact do I intend it, in practice, to be pushed to the ex- 
 treme. It is only tasteful and becoming to admit variety into 
 the fly assortment, provided this variety be placed under 
 proper control. When I allude therefore to the hackles 
 in question, as forming along with the hare-lug the only 
 flies required by the angler, I wish it to be understood that 
 the fundamental, I do not say requisite, portion of the 
 
80 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 dressing consists of the material after which the hook is 
 named. It cannot be denied that, in the case of the hackle 
 fly, the wing, tinsel, and dubbing, whether of silk or wool, 
 possess on many occasions an attractive influence over trout, 
 nay, even a combination of these without hackle at all may 
 constitute a taking lure ; but what is proved by all this but 
 that flsh are allured, not on account of the close resemblance 
 which the artificial hook is designed to have to particular 
 insects appropriate to particular months and seasons, but 
 from other causes of a different nature ? These are size, 
 motion, form, and colour ; the latter qualification being the 
 one upon which, by introducing certain well-tried standards, 
 my classification, as regards the artificial fly, has been con- 
 ducted. 
 
 I shall not however pursue this matter any further, but 
 proceed to mention, irrespective of my own theory regard- 
 ing them, the sizes and sorts of hooks best adapted for loch- 
 fishing. In the spring months and early portion of summer, 
 large wires, Philips's 0., CO., B., BB., or Adlington's 8, 9, 10, 
 are most serviceable. Indeed, in some lochs, they continue 
 so throughout the season. One," on an occasion, may employ 
 even larger sizes than those mentioned, but their efl^ect 
 depends much on the place, the sort of trout frequenting it, 
 and the nature of the weather. Of what are esteemed, 
 amoiig anglers of my acquaintance, killing flies, on our 
 Scottish lakes, I subjoin the following list : — 
 
 LOCH FLIES. 
 
 1. Wings ; light mottled feather, from breast of mallard. — Body and 
 
 legs : black hackle, silver twist. 
 
 2. Wings : mottled teal feather. — Body : black hackle above purple 
 
 dubbing, silver twist. 
 
 3. Wings: woodcock feather. — Body: dark brown hackle over purple 
 
 dubbing, lapped with gold tinsel. 
 
 4. Wings : from pheasant's tail. — Body ; ginger hackle over orange 
 
 mohair. (Loch Awe.) 
 6. Wings : dark mottled feather from mallard. — Body : brown hackle 
 over yellow floss silk. 
 
 6. Hoffland's Fancy. Wings : from Woodcock. — Body : reddish, dark 
 
 brown silk, red hackle, two or three strands of ditto for tail. 
 
 7. Wings : brown mallard feather. — Body : black hackle over orange 
 
 floss. 
 
 8. W^ings : white tip from wing of the mallard. — Body : black hackle 
 
 over dark coloured dubbing, silver tinsel, orange tail. 
 
 9. Wings : dun-coloured from wing of the landrail, etc. — Body : dark, 
 
 with black hackle. 
 
SEA TROUT OR WHITLING. 81 
 
 10. Wings : dark grouse feather. — Body ; purple mohair, black hackle, 
 silver twist. (Loch Tummel.) 
 
 These, the larger or spring sizes o£ loch flies, may, I 
 observe, one and all of them, be employed with success in 
 angling for sea-trout or whitlings ; indeed, when inclined to 
 rise, there is almost no variety of hook, provided it be of 
 fitting dimensions, which the fish spoken of will positively 
 refuse. That they possess in common with the fa/rio, 
 humours, and caprices, there is little doubt ; but these, I 
 have noticed, extend rarely to a matter which many anglers 
 think highly important, viz., the prevailing colour of the fly. 
 I have caught them, in their seasons, with lures of every 
 hue, — ^brown, black, white, crimson, blue, green, purple, 
 grey, dun, yellow, and orange ; nay, more, with combinations 
 of two or several such colours, and admixtures, to boot, of 
 all varieties of tinsel. Their tastes, in fact, with respect to 
 this matter, resemble more those of the salar or proper 
 salmon than those of the trout, although exercised generally 
 in a state or condition of water somewhat difierent. 
 
 During summer, and in weather comparatively calm, loch 
 trout may be taken more readily with a small than with a 
 large fly. On such occasions, the sizes and kinds of hooks 
 already recommended for stream fishing will be found 
 sufiiciently available. 
 
 To continue the matter necessarily deviated from in these 
 observations, I proceed, having treated of June and July in 
 respect to their qualifications as fly-fishing months, to 
 extend my line of remarks to August and September, or the 
 concluding portion of the trouting season. It has been 
 pretty well ascertained with regard to the river-trout of 
 Scotland, that it is in prime or first-rate condition during the 
 middle of summer, and that, subsequent to the latter end of 
 July, it gradually loses curd, bulk, and firmness : the red- 
 fleshed varieties becoming pale, flabby, and ill-flavoured. 
 Some individuals, it is true, retain their edible qualities for 
 a month or two longer, and the small fish of a season's 
 growth, along with parr or fingerlings, continue as sweet as 
 ever, until late in October. 
 
 Trout, during the months of August and September, often 
 rise freely, especially after floods and in dark-coloured 
 waters. To the sportsman who is not a mere pot-hunter, 
 they of course afibrd amusement, and occasionally, notwith- 
 standing their declining condition, test freely the strength 
 
82 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 of his tackle. I have found the red or brown hackle more 
 killing in these months than any other fly, I mean when the 
 waters were in high order ; for if clear and reduced, trout 
 will prefer the hare-lug and dark-coloured hooks. Spring 
 sizes also are commendable in autumn, on some of our rivers, 
 those especially that are frequented by whitlings and bull- 
 trout, — fish which, I find, frequently give the preference to 
 a common trouting-fly over the highly-bedizened lures em- 
 ployed against them by many anglers. 
 
 To pursue this subject into the months of October and 
 November is quite unnecessary. Angling with the fly loses, 
 on the approach of winter, many of its recommendatory 
 properties. It becomes stripped, as an amusement, of half 
 its interest. One can neitlier wade nor expose himself to 
 damp feet with any degree of safety. The trout, in general, 
 are poor, lank, and uneatable. They rise badly, and when 
 hooked, afibrd little or no sport. The streams and gathering 
 spots are strewn over with dead leaves. There are no pure 
 southern breezes, smelling of verdure to delight the senses — 
 to cheer and invigorate the heart. In fact, as nature with 
 regard to all other recreations hath appointed, so also in 
 regard to angling. It owns, in common with them, its 
 fitting and appropriate season, when the heart's readiness is 
 linked with the hand's energy, the humour of the fish with 
 the inviting and cheerful disposition of wind and water, sun 
 and landscape ; when bank and meadow lie starred and en- 
 amelled with flowers ; when the trill of the song-bird issues 
 from every thorn ; when all sounds and all prospects are 
 joyous and exhilarating, and the cloud itself sleeping high 
 in the arch of heaven, is as the bannered presence of some 
 benevolent watcher — 
 
 " One of the spirits untvithdrawn, 
 That, erst the fall, were charged to minister 
 To the earth's gladness, and continually, 
 Out of their ample and unfailing horns, 
 To pre-endow the advancing tracks of men." 
 
PRIMITIVE TROUTING FLY. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ON TROUTING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 The Fly-Caat. — Fixing on of the Droppers. — Double and Single- 
 handed Troufcing-Rod. — Their Comparative Merits. — Instructions 
 as to Throwing. — Management of the Line. — Angling Anato- 
 mised.— The Secret of its Delight Unfolded. 
 
 An inquiry into the origin and progress of the art of 
 angling, especially that department of it now to be con- 
 sidered, would prove, I have no doubt, interestingly curious. 
 The primitive trouting-iiy, and its inventor, when and 
 where it was first used, its success as a lure, and numerous 
 other circumstances attendant upon its history, are all 
 subjects of attractions to the angler. To trace, also, the 
 period of its introduction into Scotland and to our Border 
 streams could not fail proving a matter of regard to the 
 antiquarian scholar. The questions and points of research 
 embodied in such an inquiry indubitably stand connected 
 with the customs and manners of the age to which they 
 carry us back, and are linked, moreover, in all probability, 
 with events of wider, if not national interest. 
 
 Who first captured a salmon with the artificial fly on 
 Tweedside ? Was he a king or a baron bold — a fat abbot 
 or a cowled monk — a reiver rude or a stalwart servitor — a 
 page or a minstrel ? Or was he, like worthy old Izaak, in 
 his heart an angler — one that loved and studied nature, 
 that sought for music by shining streams and under 
 leafy boughs, to whom the sport was the more delicious, 
 because it brought him into companionship with pure 
 thoughts and golden fancies, because it led him from scenes 
 of human care, strife, and distemper, into places of solace, 
 silence, and retirement ? Here on this simple query rests 
 a field of unsolved wonder ; one, too, traversed often by 
 fancy, but in vain. Oblivion — the past conceals from us 
 all record of him, that gifted and joyful man, to whose 
 name, if restored, there is due the homage of our craft, that 
 homage which is ever rendered to the illustrious dead. 
 
 So many full and excellent treatises have been written 
 upon the subject of fly-fishing, that it would really be a 
 work of supererogation on my part, were I to enter very 
 minutely into its discussion. I shall, therefore, as much as 
 
84 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 possible, avoid running into what may be termed fine-spun 
 detail, while endeavouring to supply the reader with the 
 requisite amount of information on this department of the 
 gentle art. In the preceding chapter, I have sufficiently 
 exposed to view my theory respecting the artificial fly, dis- 
 claiming the common notion, that it is quite imperative to 
 construct it after a fixed, natural model — to adapt it to 
 hours and seasons, or, except in the matter of size, to extend 
 the variety beyond a very limited and clearly defined range. 
 I have also described, to a certain extent, the making up of 
 the fly-cast, and referred, while treating of tackle, to the 
 gut strands, and their preparation, — how knotted, etc. It 
 remains for me, however, to complete the subject, and this I 
 shall do very briefly. 
 
 Trouting-flies, when fished with, are used, according to 
 the caprice of the angler, in pairs, threes, or fours, seldom 
 singly. In small waters, two hooks are sometimes thought 
 sufficient. I seldom, under any circumstances, employ 
 fewer than three. How these are appended and put to- 
 gether, the annexed illustration will render evident. 
 
 The trail, stretcher, or lowermost fly, is here [indicated 
 by the letter A ; the bobs, or droppers, by the letters B and 
 C. Betwixt A and d, where the shorter bob is fastened, ex- 
 tend three or four threads of fine picked gut, forming, in 
 connection with the one upon which the hook has been 
 dressed, a distance varying from ^ to 5 feet. The interval 
 between the two droppers, that is from d to e, is similarly 
 occupied, but it is not necessary to extend it beyond 8 feet, 
 and should another bob-fly be added higher up, the same 
 regulation holds in force. 
 
 Many anglers have their droppers dressed upon short gut, , 
 and append them to the main casting-line by loops, so as to 
 be removed or exchanged at pleasure. This, the ordinary 
 way of making up the fly-cast, answers well enough with 
 those who are more fastidious about the description of flies 
 employed by them than the fineness of their tackle. But, 
 though convenient in this respect, it gives a clumsy appear- 
 
STRETCHEE OE TRAIL HOOK. S5 
 
 ance to the fly-cast, and is not adapted, either to improve 
 its lightness or better its proportions. Loops also, unless 
 they draw or sit well, are apt to catch and disturb the 
 water, so as to. alarm the fish. I recommend them in the 
 construction of all trouting tackle, to be employed as spar- 
 ingly as possible. The bob, or dropper, in the making up of 
 the fly-cast, ought, if the length of the gut it is dressed on 
 will admit it, to form, in the first instance, a continuation 
 at the letter a, with the main line, and then be made to 
 branch off or depend from it, by the knotting on, at the 
 proper point, h, of a new thread. 
 
 In the formation of the fly-cast, always commence at the 
 stretcher or trail-hook, allowing the droppers to incline up' 
 wards. To connect the casting-line, properly so-called, 
 with the uppermost bob, employ three or four threads of 
 good picked gut, and in fine fishing, if thought necessarj', 
 increase the number. 
 
 For trouting with the artificial fly, the rod used may 
 either, according to circumstances, be single or double- 
 handed. In casting the line, after drawing off the requisite 
 quantity from your reel or winch, lift the flies well up from 
 the surface of the water, and observe that you do so with- 
 out any jerk or undue violence ; at the same time employ- 
 ing some degree of rapidity in the execution of the move- 
 ment. When the rod has been sufficiently thrown back to 
 accomplish this object, allow it a single moment of suspense, 
 and then, by a natural turn of the wrist and arm, cause the 
 line to describe a circle above your head, after which, the 
 flies having been brought fully round, urge them immedi- 
 ately from you towards the spot where you wish them to 
 alight. This advice is especially applicable in throwing 
 from the left 'shoulder. It is not always so as respects, 
 right-shoulder casting, which may be managed, when the 
 space behind is quite clear and level, without checking the' 
 line, but on the contrary, allowing it its full swing or playj 
 directly in rear of the angler. 
 
 Such instructions hold good, equally, in regard to thrown ' 
 
 6 
 
S6 The angler's companion. 
 
 ing with the double and with the single-handed rod. There 
 is, however, in other respects a considerable difference as to 
 the manner of using them, betwixt the two implements, and 
 they both possess different capabilities. In trouting with 
 the double-handed rod, there is this advantage, that it com- 
 mands a much greater space of water than the other, and, 
 if made of light material, is in consequence more adapted 
 for using over lochs and broad rivers. The single-handed 
 rod, on the other hand, excels not so much as a weapon of 
 power as one of craft and pliancy. Its superiority, where 
 fine throwing and quick striking are required, is un- 
 questionable. Armed with it, the practised angler may 
 impel his fly with the most wonderful precision and nicety 
 of calculation ; he may command it, in fact, to drop seem- 
 ingly over the very snout of a feeding fish, and that as 
 lightly as if it were a snow-flake or the natural insect which 
 had fallen instead. When the trout is hooked, also, and 
 there is danger arising from the smallness of the wire, or 
 any other cause, of its escape, a pliant, single-handed rod 
 possesses this great advantage, namely, that by means of it, 
 the angler can play his fish with singular delicacy ; not re- 
 quiring, in order to control its movements, to lay stress on 
 his tackle. At oncCj assisted by this yielding quality in 
 the implement, he can humour every caprice and effort to 
 escape, while, at the same time, he outwearies and subjug- 
 ates his victim, rendering its capture, in cases even where 
 the hook has taken very slight and unsatisfactory hold, a 
 matter of common occurrence. 
 
 It is otherwise, however, in trouting with the double- 
 handed rod. Its general stiffness operates greatly to its 
 prejudice while playing and landing a badly hooked fish. 
 The angler, also, in handling, has a very limited notion of 
 when to concede and when to employ pressure. He wants 
 in a great measure the nice, regulating powers which a good, 
 flexible, single-handed rod invests him with. 
 
 I am referring, be it remembered, in these remarks, 
 solely to trouting ; and that with small flies and fine 
 tackle. They cannot be said to apply to any other depart- 
 ment of angling, least of all to salmon-fishing or trolling 
 with the minnow. As a general rule bearing reference to 
 this subject, all streams manageable from bank to bank, and 
 such lochs as are frequented by trout under a pound in 
 weight, and do not require the use of a boat, should be fished 
 
DOUBLE-HANDED ROD. ST 
 
 "with the single-handed rod. As to the degree of pliancy 
 requisite! say nothing, but leave that to be regulated by 
 the discretion of the angler ; indeed, practice will not uu- 
 frequently reconcile one to the use of a rod which, at the 
 first handling, he thought much too stiflF, or, it might be, 
 much too flexible. The double-handed rod may be used 
 with advantage on broad rivers, and where the sea-trout — 
 a fish which in clear water holds the small trouting-fly in 
 esteem — are abundant; also in lochs where large fish exist, 
 and where long throwing is necessary. 
 
 In the preceding chapter, by indicating the resorts of 
 trout during the fly-fishing months, I have sufficiently in- 
 formed the angler when and where to expect sport. I have 
 also attempted the adaptation of fly-hooks in point of size, 
 to the condition of the water, the progress of the season, 
 etc., etc. It is therefore unnecessary to re-enter upon these 
 subjects. 
 
 Fly-fishing, considered as a branch of the angler's art, 
 possesses peculiar advantages. As an exercise, it is healthy, 
 and just to the proper degree exciting.. It braces the 
 muscles, enlivens the spirits, gives rise to an agreeable 
 alternation of hopes and fears, calls into activity the judg- 
 ment as well as the fancy, the good taste and discrimination 
 of the artist, not less than his ideal and creative powers. 
 It afibrds room, also, as has often been remarked, for the 
 display of elegant motions and graceful attitudes — imper- 
 sonations of earnestness and intense enthusiasm, of hope, of 
 anxiety, of joy, of disappointment, of admiration, of pity, of 
 content, of love, of holy feeling, and of crowning felicity. 
 
 Is it not, for instance, in the attitude of hope that the 
 angler stands, while in the act of heaving out his flies over 
 some favourite cast ? Of hope increased, when he beholds 
 feeding within reach of his line, the monarch of the stream ? 
 But now, mark him, he has dropped the hook cautiously and 
 skilfully just above the indicated spot ; the fish, scarcely 
 breaking the surface, has seized it. A fast, firm hold it has, 
 but the tackle is fine, and the trout strong and active. 
 Look ! how the expression of his features is undergoing a 
 change. There is still hope, but mingled with it are traces 
 of anxiety — of fear itself. His attitudes, too, are those of 
 a troubled and distempered man. Ha! all is well. The 
 worst is over. The strong push for liberty has been made, 
 and failed. Desperate as that somerset was, it has proved 
 
88 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 unsuccessful. The tackle — ^knot and barb — is sufficient;. 
 Look now at the angler. Hope with him is stronger than 
 anxiety, and joy too beams forth under his eyelids ; for lo ! 
 the fish is showing symptoms of distress. No longer it 
 threatens to exhaust the winch-line ; no longer it combats 
 with the rapids ; no more it strives with frantic fling or 
 wily plunge to disengage the hook. It has lost all heart — 
 almost all energy. Tbe fins, paralysed and powerless, are 
 unable for their task. So far fpom regulating its move- 
 ments, they cannot even sustain the balance of the fish. 
 Helpless and hopeless it is drawn ashore, upturning, in the 
 act of submission, its starred and gleamy flanks. The 
 countenance of the captor — his movements (they are those 
 which the soul dictates), are all joyous and self-congratu- 
 latory. But the emotion, strongly depicted though it be, is 
 short-lived. It gives way successively to the feelings of 
 admiration and pity — of admiration, as excited on con- 
 templating the almost incomparable beauty of the captive, 
 its breadth and depth, the harmony of its proportions, as 
 well as the richness and variety of its colours — of pity, as 
 called forth in accordance with our nature, — an unconscious, 
 uncontrollable emotion, which operates with subduing 
 efiect on the triumph of the moment. 
 
 And now, in their turn,, content and thankfulness reign 
 in the heart and develop themselves on the countenance of 
 the angler ; now haply he is impressed with feelings of 
 adoring solemnity, stirred up by some scene of unlooked-for 
 grandeur, or the transit of some sublime phenomenon. I 
 say nothing of the feelings of disappointment, anger, envy, 
 and jealousy, which sometimes find their way into the bosom, 
 and are portrayed on the features even of the worthiest and 
 best-tempered of our craft. Too naturally they spring up 
 and blend themselves with our better nature ; yet well it is 
 that they take no hold on the heart, scorching it may be 
 true, but not consuming its day of happiness. 
 
 Hence it is, from the very variety of emotions which suc- 
 cessively occupy the mind, from their blendings and transi- 
 tions, that angling derives its pleasures; hence it holds 
 precedence as a sport with men of thoughtful and ideal 
 temperament ; hence, poets, sculptors, and philosophers — the 
 sons and worshippers of genius, have entered, heart and 
 hand, into its pursuit. Therefore it was, that Thomson, 
 Burns, Scott, and Hogg, and, in our present day, Wilson and 
 
SUCCESSFUL WORM-FISHING. 89 
 
 Wordsworth exchanged eagerly the grey-goose quill and the 
 companionship of books, for the taper wand and the discourse, 
 older than Homer's measures, of streams and cataracts. 
 Therefore it was that Paley left his meditative home, and 
 Davy his tests and crucibles, and Chantrey his moulds, 
 models, and chisel-work, — each and all to rejoice and reno- 
 vate themselves ; to gather new thoughts and energies, a 
 fresh heart and vigorous hand, in the exercise of that 
 pastime which is teeming with philosophy. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON FISHING WITH THE WORM FOR TROUT. 
 
 WoRM-Fishing in Troubled Waters. — Ditto in Clear Water. — Rod and 
 Tackle Suitable. — Adjustment of the Leads. — Earth-Worms. — 
 Methods of Procuring Best Sorts. — Hartshorn Moss. — Prepara- 
 tion of Worms. — Scouring, Toughening, and Bedening Processes. 
 — Season, Time of Day, and State of Water. — Where to Angle. — 
 How to Bait, Manage the Tackle, etc. — Advices and Precautions. — 
 Striking, Landing, etc. 
 
 To a perfect novice in the art of angling, nothing appears 
 simpler than to capture trout with the worm, provided the 
 water be sufficiently muddled to conceal the person and 
 disguise the tackle of the craftsman. A mere urchin, with 
 a pea-stick for a wand, a string for his line, and a pin for his 
 hook, has often, under such favourable circumstances, 
 effected the landing of a good-sized fish. But to class per- 
 formances of this description among feats of skill were quite 
 ridiculous, and they are just, to as small an extent, samples 
 of successful worm-fishing. It maj'- perhaps startle some, 
 and these no novices in the art, when I declare and ofifer 
 moreover to prove, that worm-fishing for trout requires 
 essentially more address and experience, as well as a better 
 knowledge of the habits and instincts of the fish, than fly- 
 fishing. I do not, be it observed, refer to the practice of 
 this branch of the art as it is followed on hill burns and 
 petty rivulets, neither do I allude to it, as pursued after 
 heavy rains in flooded and discoloured waters ; my affirma- 
 tion bears solely upon its practice as carried on during the 
 summer months in the southeni districts of Scotland, whei^ 
 
90 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the rivers are clear and low, the skies bright and warm. 
 Then it is, and then only, that it ought to he dignified with 
 the name of sport ; and sport it assuredly is, fully as excit- 
 ing, perhaps more so, than angling with the fly or minnow. 
 In the hands of a skilful practitioner, indeed, there is no 
 mode of capturing well-conditioned fish with the rod more 
 remunerative, I say well-conditioned, for in the spawning 
 months, lean, lank, and unhealthy trout may be massacred 
 in any number by means of salmon-roe or pastes formed 
 from that substance. 
 
 In the present chapter, I shall attempt to make plain the 
 principal points to be attended to by the worm-fisher 
 desirous of success. These I class under the following 
 heads : — 
 
 1. The rod and tackle to be employed. 
 
 2. The kind of worm and how prepared. 
 
 3. When and where to fish. 
 
 4. How to bait and manage the line. 
 
 First, then, with regard to the rod and tackle. The 
 former I have already alluded to in a preceding chapter, and 
 shall only repeat, that it ought to be a two-handed one, and in 
 length approaching to seventeen feet — the butt light, formed 
 of well-seasoned Memel fir — the top-pieces somewhat stiff" 
 and fashioned of lanc^ or hickory wood — a rod, in fact, such 
 as would please the minnow-troller, or give general satis- 
 faction on a Highland stream among sea-trout and small 
 grilses. 
 
 And now, with respect to the tackle. This merits very 
 strict attention. Of the reel line I need say nothing. A 
 common trouting one will serve the purpose better than any 
 other. That for casting, however, should be fine, long, and 
 well-tapered — the lower portion of it composed of at least 
 seven lengths of single gut, tinged rather than dyed with 
 the ordinary decoction of logwood and alum. These lengths, 
 I need scarcely say, should be knotted together with care 
 and accuracy but not whipped over at the joinings with silk 
 thread, an operation to be confijied solely to the upper 
 strands of the line. They ought, moreover, to be of picked 
 material, round, clear, and fine, without a flaw or fretting. > 
 
 As to the hook itself, I recommend above all others the 
 common-round bend, sizes 10, 11, and 12, according to the 
 cliRiensioris of the stream, its condition, and ^ind of~ trout 
 
, LEADS OE SINKERS. 91 
 
 inhabiting it. Before attaching, nip or file off a part of 
 the shank, which is generally too long, and apt, in striking, 
 to interfere with the mouth of the fish. This I strongly 
 recommend to be done. An application of the file is neces- 
 sary also, in order to round off a new head and render the 
 remainder of the shank capable of retaining the wrappings. 
 In attaching worm hooks to the gut or foot-strand, use fine 
 silk thread of a crimson colour, and see that it be well 
 waxed, carefully laped round and secured, according to the 
 approved mode of fastening I have elsewhere referred to, 
 commonly called the whip-knot. A touch of spirit varnish 
 adds greatly to the compactness and durability of the 
 dressing. 
 
 In preparing worm-tackle, the adjustment of the leads 
 or sinkers is a matter of considerable importance. The 
 accommodation of these to the state or nature of the current 
 requires on the part of the angler both tact and nicety. 
 He must always proceed to work, provided with a suffi- 
 ciency of split shot, Nos. 2 or 3 in his waistcoat pocket, a 
 dozen at the fewest. Through means of these it is that he 
 has to regulate the pace of his worm through the water, as 
 well as to keep it sufficiently near the bottom, close to 
 which, on the outlook, feeding trout lie. As to the pace or 
 rate of travelling in question, it should, I am of opinion, 
 neither be quick nor yet very slow, approaching to that of 
 the current itself, which from the motion given to the line 
 by the angler (who, as I shall shortly demonstrate, ought 
 to pitch his hook up against the stream), it is apt to exceed. 
 One, two, three, or even four leads of the sizes recommended 
 may be required to effect this. These may he placed either 
 together, at a fixed distance from the hook of not less than 
 fifteen inches, or separately, at considerable intervals along 
 the casting-line. I prefer greatly, however, the former 
 mode of leading, although several able anglers of my 
 acquaintance adopt the latter, under the idea that it assists 
 or improves the travelling of the worms. Leads forined of 
 shot are frequently drilled through, instead of being slit. 
 The process is more tedious, and renders them, when required 
 to be shifted or displaced, less handy, although there is 
 no question but that they give greater satisfaction to the 
 eye, and if intended to be permanent are perhaps preferable. 
 I may here repeat, that, in the making up of tackle for 
 worm-fishing, loops are strongly to be condemned, and at 
 
92 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 no time should they be permitted to head the strand or gut 
 on which the hook is dressed. The very nearest ought to 
 be kept at double arm's length from the bait. 
 
 I am now brought" to treat o£ the kind of worm best 
 adapted for trout-fishing, a;nd the preparing of it for use. 
 It is not my province, however, while on this subject, to 
 discuss the natural history of the worm under the five classes 
 into which it has been divided by Linnaeus. I shall confine 
 ray observations solely to the different kinds of earth-worms 
 (intestina), frequenting our soils and employed by the angler. 
 Of these there are at the fewest six or seven species with 
 their varieties. 
 
 1st. The large Sand-Lob or Lugu-Woem, employed by 
 the fishermen on our coasts in the capture of flounders, had- 
 docks, and other salt-water fish. It is easily discovered, at 
 ebb of tide, on almost all sand-stretches, by the small hill or 
 coil of refuse bearing its own resemblance, and backed, at 
 the distance of ten or twelve inches, by a corresponding hole 
 or sink, of diameter sufficient in some instances to admit the 
 entrance of one's little finger. Betwixt these indices, at a 
 foot's depth from the surface, the worm lies and is readily 
 dislodged by means of a common sand-fork. I have heard 
 it asserted that sea- trout at the entrance of rivers will take 
 this bait greedily, and that salmon also have been known to 
 seize it. It is not, however, a worm to be held in much ' 
 esteem by the angler, being thick, flabby, ill-coloured, and 
 not readily purged or toughened. 
 
 2nd. The Earth-Lob or Dew- Worm; sometimes, but 
 improperly, divided into two separate species. This is found 
 in almost all cultivated soils, where the earth, naturallj' 
 light, has been enriched by the application of manures. It 
 frequents especially gardens and grounds wrought with the 
 spade, concealing itself in the daytime at a considerable 
 depth, and when the weather is mild rising about sunset to 
 the surface, where after a shower, it may be discovered at 
 listless length stretched in proximity with others of its kind, 
 and lapping, as it were, the new-fallen moisture. On such 
 occasions, large quantities of this innocuous rejitile may be 
 captured with little address, requiring only the use of a 
 ready eye and hand. As a trout bait, it is not greatly valued 
 by the angler, on account of its size and the difficulty 
 experienced in toughening it. It forms, however, when pro- 
 perly strung, a favourite morsel with eels, chubs, and other 
 
BLACK-HEAD OR BUTTON-WORM. 93 
 
 ravenous fish, and on night-lines may be, used to some pur- 
 pose as an enticement even to trout themselves, and these 
 the largest and most wary. The virtues of the lob-worm 
 as a bait for salmon are well-known to all frequenters of 
 Tweedside. 
 
 3rd. The third species of earth-worm I bring under the 
 angler's notice, is the Black-Head or Button-Worm. 
 This latter is no doubt a local term, confined chiefly to the 
 south of Scotland, but descriptive, in some measure, of the 
 habits and appearance of the animal, whose nature it is, 
 during the summer months, to coil and knot itself up in the 
 form of a ball or old-fashioned button. Under this shape it 
 is found nearly dormant, in light gravelly soils, frequently 
 among rich dry garden mould, but most abundantly among 
 the roots and massed fibres of old meadow grass. Of all 
 the earth-worms, it is the kind best suited for the angler, 
 possessing the very qualifications he most desires, in a trout- 
 ing worm. Its general length and thickness, the one sel- 
 dom exceeding six or seven inches, the other that of a 
 small goose quill — its colour and natural toughness, and the 
 capability of being improved which these qualities possess, 
 all combine to render it an object of considerable value to 
 the sportsman. One variety of it there is, termed the 
 maiden worm, which possesses the peculiar advantage of 
 being free from what is called the knot — a development 
 well-known to naturalists, as embracing the generative 
 organs of the reptile, and not much relished by anglers on 
 account of its unseemliness and the broken, distorted ap- 
 pearance it gives to the bait. The button-worm is dark- 
 headed, but of a lively red lower down ; although frequently, 
 during summer, found in the coiled state, it more generally 
 comes under our notice, as most worms do, possessing its 
 share of life and activity, and may be brought to the sur- 
 face by any agitating process, such as the rapid stirring of 
 a spade or dibble inserted into the mould it inhabits. This, 
 by the instinct of the animal, is evidently mistaken for the 
 subterraneous movements of the mole, its principal enemy. 
 This. is a much better method of obtaining worms, in some 
 localities, than digging, inasmuch as it brings them within 
 hand-reach in a more purged condition, and inflicts, in the 
 case of garden ground, little or no injury to plants or 
 vegetables in the vicinity. A solution of lime or salt in 
 water, ntQder£|,tel^ stropg, ancj dashed from a pail over the 
 
94 ,THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 surface, I have seen used with effect on old grass land, when 
 the blade is parched and short, otherwise the worms raised 
 are apt to escape the eye. Those taken in this manner 
 ought to be washed immediately in fresh water, a pre- 
 caution rendered necessary by the prejudicial nature of the 
 agents above-named. 
 
 4th. The Marsh Worm. — This species of reptile is found 
 commonly in damp, mossy ground, often under stones, in 
 cow-dung, and among quicken heaps which are partially 
 decayed. It resembles, in some respects, a small dew or 
 lob-worm, but is much more delicate in the texture. Trout, 
 I know, especially in hill burns, are fond of it, but it is 
 many degrees too soft for angling with in sizeable streams 
 where one requires to pitch the bait to a distance, nor is it 
 readily rendered tough by keeping, like most worms. Still, 
 if handled tenderly and dropt with caution, it is not a de- 
 spicable lure when employed either in narrow rivulets or 
 among feeding trout, in still, deep, closely shaded water. I 
 remember some yea,rs ago having recourse to it on the 
 Eden, a well-known trouting stream on the confines of 
 Berwickshire, to which I had set out unprovided with bait, 
 and capturing upwards of three dozen beautiful and well- 
 conditioned trout, the . water, at the time, being extremely 
 small, clear, and choked up with weedy matter. The 
 worms in question I procured by digging at Smailholm 
 mill, to which spot I had fished up unsuccessfully with the 
 fly from a short way above Nenthorn, and on my return 
 over the same extent of water, managed, as above detailed, 
 to load my pannier. 
 
 .5th. The Brandling. — A worm held in great esteem by 
 anglers of the old school. It is, however, no favourite of 
 mine, possessing, as it does, all the faults of the Marsh- 
 worm and none of the virtues. Equally soft and frangible, 
 it wants entirely the fresh sweetness of the other, and is 
 filled instead with a yellowish matter which, oozing on the 
 slightest touch from various parts of the body, is, as regards 
 odour and appearance, particularly offensive. The brandl- 
 ing is found only in certain localities, by the sides of ditches, 
 and in rank ground artificially kept moist. Transferred, 
 however, to old, rich dimg or leaf compost, it will thrive 
 admirably, and in warm weather breed with astonishing 
 rapidity. The brandling to look at, before handling, is on 
 the whole a beautiful worm, being ringed over with 
 
DIFFERENT KINDS OF WORMS. 95 
 
 alternate circles of crimson and white. Its shape, however, 
 is somewhat flat, and contributes along with the defects 
 already mentioned, to lower it considerably in my opinion 
 as an angling bait. 
 
 6th. The Red-head. — The finest variety of this worm is 
 found associated with the one above mentioned, or in soils 
 of the nature and degree of richness. It inhabits also 
 some farm-yards, and an inferior sort is found plentifully 
 enough in many fields and gardens. When cleansed, it is 
 of one hue throughout, namely, a lively pink or red colour, 
 not possessing the dark head of the button-worm, next to 
 which species, as an angling bait, it deserves without 
 question to be ranked. The principal faults I find with it 
 are, the clearness or pellucid natui'e of its skin, and the more 
 than ordinary power it has of elongating and contracting 
 its body, thereby, in the one case, occasioning a disclosure 
 of the hook underneath, and in the other, an aptness in the 
 worm to work itself partially off the wire, and thus render 
 inevitable the protrusion of the point or barb. A smaller 
 description of hook, say No. 9, would, I think, suit better 
 the size of the red-head than that used for the button- 
 worm. 
 
 7th. The Gilt-tail. — A small, sluggish worm, having a 
 green or yellowish appearance in the lower extremity. 
 This is found in places rank with the decay of vegetable 
 matter, where turnips have been fed off", among rubbish 
 heaps, etc. It is capable of being purged so as to part with 
 much of its natural colour, and assume a tendency to red- 
 ness. The gilt-tail also is easily toughened, and during a 
 scarcity of better, the angler will find it tolerable bait for 
 trout. 
 
 Having thus attempted to specify the different kinds of 
 earth-worms bred in our soils, and to describe their qualities 
 as angling baits, I proceed to say, in few words, how they 
 ought to be prepared or made ready for use. In the pre- 
 paration of worms three ends are desirable, and these are 
 to be attained, only by an equal number of processes, con- 
 ducted either severally or conjunctly. The requisites in 
 question embody, first, the purging or cleansing ; next, the 
 toughening ; and lastly, the reddening of the worm. 
 
 On being dug or captured, all worms not intended for 
 immediate use, with the exception of those found in the 
 blittoR st^te, should be placed for the space of three or fovjr 
 
96 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 minutes in a vessel containing water ; some recommend the 
 addition of a little salt, in order to divest them as thoroughly 
 as possible of any earthy matter attached to their outward 
 coating. The further effect of this immersion is to cleanse 
 partially the entrails of the reptile, occasioning it to throw 
 off what imparts to the skin a dingy and ill-favoured 
 appearance. Thus washed, the worms should be allowed to 
 crawl about for a short time on a clean, dry board, with the 
 view of ridding them of all superfluous moisture. When 
 this is sufficiently accomplished, transfer them into a large 
 earthenware jar, filled, or nearly so, with hartshorn moss. 
 
 The hartshorn is a species of moss, well known to the 
 northern angler. It is found chiefly on moorland, and in 
 boggy places surrounded by heatb. Externally, on the ex- 
 posed parts, it possesses a reddish tinge, the stalks and 
 lower foliage are of a pale colour, approaching to yellow. 
 Like many other mosses, it is found in considerable clumps ; 
 the texture possesses great softness ; and, when handled, is 
 agreeable to the palm. Although, in highly cultivated dis- 
 tricts, difficult to procure, the extreme lightness and abund- 
 ant nature of the plant, in places favourable to its growth, 
 render it easy of acquisition. When dry it keeps for years, 
 and the worm-fisher ought, unquestionably, always to possess 
 a stock of it. He will find the common fog generally used 
 in England much its inferior, although at a pinch not to be 
 rejected. JBefore using the hartshorn moss, let it be well 
 washed ; the hard and whitish stalks ought to be twitched 
 ofi) and the red soft portions retained. 
 
 The worms on their transference to the moss-jar still 
 undergo the process of scouring, but along with it is con- 
 joined that of toughening, and should it be thought necessary, 
 the further one of reddening. This last, I confess, for my 
 own part, I have always deemed fanciful, but as it is my 
 purpose in this present treatise as much to propound the 
 practice of others as to put forward my own notions, I shall 
 not omit describing it. The drier the moss is among which 
 the worms are placed, the quicker they become fit for use ; 
 at the same time, be it remembered, their natural juices are 
 the sooner exhausted, and if kept beyond a certain period 
 without moisture, they soon lose all liveliness, pine away, 
 and die. The dryness of the fog ought therefore to be re- 
 gulated by circumstances, by the state of the weather, the 
 temperature of the apartment or cellar wliere the jar i§ 
 
OBSERVATIONS UPON THE SEASON. 97 
 
 placed, and the time when its contents are required to be 
 used. As to the reddening matter spoken of, wliich some 
 anglers mix up with the fog when in a moist condition, it 
 is a species of high-coloured earth, reduced to a fine powder 
 and resembling brick-dust. This may be purchased at any 
 druggist's under the name of Bole Armenian. It is supposed 
 the-worms consume a portion of it as their food, being de- 
 prived of other natural sustenance, in the shape of earth, 
 and that they actually fatten upon it, imbibing, at the same 
 time, its alluring colour. Nor is it always administered to 
 them mixed up slenderly with fog, but sometimes employed 
 in larger quantities, moistened with water and mingled with 
 a little sweet cream. So much for the preparation of earth- 
 worms, as angling baits. The essential matter is to have 
 tliem red and lively, possessing at the same time some mea- 
 sure of toughness, so as not to break upon the hook, and 
 thereby expose to view a portion of its shank or barb. 
 While undergoing the processes above mentioned, it is re- 
 quisite to keep them in a cool, shady place, for although 
 naturally retentive of life when maimed or broken, they are 
 not proof against great atmospheric changes, being easily 
 sickened by heat and killed by extreme moisture. 
 
 Having treated of the several sorts of earth-worms used 
 in angling, and the mode of preparing them, I am brought 
 now, as was proposed in pursuing the subject of worm- 
 fishing, to make some observations upon the season of the 
 year suitable for this kind of sport, the time of day, and 
 description of weather, and lastly, the places or portions of 
 water best adapted for its practice. On Tweedside, worm- 
 fishing seldom commences until the latter end of May or 
 beginning of June, when the main stream and its tributaries 
 are, in ordinary seasons, considerably reduced. The trout, 
 in a certain measure, require to be sated with fly-food 
 before having recourse to any coarser aliment, at any rate, 
 some change seems to be affected in their tastes and habits, 
 virtually inexplicable, but yet dependent upon the instinct 
 implanted by Nature, an instinct which as regards many 
 animals has, in all ages, baflBed, perplexed, and silenced the 
 minutest inquiry. Before trout take the worm freely, it is 
 necessary also that the temperature of the water should be 
 at a state of considerable elevation, at least fifty degrees of 
 Fahrenheit, and, moreover, that it be acted upon at the 
 time by a fair proportion of sunlight ; indeed, a bright, hot 
 
98 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 day is not at all objectionable, the air being calm, or but 
 slightly agitated. Such a condition both of water and 
 weather often occurs in the month of June, and its occur- 
 rence is, indeed, frequently protracted throughout July. 
 These, in fact, June and July, added to the latter half of 
 May, constitute, as regards the southern districts of Scot- 
 land, our best worm-fishing months. Be it noted, however, 
 by way of repetition, that I am not at present alluding to 
 the simple and coarse practice of the art pursued among 
 starved and unwary fish in mountain rivulets, nor do I 
 refer to worm-fishing in flooded and discoloured streams, but 
 I treat of it solely as respects clear waters, inhabited by 
 cunning, cautious trout, and in consequence as a method of 
 angling which requires of the craftsman great skill, and no 
 stinted amount of prudence. With regard to hill burn 
 fishing, undoubtedly it is more in season during August and 
 September, when rains are frequent, than in June and July ; 
 and in discoloured waters, trout may be captured with 
 worm throughout the whole year, no one month-excepted. 
 
 Connected with the branch of the art properly under 
 notice, and the time of the year suitable for its practice, I 
 may here mention the fact that in the months above named, 
 trout are invariably in their best condition, strong, active, 
 plump, and firm, a recommendation that weighs much with 
 the honest angler, who is always epicure enough to know 
 and admire the good points of a fish, and who dislikes, very 
 pardonably, to burden his pannier with such as are ill- 
 shaped, villainously complexioned, soft, rank, and useless, 
 affording on the hook no play, to the eye no pleasure, and 
 at the table no nourishment. 
 
 As to the time of day when trout take the worm most 
 largely, that depends not a little upon the state of the 
 atmosphere. In warm, tranquil weather, they are some- 
 times met with in feeding humour shortly aft^r sunrise, 
 .and continue to be so until one or two o'clock, p.m. Gener- 
 ally, however, they do not commence to bite freely before 
 eight or nine, a.m., and leave ofi" in the course of five or six 
 hours. During this period, short intervals of relaxation 
 frequently occur, when the fish refuse to feed, and as often 
 there are climaxes when they seize the worm with more 
 than usual alacrity. These, however, happen chiefly on 
 variable and unequal days,, when warm glimpses mingle 
 with dull and cloudy weather. 
 
BAITING THE HOOK. 99 
 
 I proceed now to a description of those portions of water 
 where succesj is generally mot with by the worm-fisher ; 
 and, be it noted, that such are not the usual haunts of trout 
 when in quest of insect and surface food. They are, on 
 the contrary, the very places which an experienced fly-fisher 
 would look over and avoid. Instead of the central current 
 or foaming eddy, they consist of shallows, otf-streams, and 
 nooks of water ; thin, formidable, gravelly stretches, and 
 that smooth but not tardy flow, which in lar^e rivers fre- 
 quently heads a more troubled descent or rapid. 
 
 I say not that • the main stream is altogether to be 
 neglected, for, under long-continued droughts, it is fre- 
 quently, from the nature of the channel or alveus, the only 
 portion of water where fish can be taken; but, in the general 
 experience of all able worm-fishers, the largest and finest 
 trout are found feeding among the shoals and detached run- 
 lets, in places frequently, which, at first glance, one is led to 
 imagine are not of sutticient depth to cover and Conceal 
 them. Here they lie in watch for their expected prey, 
 under the shelter sometimes of a large stone or jut of rock, 
 and in its absence, breasting immovable the gliding current. 
 
 In swollen waters, I need scarcely inform the angler, that 
 trout, during summer, take the worm eagerly at what is 
 termed the tail of a stream, in places that are neither calm 
 nor turbulent, small eddies, etc. Among hill bums, no one 
 can mistake where to drop his bait ; indeed, in many of 
 them, every inch of water ought to be fished, and so it 
 should be, as respects the appropriate feeding-spots in large 
 rivers. No likely haunt or ripple ought the angler to pass 
 over, no indication of shelter for trout should he regard 
 with indiflerence ; his eye, hand, and 'line, must always be 
 kept active, his heart and his hopes always up and alive. 
 
 A few instructions as to baiting the hook and managing 
 the line shall, as proposed, conclude this chapter. I presume 
 the angler to be provided with a quantity of prepared worms. 
 If he intends devoting to the sport the best part of an entire 
 day, let his supply of these be ample. On no such occasion 
 ought he to venture on a river where trout abound, without 
 five or six scores. Nothing is so provoking as to run short 
 of bait, at a time when fish are in the taking humour ; and 
 yet how frequently does this happen even with experienced 
 fishers ? The worms, I further presume, are confined in a 
 flannel bag ten or twelve inches in depth, and of width 
 
100 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 sufficient to admit readily the hand of the sportsman. 
 Along with them has been placed a quantity of hartshorn 
 fog, moistened or otherwise, according to their condition. 
 The bag, for convenience, should be appended to a button or 
 button-hole at the side of the angler. In addition to the 
 bag, some use a tin box affixed to a belt or leather strap, 
 which is buckled on round the waist. To this, the best 
 and liveliest worms are transferred, free of moss, so that 
 they can be taken out at once and without injury. 
 
 In baiting, let the operator hold the hook either in his 
 right or left hand, betwixt the thumb and forefinger, and, 
 having extracted with the other from its place of confine- 
 ment a worm of suitable dimensions, let him, beginning not 
 far from the head of the reptile, thrust into it the point of 
 the wire. He must then continue to run it along, over 
 bend and shank, until the entire hook and nearly half an 
 inch of the gut surmounting it be^ completely covered, taking 
 great care not to break or further injure the body of the 
 bait, and nowhere to expose the instrument of capture 
 underneath. This latter advice is particularly to be at- 
 tended to as respects the barb or point ; the smallest pro- 
 trusion of which is sufficient to alarm and warn off fish, 
 and these always the primest and best conditioned. 
 
 I have not hitherto said a grea,t deal as to the size of the 
 worm. It is difficult to procure any large number exactly 
 of equal length and thickness, nor is any such correspon- 
 dence as to their proportions at all necessary. The button- 
 worm, which, as it is generally found, measures about six 
 or seven inches, and is as thick nearly in the upper part as 
 a small quill, may be taken as the standard in point of size. 
 Smaller worms are often as deadly, perhaps in some waters 
 more so ; but on Tweed and Teviot, I for my own part 
 prefer a large bait. It is less apt to be assailed by parr and 
 insignificant trout, and without question, attracts more 
 readily the eye of big, watchful fish — of the roving swallow- 
 smolt, and sometimes of the salmon itself. 
 
 Reverting to the matter in question, namely, the baiting 
 of the tackle, it often happens, the worms being unequal, 
 that the angler finds it difficult to accommodate some of 
 them to the dimensions of the hook. Should the bait be a 
 little over-sized and lively, and he deem it not worth his 
 while substituting a larger description of hook for the one 
 in use, I would recommend him, after running on the worm 
 
CONDITION OF THE WORM. 101 
 
 about half its length, to force through it the barfe, and 
 omitting a small portion of the body, re-enter the point of 
 the wire and continue the running on, bringing, as he does 
 so, the wounded parts into contact immediately over the 
 bend of the instrument, and thereby furthering its entire 
 concealment. Nearly one-third of the worm should, on all 
 occasions, be left to move about as it wills, beyond the 
 point of the hook. This serves as a lure to attract fish and 
 does not, as some imagine, interfere with the seizure of the 
 tackle ; for no trout, however cautious and wary, ever 
 engrosses its prey otherwise than head- foremost. Accord- 
 ingly, on taking the worm, it always assails the thicker 
 extremity, and at no time wastes its attack on the tail or 
 lower end of the bait. Considering this, and the liability 
 which, in consequence, the upper portion runs of returning 
 to hand broken and disabled, should the striking prove 
 unsuccessful, some anglers instead of inserting the hook 
 below, actually do so through the mouth or orifice of the 
 head itself. Another reason brought forward in support of 
 this mode of baiting is, that, in the ordinary plan, the mere 
 casting of the line serves, not unfrequently, to break or 
 injure what they term the neck of the worm, namely, that 
 part of it where the hook is first inserted. This, I allow, is 
 an objection of some weight, but it acts as a meagre set-off 
 to the bad effect of their practice, which is no less than to 
 curtail at an early stage the life and action of the worm, 
 thereby destroying its efficacy as a lure or provocative, and 
 rendering it, in fact, a mere piece of dead matter. 
 
 While on this subject, let me caution the angler to pay 
 close attention to the condition of his worm ; indeed, every 
 two or three unsuccessful casts he ought strictly to examine 
 it, in case it has either become partially disengaged from 
 the hook, or is in any degree maimed and ruptured, not to 
 say water-logged and motionless. A maimed bait few trout 
 worth capturing will snatch at. It has attractions only for 
 parr and small fry, and as for a dead worm, they would as 
 soon think of attacking a mutton chop, which, by the way, 
 I understand, is the favourite bait of the river cod in some 
 of the Australian rivers. 
 
 I shall now, as undertaken by me, wind up this chapter 
 on worm-fishing, w'ith a few instructions as to the manage- 
 ment of the line. Although recommending to the worm- 
 fisher the use of a light double-handed rod,. I do not insist 
 
 7 
 
102 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 upon it as absolutely essential. It gives him, however, a 
 power or facility over his line, especially if a long, one, 
 which no single-handed implement can ever possess. Both 
 in waters that require to be waded and the smallest descrip- 
 tion of rivulets, it is of equal advantage. Employed on the one, 
 the angler, without any strain, jerk, or extra impulse, which 
 very frequently chafes and injures the worm, is enabled to 
 heave out his bait to the required spot ; he possesses more- 
 over, full command in recovering his tackle for a new throw, 
 and,as the occasion happens, can strike his fish with readiness 
 and considerable certainty. Employed on the other, he can 
 drop his worm unsuspected, softly as a snow-flake, behind 
 stone or shelter fence, under banks and below boughs, 
 keeping himself and his shadow concealed and at a distance. 
 Such advantages, as far as concerns worm-fishing, the one- 
 handed rod can have no pretensions to. The leads and 
 weight of the worm are great drawbacks to its power. 
 These, it can neither sufficiently heave out nor recover. In 
 the striking of fish also it is of little avail, except when 
 stiffish and used with a short line. 
 
 I introduce, it may be thought by some, the above obser- 
 vations respecting the kind of rod best adapted for worm- 
 fishing a little out of place, but when it is considered that 
 the proper management of the tackle . depends not a little 
 upon the implement employed, they will be allowed to be 
 quite preliminary to the subject under treatment. Let me 
 presume that the angler is armed, as I have recommended, 
 with a light double-handed rod, and that he has gained the 
 scene of action, trimmed his tackle, and affixed his bait ; 
 his eye also is in command of a likely piece of water, which, 
 as generally happens during summer, in large streams like 
 Tweed or Teviot, can only be fished with much success by 
 the wader. In he steps courageously, but with due caution, 
 below the place specified, lengthening line as he does so in 
 the usual manner, that is, with the assistance of his hand, 
 and by a slight jerking movement of the top-piece of his 
 rod, along the surface. When he has unwound as much as 
 he can conveniently heave out and recover without injury 
 to the worm, let him venture his cast. This he may do, 
 either over the left or right arm, as best suits his position, 
 and the side of the river he angles from. He ought not 
 however, as in fly-fishing, to perform the full sweep round 
 his shoulders, but to substitute for it that mode of throwing 
 
CASTING THE LINE, 103 
 
 the bait which consists of heaving or pitching it forward — 
 a plan which very little practice will make him proficient 
 in, and one that both saves the worm and causes it, on its 
 fall, to break, without undue disturbance, the surface of 
 the water. 
 
 As I have already had occasion to remark, all able worm- 
 fishers invariably cast the line up the stream, taking their 
 stance below where the trout are presumed to lie, and never 
 allowing the bait, as it is carried down by the current, to 
 pass beneath them. This practice of theirs embodies two 
 separate advices, both of which respectively demand at- 
 tention. In heaving the bait up against the course of the 
 stream, more than one advantage accrues to the angler. 
 He is, first of all, kept better concealed from the wary eye 
 of the trout, which, as is wellTknown, always, when resting, 
 fronts the current ; and although possessed of visual organs 
 sufficiently prominent to detect objects above or on either 
 side of it, can descry but very partially what takes place in 
 its rear. Again, from his position, he can strike with 
 greater effect. In this particular he acquires a very decided 
 advantage over the old-fangled mode of worm-fishing, that, 
 namely, of casting down the stream ; adopting which system 
 the angler, when striking, is more apt to pull his hook 
 fairly out of the mouth of the fish without even pricking it 
 than, as when he throws against the current and strikes 
 downwards, to bring it, bend and barb, into direct contact 
 with the open jaws of the biter. A third advantage ob- 
 tained by the mode of casting I am recommending is, that 
 the water is less disturbed ;. the unavoidable plunging of 
 the wader aflfecting only those portions of it that lie below 
 him, and which he has either thought proper to omit as 
 useless, or has already ransacked. 
 
 The other advice conveyed by the practice of able worm- 
 fishers is never to allow the bait, which is carried down 
 with the current, to pass below you. Lift it always before 
 it comes into line with the opposite bank of the river. In 
 permitting it to descend further you not only angle with- 
 out much hope of success, throwing away time and labour, 
 but you frighten off" more good trout than you are actually 
 aware of. A fish, for instance, has just caught a glimpse of 
 your bait as it travels home towards you ; he follows, 
 it, but by the time he can give any indication of his 
 approach it is carried down, either among your feet or to a 
 
104 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 short distance on one side of where you stand. Still he 
 pursues it, but is all at once made aware of your presence, 
 becomes alarmed, and bids you, for that forenoon at least, 
 farewell ; whereas, had you lifted your worm in sufficient 
 time, you would have left him above you on the outlook, 
 and readier than ever to seize it when again pitched in 
 beyond him. 
 
 Ivshall append a single instruction as to the striking of 
 fish. Upon this matter the question naturally suggests 
 itself — when ought a trout to be struck ? Whether directly 
 on its first attack or after repeated assaults, at a crisis when 
 it is presumed to have pouched or swallowed the worm ? 
 As in everything else, so in this matter, there exists a 
 medium, and to hit that happy and just degree is all that is 
 desirable. Now, for my own part, I am opposed, out and 
 out, to the dilatory system of giving the fish its own time, 
 neither am I an advocate for immediate striking. In the 
 one case you afford opportunity for the trout to detect the 
 nature of your lure, which, in three cases out of four, it 
 assuredly will do; then, moreover, should you secure it 
 after all, you are put to the disagreeable and time-wasting 
 task of extricating the hook from its stomach, instead of 
 simply disengaging it from the lip, jaw, or tongue. In the 
 other case you act in ignorance of the habits of the fish, 
 whose primary attack is upon the life of the worm — an 
 attempt merely to deaden its movements and render it 
 capable of being engrossed more at leisure and without 
 detriment. Accordingly, as is well-known, trout always 
 assail the head or most vital part, and it is not until this 
 has been rendered inert, which it. generally is after one or 
 two vigorous bites, that it attempts to engross the entire 
 bait within its jaws. This is the moment for striking, and it 
 is distinguished more satisfactorily by the running away 
 of your line from the spot where the attack commenced 
 towards the retreat of the fish. In performing the move- 
 ment, do so steadily and with firmness, not by means of a 
 jerk, which is apt either to. snap the gut or tear away the 
 barb of the hook from the part entered. Hold the rod well 
 up, and always incline your pull downwards, or as little as 
 possible at variance with the fiow of the river. When a 
 fish is hooked land it without delay ; if a small one, it is 
 not in many cases worth the wader's while dragging it to 
 shore; if large, or even moderate-sized, the safe rule is to 
 
tN^nODUCTORY OBSERVATION'S. 10^ 
 
 do so, unless you happen to be provided ■with the incon- 
 venient convenience of a landing-net. Always keep the 
 line tight. Should you from distrust of your tackle be 
 afraid of overstressing it, the blame lies originally with 
 yourself, and you deserve to become the sufferer. 
 
 I have in this somewhat lengthy chapter embraced, me- 
 thinks, most of the points connected with the subject it 
 treats of, and endeavoured, to the best of my ability, to set 
 them forth in a plain and practical light. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TROUT-FISHING WITH THE MINNOW AND PAEE-TAIL. 
 
 Intkoductoey Observations. — Rod. — Fitting up ot Tackles. — Approved 
 Method of Attaching the Lure. — The Parr-Tail. — Shaping of 
 ditto. — Various other Tackles. — Arrangement of Leads and Swivels. 
 —Selection of Minnows. — Method of Taking Them. — When to 
 Fish with the Minnow. — When and Where to use the Parr-Tail. — 
 Playing the Lure. — Edging and Striking. — Live, Diving, and 
 Ground-Minnow Tackles. — Imitations. — Capping. 
 
 Every branch of the angler's art requires its separate 
 measure of address, observation, and practice. All the de- 
 partments are not equally fine, and, of course, do not make 
 the same demands upon the skill and experience of the 
 craftsman. Trouting with the worm and salmon roe, for 
 instance, in discoloured water is a coai'ser and at the same 
 time simpler and less ingenious manner of fishing than 
 trouting^ by means of the artificial fly ; and if we descend 
 to bring into the comparison such branches of the art as 
 are pursued with float and set-line, and those which have for 
 their object the capture of the less cautious sorts offish, 
 such as pike, perch, eels, etc., the distinction becomes still 
 more evident. 
 
 Allowing, then, the above assertion to be correct, what 
 place, in the consequent arrangement, ought I to assign to 
 that division of the art now under treatment ? Shall I 
 class it among the subtle, more refined, and difficult depart- 
 ments, or shall I allot it room with those which, compara- 
 tively speaking, are coarse and inelegant, requiring little 
 exercise of judgment, small experience, and no great stretch 
 
i06 THE ANGLER'S COM^AlflOl^. 
 
 of attention ? Now, although not. willing to allow it the 
 very highest position as a branch of our craft, I make no 
 hesitation in saying that, as far as regards the display of 
 skill and science, it stands on a level little inferior to any 
 other. Placing foremost the able fly-fisher, I would rank, 
 hand in hand, in my group of anglers, such as are adepts in 
 the art with worm and minnow ; nor must the position, 
 thus assigned to the last-mentioned, be ignoranfcly held a 
 questionable one ; for if injustice, by this arrangement, has 
 been done at all, the worm-fisher is, in truth, the party 
 injured— a matter. in evidence of which I refer to the pre- 
 ceding chapter. Independently, however, of its position in 
 point of skill as a branch of angling, fishing with the 
 minnow has its interests and excitements. It is truly 
 sport of a winning and enlivening character. None is there, 
 for my own part, that I love better to practise — none that 
 acts with livelier influence on the hopes and fancies of the 
 angler. 
 
 In handling this subject, I shall adopt a similar course of 
 division to that already pursued in my chapter on worm- 
 fishing. First of all, it is my design to treat of the rod and 
 tackle best adapted for the minnow-troUer. On burns and 
 waters of no great width, such as the Yarrow, Ettrick, and 
 upper portions of Tweed, he will find, sufficient for his 
 purpose, a single-handed rod, thirteen feet and a half in 
 length, provided with stifiish tops, and indeed, throughout, 
 less limber than the generality of fishing-wands. On a 
 stream, however, that cannot be commanded without deep 
 wading, on lochs frequented by large flsh, and in all places 
 where pike are likely to interfere with the bait, I would re- 
 commend a double-handed instrument, lighter in material, 
 and in its dimensions a trifle shorter than that employed by 
 salmon-fishers. With this, the reel and its provision ought 
 in all respects to correspond. 
 
 Regarding the correct fitting up of the minnow-tackle, 
 and the proper size, number, and arrangement of hooks to 
 be employed in it, great diflTerence of opinion exists. Some 
 contend in favour of many, some of few, hooks ; some prefer 
 large ones, some small, while others advise the use of both 
 conjoined. I shall not, however, perplex the reader with 
 arguments for and against one and all of the sorts of 
 minnow-tackles in vogue. My duty is to submit to him the 
 most approved models, and this I do, in the confidence that, 
 
KILLING FORM OF MINNOW-TACKLE. 107 
 
 if an angler at all, he will be able to recognise their mprits, 
 and allow them the superiority they claim over a whole 
 armoury of crude and fanciful contrivances, palmed off on 
 the public, under the title in question. 
 
 The upper hook should be made to slide so as to fit any 
 length of minnow. 
 
 The simplest and most killing form of minnow-tackle 
 I am acquainted with, is that delineated in figure No. 1, 
 and consists of two hooks, Nos. 12 and 10, tied on, as re- 
 presented. This is the tackle in its medium size, but it 
 may either be enlarged or lessened, according to the pro- 
 portions of the minnow employed, that is to say, should the 
 minnow exceed the usual and favourite length of two 
 inches and a half, a tackle of corresponding dimensions be- 
 comes requisite, and the same, when the bait is undersized. 
 
 Of the advantages of this description of tackle, I require 
 to say little. They are apparent to all who are in the 
 custom x)f using it, and arise, in no small degree, from its 
 great simplicity. This, mainly, it is that renders the pro- 
 cess of baiting or attaching the minnow, at once speedy and 
 neat. It can, in fact, be performed in a few seconds, and is 
 
108 THE anglek's companion. 
 
 generally free from such imperfections as either offend the 
 eye or affect the spinning. With respect, indeed, to its 
 qualification of spinning well, there is, in the size and 
 arrangement of the hooks, those very requisites that enable 
 it to do so. 
 
 In attaching the minnow, enter the large or lowermost 
 hook at its mouth, and run the fish, in the same manner you 
 would a worm, along over the bend and shank, taking care 
 not to rupture its skin or belly. When about a quarter of 
 an inch fi'om the tail, bring through the barb, allowing it to 
 protrude freely, until, in fact, the turn of the hook is almost 
 exposed, the minnow, which presents necessarily a curved 
 form, covering the remainder. This done, and ' presuming 
 that the length of the tackle is justly proportioned to that 
 of the bait, the smaller hook is in a position to admit of 
 being readily thrust through its lips, both under and upper, 
 an operation which, by effectually closing them, greatly 
 assists the spinning. Should the portion of gut intervening 
 betwixt the hooks prove slightly too long, the angler has it 
 always in his power to shorten it, by simply giving if a turn 
 over the upper wire, before closing up the mouth of the 
 minnow. His great care should be properly to adjust the 
 bait and regulate its curve. Without attention to this 
 matter, the spinning, at its best, will only prove lame and 
 unattractive. 
 
 Should he, for instance, exceed the mark and double up 
 the body of the minnow, until forming nearly a circle, not 
 only will it turn ill, but present, to boot, an unnatural and 
 deformed appearance, acting as a scare-away rather than 
 a lure or inducement. On the other hand also, when the 
 minnow is made to retain its natural straightness, it loses, 
 on the tackle almost all approximation to a living and, 
 consequently, wholesome fish, being rendered incompetent 
 either to spin at all or so wretchedly as to expose the art 
 of the angler, and render abortive all his attempts to induce 
 trout to seize it. And here, upon these points, I may assert 
 that the tackle now recommended by me proves its 
 superiority ; for there is nothing more accommodating to 
 the desired curve in the minnow than the bend of the larger 
 or lower hook. It conforms indeed, with the greatest 
 exactness, to that very portion of the bait where the curve 
 or turn is required. This hook also, from its comparative 
 weight and other evident causes, operates most beneficially, 
 
PARR-TllL TACKLE. 109 
 
 as a help or occasion to the minnow to spin freely. It is 
 not, however, genferally so killing as the upper wire, which, 
 entering the lips of the bait, is more liable to come into 
 contact with the jaws of the trout, seeing that, as I have 
 already mentioned, all fish, if possible, seize their prey by 
 the head or most vital part. 
 
 The tackle No. 2 is, in all respects, similar to the one 
 above spoken of, onl}' that it is provided, in addition, with 
 a side hook, of tlie same dimensions as the upper one. It 
 is baited also exactly in a similar manner ; the super- 
 numerary hook, not being entered into any part of the 
 minnow, but allowed to hang loose, by its own joining, 
 alongside of the bait. I have classed this among the above 
 illustrations, as a variety of the minnow-tackle, simply, be- 
 cause it is employed as such by some able anglers. Its con- 
 formation, however, renders it better adapted for parr-tail 
 fishing, and it is, properly speaking, the parr-tail tackle of 
 Tweedside. Another modification of it will be found ex- 
 hibited in No. 3, the difference betwixt the two lying 
 merely in the mode of appending the lower hook, which, in 
 the one arrangement, is performed as usual; while in the 
 other, a considerable portion of the shank-end is left ex- 
 posed, for the purpose, in baiting, of its being inserted, 
 below the skin of the tail. 
 
 And here, seeing I have classed minnow and parr-tail- 
 fishing under one head or chapter, although in truth, as 
 branches of the art, they vary in several particulars, it will 
 be proper to introduce some instructions as to the modelling 
 or preparation of the bait in question, and the affixing of it 
 to its appropriate tackle. The parrs or smolts fittest for 
 use are those above four and under six inches in length. If 
 of a smaller size, they may, as occasion oflTers, be employed 
 entire, like the minnow, on suitable tackle ; larger, I cannot 
 well recommend them, unless as a trolling bait on lochs in- 
 habited by pike and the sal/mo ferox. The cutting of the 
 parr-tail for stream fishing is an operation which requires 
 some nicety and attention. It is one also, very imperfectly 
 understood away from Tweedside ; indeed, even there, I 
 have encountered anglers (whose experience in the other 
 branches of the art was beyond challenge), bungling it most 
 eflPectually. The main error of all such lies in the notion, 
 that because it is natural for fish to swim head-foremost, or 
 with their tails in the rear, they only act with discretion, 
 
no 
 
 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 when they allot the same position to their bait, that is 
 when appending it to the tackle with the tail lowermost, 
 whereas in the proper, economical, and killing method of 
 fishing, it is attached quite the reverse way. Accordingly, 
 in> shaping and cutting out the bait, let the following in- 
 structions be strictly attended to. 
 
 Divide the parr or smolt with a sharp pen-knife, in the 
 direction A. B. Cut off all the fins, closely and carefully, 
 not excepting the caudal or tail ones. These, indeed, should 
 be neatly rounded off. 
 
 and caution used not to break the contiguous skin. This 
 process of shaping the parr- tail may be performed, in the 
 course of a few seconds, either at the water-side, or by the 
 wader on the lid of his creel. No. 2 of the above illustra- 
 tions exhibits the figure of the parr-tail, as ready for use. 
 In No. 3, it is represented, as affixed to the tackle, form- 
 ing the head or foremost portion, and D the other extre- 
 mity of the bait. Now, the advantages of this mode of 
 attaching it are very evident. To satisfy himself with re- 
 spect to them, let the angler, by way of experiment, adopt 
 what is seemingly the more natural method of baiting, let 
 him retain the tinny portions of the tail, and place the end 
 denoted by the letter D, foremost. The first cast taken by 
 him may, not improbably, as regards the spinning of his 
 lure, prove pretty satisfaciory, and should the stream run 
 strong, those immediately succeeding it, may still meet his 
 expectations. In a short time, however, he begins to find 
 all going wrong — the bait refusing, in spite of two or more 
 box-swivels, to spin at all, or spinning only by fits and 
 
PtJRE; TROLLING TACKLE. Ill 
 
 starts, awkwardly and inefiBciently ; its appearance, more- 
 over, totally altered,, the skin loosened,^ the fleshy parts 
 flabby and worn away by the action of the water, which 
 they come into violent contact with, and in fact, the pos- 
 sibility of a trout seizing it utterly at an end. Let him, 
 however, by way of change, adopt the mode of baiting 
 above recommended. The advantages derived from it will 
 quickly discover themselves. ■ Not only, indeed, will the 
 parr-tail spin with more freedom and regularity, its heavier 
 portion being lowermost, but it will last, to boot, for a much 
 greater length of time, and frequently subserve to cap- 
 ture two or three fish. All this is owing to the narrow and 
 protected part being attached foremost, consequently the 
 opposing current is .confined in its action upon the bait to 
 the lower and expanding extremity — a circumstance greatly 
 favouring the spinning, while, at the same time, in con- 
 junction with the natural toughness of the advanced end, it 
 prevents that other portion of the parr-tail from becoming 
 worn and fretted. 
 
 I have been thus particular in my description of this and 
 the first-mentioned tackles, because experience has taught 
 me to consider them as unsurpassed, in their separate 
 adaptations, by any other combination of hooks. It is very 
 true, however, as I have already hinted, that many able 
 and accomplished anglers give the preference to more com- 
 pound and perplexing devices, some using five, some seven, 
 and others as many as eleven hooks, variously sized and 
 arranged. Of these tackles, however, I shall say little. 
 Without holding them in absolute disregard, I cannot help 
 thinking they are constructed upon an unsound principle, 
 as far, at least, as relates to the spinning of the minnow or 
 parr-tail — (a point, the most essential, connected with this 
 sort of fishing), and although seemingly, from their armed 
 and horrescent appearance, better adapted to take good 
 hold of a trout than the simple forms of tackle above re- 
 commended, yet in reality they are not a whit more so. 
 
 For my own part, I would Jimit their use entirely to 
 loch -fishing, and then, as pure trolling tackle, larger in 
 make and size of wire than suits either the minnow or parr- 
 tail, and employed by the angler from a boat, under oars. 
 In such a case, the spinning is sufiiciently brought out by 
 the action of the leads and swivels. A large bait, more- 
 over, like that needed for the occasion in question, is better 
 
112 ^HE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 supported and held in shape by several hooks, entered at 
 various parts of the body. 
 
 While on the subject of minnow and parr-tail tackle, I 
 find it requisite, having specified, to the best of my ability, 
 the most approved and useful sorts, to say a few words as 
 to the disposition of the leads and swivels. I presume that 
 the hooks, whatever their number or arrangement, are 
 invariably tied on good gut, round, clean, and well- 
 proportioned in strength and thickness to the size and 
 nature of the fish it has to deal with. Of this article, four 
 or five lengths, forming a continued stretch of as many feet, 
 are in general sufficient to use singly or in connection with 
 the casting-line, which, on all occasions, should be formed 
 of the same material, triple-spun or made up. Immediately 
 above the lowermost length, or that to which the hooks are 
 attached, I would fix the leads or split shot, sizes 2, 3, or 
 4, varying them in number, according to circumstances. 
 In minnow-trolling, for my own part, I prefer the line 
 heavily weighted; others, I know, do not; nay, I am 
 acquainted with one gentleman, an excellent and successful 
 angler, who uses, during the summer months, no leads at 
 all, but fishes with the minnow as with the fly almost on 
 the surface of the stream — a manner of plying the lure 
 which only great practice can render remunerative. The 
 advantages, however, of leading heavily, consist of im- 
 proved spinning, greater likelihood of attracting the eye of 
 the fish, and a much better chance of hooking them. In 
 this latter respect, the superiority over light or surface 
 fishing is unquestionable. The trout or salmon, when 
 pursuing the minnow, is generally out of sight, and you are 
 first made aware of his presence at seizure, that is, a 
 moment or two previous to the time when you ought to 
 strike ; whereas, in the other mode spoken of, you perceive 
 the fish on his approach to the bait, and are liable, three 
 times out of four, either to strike too soon or put him on 
 his guard, by altering the course of the spinning, checking 
 the line, or jerking away the minnow. It is very true, 
 notwithstanding, that with tackle barely weighted, you can 
 always, on throwing, command a greater stretch of water, 
 yet the advantage of doing so in piinnow or parr-tail fish- 
 ing is exceedingly doubtful, and if desired, for the purpose 
 of escaping detection from the trout, perfectly unnecessary ; 
 for when rivers are in trim for these sorts of angling, that 
 
SPINNING OF THE LURE. 113 
 
 is, either large and discoloured, or perfectly clear and small) 
 in both cases, the fish, in their appropriate haunts, are 
 eager and fearless, not readily deterred from their purpose, 
 even ■within arm's length of the angler himself. 
 
 And as to heavy leading, it is, in salmon-fishing, with 
 the minnow or parr-tail, quite indispensable, for the fish 
 in question, when inclined to take the spinning line do 
 not, like trout, change ground on the rove or feed, but 
 lie close to the bottom, in their favourite places of resort, 
 and are only roused to seize it, by the bait, in a particular 
 temperature and state of water, passing near or before 
 them. 
 
 For trouting, the ordinary number of leads of the sizes 
 mentioned, which a minnow or parr-tail tackle requires, 
 ranges from two to four. In heavy water, more, if neces- 
 sary, can readily be added ; but I would avoid deep leading, 
 over a weedy or rocky bottom. Some anglers, instead of 
 attaching the shot a short way above the tackle, and all 
 at one spot, distribute it, at different intervals, along the 
 gut-lengths and casting-line itself, a practice I do not think 
 commendable. 
 
 The box-swivel is a very necessary part of the minnow 
 tackle. Its material use is not so much to assist the 
 spinning of the lure, which it does to an ample extent, as 
 to prevent perplexity to the line, a mishap always conse- 
 quent upon its omission. In trouting with the minnow, 
 two, sometimes three swivels are employed by anglers. 
 The lowermost of these should be fixed at the head of the 
 gut-strand third from the hooks, or at a distance of nearly 
 three feet from the bait. Another ought to have its posi- 
 tion immediately below the higher casting-line, and in 
 connection with the uppermost length of single gut. A 
 third, if reckoned of use, may find place a yard beyond it, 
 about the centre of the line alluded to. The size of the 
 swivel ought, of course, to be regulated by its position and 
 the description of tackle it is employed to assist. Very 
 small ones, I find, are apt to become rusted and stiff in the 
 axis. They are not so secure or perfect as those of the 
 medium size, which, in addition to their other advantages, 
 subserve, as leads or weights, in default of a sufficiency of 
 these requisites. 
 
 Having exhausted all that at present is necessary to be 
 said with regard to the tackle used in angling with the 
 
114 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 minnow and parr-tail, I proceed, before giving instructions 
 as to the manner o£ employing these baits, to acquaint the 
 reader with the kind and size of minnow reckoned entic- 
 ing, its substitutes, and the simplest methods of procuring 
 this favourite lure. Early in the season, that is to say, 
 during the months of March and April, trout, in swollen or 
 partly discoloured waters, provided these are not greatly 
 impregnated with dissolved snow, are in nowise shy, should 
 it pass across them, of darting even at the largest and least 
 captivating description of minnow ; but at the period 
 alluded to, it is both against the habits of true sportsmen 
 to angle for them, seeing that they cannot be expected to 
 have acquired as yet anything like condition, and also, 
 there is but a thin sprinkling that have left their winter 
 resorts, and begun to frequent the shoals and streams, best 
 adapted for the spinning lure. In May, June, and July, 
 the principal trouting months, they become, in most rivers, 
 through feeding, more dainty and capricious. Large and 
 ill-favoured minnows are viewed by them with suspicion, 
 and it is needful for the angler to oppose craft to craft, and 
 fastidiousness, in his choice of a proper bait, to their 
 fastidiousness in the selection of food. Accordingly, it 
 behoves him to pick out the best and fittest of the penk or 
 minnow tribe ; those, namely, which, being of a medium 
 size, are well-shaped and silvery. AH the spawning and 
 unhealthy ones, unless in an hour of pressure, ought to be 
 rejected ; also all stickle backs, and, I may add, loaches, 
 although when no better are to be had, they prove a toler- 
 able enough substitute for the lure in question. Sand-eels 
 also, and small garvies, or herring fry, I have seen em- 
 ployed with efiect in some rivers, both near and at a 
 distance from the sea. 
 
 And as to the capturing of minnows for bait, this may 
 be accomplished in a variety of ways. It may be done 
 during a rising or fully-flooded water, by means of a small 
 pout or bag net, used among petty eddies, submerged tufts 
 of grass, and various nooks and shelter places which the 
 current may happen to form with the banks. In these it 
 is, that this tiny fish finds natural refuge from the violence of 
 the swollen stream, and the net in question, when worked 
 low and with the current, I have generally found pretty 
 effectual, as a means of obtaining it in considerable quanti- 
 ties. Indeed, during the spring months, when the minnow 
 
THE HOOP NET. 115 
 
 is in demand for salmon-fishing, the pout-net forms on 
 Tweedside the readiest contrivance for procuring a supply. 
 
 The hoop-net also, when the waters are clear and small, 
 may be employed with great advantage against the minnow 
 tribe. It is used most successfully in bye- waters, where the 
 fish in question are observed in large shoals, and consists 
 simply of a ring or hoop, at least three or four feet in 
 diameter, and formed of thick wire, to which a net has been 
 suspended. This is attached by cords converging from the 
 circumference, to a staff or pole two or three yards in length, 
 by the assistance of which the net is laid cautiously down, in 
 the shallow resort or piece of bye-water alluded to. The 
 fish, by means of smaU fragments of worms or other bait, 
 are then invited to feed over it, and when drawn in sujffi- 
 cient numbers towards the centre of the bag, the whole is 
 suddenly lifted by the person employed to capture them. 
 I have witnessed nearly a hatful of minnows taken, by this 
 mode of netting, at one draught, but, unless with the view 
 to furnish a store or summer supply of live bait, I am 
 inclined to think the adoption of it, on the part of the 
 angler, reprehensible, seeing it embraces an encouragement 
 to wholesale destruction. 
 
 A third method of capturing minnows for bait is with 
 the hook and line. Upon this expedient there is no need 
 of enlarging. Those who have recourse to it should, how- 
 ever, always remember to employ tackle properly pro- 
 portioned to the size of the fish. Let them use one or two 
 hooks, as they think desirable, of sizes 2 or 3, round-bend. 
 A small fragment of worm will suffice for the bait, the upper 
 half of a trouting rod or a branch cut from some neighbour- 
 ing willow, for the wand ; and I would recommend, more- 
 over, the use of a small float, which not only prevents the 
 hook from coming into contact with the bottom, but notifies 
 to the angler the exact time when to strike. 
 
 Minnows, immediately on being captured, should be trans- 
 ferred to a jug or pitcher half-filled with water. This, 
 should the angler happen to be detained for any length of 
 time at the river side, ought to be every now and then 
 emptied' of its contents, and again replenished, otherwise 
 the fish, if numerous, are apt to sicken and die. A few 
 changes of water, however, invariably reconcile them to 
 their new situation. When not for immediate use, let him, 
 on reaching home, commit them to some cool and roomy 
 
116 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 recipient, such as a stone trough, or large tub or pail. He 
 will require to supply them with fresh water, at least once a 
 week in the spring season, and oftener during summer. I 
 find it is not necessary to use exclusively what is drawn from 
 a stream or lake, but well and even rain water answer the pur- 
 pose quite as satisfactorily, provided they are administered, at 
 the first, in limited proportions. To such as have the com- 
 mand of a pond or small rivulet, the keeping of minnows 
 during the whole season presents no diflBculty. They have 
 only to enclose them in a deal box, perforated throughout 
 with gimlet holes. This, by means of a few heavy stones 
 or weights placed inside, is conveyed to the bottom of the 
 piece of water in question or bye-pool formed from it, and 
 there, kept sunk, until its finny contents are in demand. 
 When minnows are to be used, I know of no better mode of 
 conveying them to the place of action, than by means of a 
 common soda-water bottle. This, when about two-thirds 
 filled with water, will contain conveniently upwards of a 
 score of these fish, and if at intervals, on affixing for instance 
 a fresh bait, the element natural to them be changed by the 
 angler, they may be kept alive during the whole day. The 
 cork accommodated to this vessel ought to be provided with 
 an air-hole, either driven through its centre, or nicked out 
 at the side. Minnows when carried in a dead state, if fresh, 
 should be deposited among moss or grass slightly moistened; 
 if salted, they may be placed for convenience in a tin box 
 similar to what is used in worm-fishing, and suspended in 
 the same manner by a belt round the waist of the _ angler.^ 
 I may mention, by the way, that I have no great opinion of 
 the salted minnow. It is a troublesome bait to deal with, 
 readily torn and disfigured in fastening, dull in the eye and 
 colour, and an uncertain spinner. 
 
 I have thus, at some length, discussed two or three of the 
 most important matters connected with this branch of the 
 art, and shall now ofier some instructions as to the time 
 when, the places where, and the manner how, it ought to 
 be pursued. And first, as to the time and season adapted 
 for minnow and parr-tail fishing. I have abeady stated 
 that large, hungry trout may be taken as early as March or 
 even February, but in these months, the generality of them 
 have not yet begun to frequent the beats and shallows, 
 although during mild weather, invited into them by the 
 appearance of surface food. Floods also, then as at other 
 
MINNOW, FLY, AND LOB-WORM. 11^ 
 
 times, compel trout to be active and abandon their places of 
 refuge, and it is on the first subsiding of these that the 
 minnow-troUer generally meets with success. 
 
 I may mention here, however, that although, in my 
 .younger years, eager to capture individuals of the finny 
 tribe whenever I could, be it in the middle of Christmas or 
 on one of the dog-days, I am now content to limit my 
 trouting expeditions, in a great measure, to the season in 
 which these iish are fit for use ; indeed, to slaughter them 
 indiscriminately, during all the months of the year, as may 
 be done by the use of the salmon-roe and pastes made from 
 it, I consider wrong, and is now illegal. Holding such views, 
 and recommending the same to every honest and high- 
 minded angler, I exclude, in accordance with them, from 
 my trouting calendar, that portion of the year preceding 
 the 15th April, and also the months follow^ing August, 
 during which interval the fa/rio, or common trout, with a 
 few exceptions, is out of condition, and unfit to be used as 
 human food. Angling with the minnow, then, being thus 
 limited, along with the other branches of trout-fishing, in 
 point of season, it is only proper for the craftsman to take 
 every advantage which weather and the state of the rivers 
 aiford, to pursue his amusement. This may be done, either, 
 as I have already remarked, when the water after a heavy 
 flood has begun to subside, and is verging upon a dark 
 porter colour, or when it is clear and small, under a bright 
 sun. Also, during warm, summer nights, the minnow, as 
 well as the fly and lob-worm, is a sure and deadly bait, 
 enticing to large trout which have their haunts throughout 
 the day, in deep, still water. On such occasions, too, the 
 parr-tail will be found effective, but of this bait the true 
 season is what on Tweedside is known as the smolt period, 
 viz., those weeks of the year in which the parr, having 
 assumed its silver coating, makes descent, in numerous 
 shoals, towards the salt-water. Then it is, that all the large 
 trout of our salmon rivers are out on the watch, marking 
 with cunning eye the bands as they pass them, if so be they 
 can detect a wounded, worn-out, or incautious straggler ; 
 for on such it is, not on the healthy and alert pilgrims, they 
 generally expend their vigour. The usual period for such 
 emigrations is the latter week of April and first fortnight 
 of May but frequently they commence sooner and terminate, 
 as in an occurrence of droughts, much later. May and 
 
 8 
 
118 THE ANGLEE'S COMPANION, 
 
 June, however, I esteem to be the best montbs for parr-tail 
 fishing, although what is termed the swallow-smolt — a 
 coarse, over-grown species of the saJmomdce, arriving some- 
 times in Tweed at the weight of seven pounds, and fre- 
 quently caught with the bait in question above four, is. 
 more on the move, during the first-mentioned month. 
 
 The parr-tail, I may remark, is often used as a com- 
 panion to the worm, and proves most killing in a similar 
 state of water, and the same sort of day, described in a 
 previous chapter, as suitable for the worm-fisher. Indeed, 
 one pursuing that branch of the sport, in rivers frequented 
 by large trout, ought always to have parr-tail tackle along 
 with him, and employ it also, on procuring the requisite 
 bait, in places adapted to its use. These, he will find, 
 seldom interfere with his worm-ground, being rapid and 
 broken water, often the central current, sometimes, indeed, 
 seething eddies and detached strips of the river, whitened 
 over with foam ; nor are racing shallows, less than the 
 breaks and necks of streams, to be despised, glassy and ex- 
 posed though they be, for there large trout love,- on sus- 
 pended fin, to sun themselves, and undetecting avoid all 
 detection. Such localities, too, as I have described, are, in 
 the size and state of river referred to, well adapted for the 
 spinning of the minnow. After a flood, however, in dis- 
 coloured water, this bait must be fished with among casts 
 of a difierent character. The trout, then, except in the 
 smaller description of rivers, descend to less turbulent 
 places of resort. They move off more into the silent shal- 
 lows, sometimes to the very foot of streams, into diversions 
 from the main current, not unfrequently, into what, in the 
 usual state of the river, is smooth and seemingly motionless 
 water. They are found, indeed, should the flood happen to 
 be a large one, scattered about in all places of comparative 
 shelter, close below banks, among side-runs and small 
 whirls, in fact, everywhere, except in central and violently- 
 agitated currents. 
 
 I am now brought, having specified when and where this 
 branch of the art ought to be pursued, to add some in- 
 structions as to the manner of pursuing it with success. 
 The movements of the minnow on its appropriate tackle 
 and under swivel traces, spinning, as it is made to do, with 
 great rapidity, and often in the teeth of a strong current, 
 are allowedly unnatural, nearly as much so as are the 
 
AN EASIER PREY. 119 
 
 vagaries forced on the artificial salmou-ily. How, then, the 
 inquiry arises, are trout, the wariest of all the finny tribes 
 deceived by them ? This is a question of which it is vain 
 to attempt giving the satisfactory solution. It is evident, 
 however, that if trout regard the bait in question as a 
 minnow at all, they do so under the notion that it is a 
 sickened or injured one — an individual separated from its 
 resort, and unable, through weakness or loss of instinctive 
 consciousness, either to regain it or to take refuge else- 
 where. As a proof of this, I may mention that, not un- 
 frequently, when drawing the lure referred to through a 
 host of live minnows, I have been surprised by the appear- 
 ance of a good trout darting suddenly at my bait, from 
 some shelter stone, in the very centre of the spot, preferring 
 it, seemingly, because (notwithstanding- its mangled and 
 spitted condition), an easier prey, to any individual of the 
 shoal among which it dwelt. On the same principle it is, 
 namely, the comparative facility with which they are 
 captured, that vermin, — carrion crows, and beasts of prey — 
 search out and assail wounded and stray animals, while 
 they watch, with apparent indifference, the movements of 
 such as are healthy and banded together. I do not, of 
 course, mean to assert that trout will forbear attacking the 
 minnow in its active state, in the same manner as, when 
 hard pressed, the creatures mentioned attack their game or 
 quarry ; on the contrary, they are well known to do so, and 
 often, as the contents of their maws testify, very success- 
 fully ; but every angler, I think, must coincide with me in 
 opinion, that a spinning bait takes their fancy in a wonder- 
 ful degree; to account for which, I am yjerfectly justified 
 in making the assumption, with respect to it, above set 
 forth. 
 
 The angler, then, must bear in mind that it is folly and 
 over-refinement to attempt approximating the movements 
 of his bait to those of a healthy minnow. Such an efiect, 
 by any known process, he cannot produce. His sole object 
 should, therefore, be to hide and disguise the tackle, and it 
 is solely by rapid spinning he can accomplish this. The 
 quick and equal spinning of the lure is, in fact, the one 
 thing most essential to be studied and understood in fishing 
 with the minnow. This attained, what remains to be known 
 and done is, in many respects, comparatively easy ; for in- 
 stance, the throwing of the line. All that the angler re- 
 
120 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 quires to pay attention to, over and above the instructions 1 
 have given upon that matter, in my chapter on fly-fishing, is, 
 that he does not injure or tear the bait ; a misfortune to be 
 avoided, chiefly by care, and by not attempting to cast the 
 minnow further than is requisite. Except in angling 
 for salmon, indeed, I never experienced the necessity of 
 throwing a long line, when using this lure ; and often, in- 
 stead of casting it like the fly, I adopt the expedient of 
 heaving or pitching it forward, sometimes, under certain 
 circumstances, of merely dropping it from the end of the 
 rod. 
 
 As to the proper mode of playing or working the minnow, 
 I require to say Uttle. It should be submitted, in fact, to 
 every test and variety of movement ; these, however, being 
 made dependent upon the nature of the current it is cast 
 into. Somfetimes, like the salmon-fly, it ought to be urged 
 along, by short measured jerks ; sometimes drawn steadily 
 against the stream, in one continued pull ; sometimes made 
 to descend for a little way, and then re-operated on by 
 the angler ; now on being cast across, it should be brought 
 back in a curve to his feet ; and again, allowed merely to 
 dip near some stone or ledge of rock ; in short, provided the 
 spinning movement is kept up, and all collateral instructions 
 already given attended to, there is no possible mode of play- 
 ing this bait, which may nOt prove successful in attracting 
 trout. I have, a short way back, professed myself in favour 
 of deep fishing, and enumerated ' one or two of the ad- 
 vantages derived from it. These, I may again state, are 
 connected chiefly with the spinning of the minnow and 
 hooking of the fish ; and it is in this latter respect, as an 
 assistance to the striker, that I now once more recommend 
 the adoption of heavy leads. The angler using them is not 
 put to the necessity of constantly watching his lure, but detects 
 the presence of an assailant, by the hand oftener than the 
 eye. This, of course, he cannot do, until the fish has fairly 
 made seizure of the minnow, whereas in surface spinning, 
 the case is different. Accordingly, each method requires 
 from the craftsman its peculiar manner of treatment, as re- 
 gards the striking. 
 
 When the fish, as generally happens in deep spinning, is 
 felt instead of being seen, the angler has only to slacken the 
 line for a second or two, and then, with a slight jerk of the 
 rod upwards, recal it. He will find, in three cases out of 
 
LIFTING THE MINNOW. 121 
 
 four (unless the trout, being over-fed through a long con- 
 tinuance of flooded water, bite shyly) his fish hooked. 
 Again, in the other case, should he descry the assailant on 
 its approach towards the minnow, he ought, by no means, 
 either to suspend, quicken, or alter the spinning, until its 
 intentions are further completed by the seizure of the bait. 
 And here, as in salmon-fishing, lies the difficulty, at least to 
 a beginner in the art, who is apt, immediately on perceiving 
 the trout, either to strike, and in doing so jerk from it the 
 lure, or else to check too rapidly its motion and thus unde- 
 ceive and alarm his prey. Against both these errors, it 
 behoves the angler to be on his guard, and at the same time, 
 to use such preventatives (of which, in fishing with the min- 
 now, I know of none better than heavy leading), as will act 
 against their occurrence. 
 
 It very frequently happens that a fish, which has followed 
 this bait for some distance below the surface, unawares to 
 the angler, will make no attempt to seize it, until brought 
 close to bank or the margin of the stream. Accordingly, 
 great caution ought to be exercised by the craftsman in the 
 lifting of the minnow.- He should always exhaust or com- 
 plete his cast. On no account ought he to break it off 
 abruptly or in midway. The sudden and uncalled-for ab- 
 straction of the bait before edging loses him many a good 
 trout. This, at the time, is not always made evident, but 
 it is not the less an undoubted fact. In the case of bolder 
 fish, like the pike, it is better manifested ; these, when trolled 
 for with a spinning lure, withhold their attack, four times 
 out of five, until it is within a foot of the margin ; nay, I 
 have been a witness to instances of their actually running 
 aground in pursuit of the bait. Trout also, I have seen so 
 earnest in the chase, as with difficulty to regain their way 
 back from the shallows into deep water ; but this is of rarer 
 occurrence with them than with the fish above mentioned. 
 On the contrary, they often exhibit no sign of their 
 presence, and are passed over unawares by the careless and 
 hasty angler, whose bait they had actually pursued and 
 would, in all probability, have taken hold of, had he not 
 abruptly withdrawn it from their vision. I know of an 
 instance which occurred on Tweedside, of two individuals 
 following each other on the same side of the river, at a 
 distance not exceeding sixty or a hundred yards, and the 
 one to whom precedenqe was given, although at the ovjtset 
 
122 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 equipped from the same store of bait and minnowtackle as his 
 friend, failing notwithstanding to capture above half the 
 weight or quantity of fish. I may mention too, that on this 
 occasion, the day was favourable, the. water in trim, and 
 trout taking freely. Both anglers, besides, commenced and 
 concluded operations at the same time. How then, it will 
 be -asked, was such a result to be accounted for? I allow 
 that greater skill and science were on the part of the more 
 successful sportsman; but the other, a native also of 
 Tweedside, was by no means an indiflFerent fisher, and the 
 advantage given to him, taking into consideration the nature 
 of the bait, was such, that were he able to throw a line at 
 all, he ought, without question, completely to have marred 
 the sport of any one immediately following him. But then, 
 mark the reason of his failure. He neglected to edge his 
 minnow — omitted to exhaust his cast — abruptly withdrew 
 his tackle, when in midway. On these points it was that the 
 superior skill and science of his competitor displayed them- 
 selves — here lay the true secret of his success. 
 
 While on fishing with. the minnow, I may take notice 
 (having exhausted most of the points connected with it, as 
 a spinning lure for trout) of two or three other methods of 
 using this bait, practised occasionally by the angler. One 
 of these is live-minnow fishing. This branch of the art is 
 little cultivated, and very imperfectly understood in Scot- 
 land. For my own part, I do not pretend to any acquain- 
 tance with it, and in consequence, refer the reader desirous 
 of gaining information on the matter, to Blaine's Dictionary 
 of Eural Sports, a very useful work in the main, but on 
 the subject of fishing rather too comprehensive and ex- 
 hausting. It embraces, in fact, upon that science, a medley 
 of theories, adopting, as its own guide or creed, no indi- 
 vidual one. It somewhat involves and perplexes the reader 
 with the multiplicity of its divisions, the variety of its 
 information, and complex nature of its arjangement. On 
 the whole, however, it is a book eminently instructive, and 
 one which ought to be in the hands of every lover of sport. 
 
 From this digression, I pass on to describe the diving 
 minnow-tackle, the way of baiting, etc. , The tackle men- 
 tioned consists of a single hook. No. 10 or 11 — Adlington, 
 having a long bended shank, looped at the head. This, by 
 the assistance of a needle or small wire having a groove at 
 pfle end, is passed through its jaws along the bodjr of the 
 
THE DIVING MINNOW. 123 
 
 minnow, the barb of the hook being left, as in baiting with 
 the single gorge-tackle for pike, to protrude from one side 
 of the mouth. Thus trimmed out, the lure is intended to 
 descend rapidly towards the bottom of deep, still portions 
 of water, resorted to by large trout, and accessible from the 
 bank to the angler. What may be termed the bend of a 
 pool, especially if shaded over with wood, is likely ground 
 for this kind of sport. It is, in fact, only a variety of 
 dipping, and may be pursued in places somewhat similar. 
 A considerable depth of water is, however, essential. The 
 diving minnow requires to be iished under swivel traces, 
 for, although not intended to spin, but only to dart down- 
 wards, yet, on recovery, it is very apt to do so, and in con- 
 sequence, to perplex the line of the angler. A fish, when 
 seizing this bait, generally does so on its descent, and at 
 the moment it reaches the bottom. It is detected, of course, 
 by the hand, and requires to be struck without much par- 
 leying. This mode of fishing is generally most succesful 
 early in spring, before trout have quitted the pools and still 
 places. It is on no occasion, however, even then, very re- 
 munerative. 
 
 Akin to it is a mode of fishing with the dead minnow, in 
 streams and during the summer season. Here a simple 
 worm-hook. No. 10, is employed, not leaded on the' shank 
 like the former, but attached in the usual manner to a 
 thread of fine gut. To bait this tackle, one may either em- 
 ploy, as before detailed, the grooved wire or needle, or, in 
 absence of it, let him insert his hook not far from the lower 
 extremity of the minnow, and, passing it along as through 
 a worm, bring it out at the mouth. He should then, in 
 order to sustain the bait in its proper position, hitch the 
 gut over the tail, and draw all firm. Thus baited, I fish 
 almost in the same manner as when using the worm, and in 
 a condition of water somewhat similar, the streams being 
 low and clear, the skies bright and warm. 
 
 Of artificial minnows and imitations of small fish, I re- 
 quire to say little. They are not, as far as I am acquainted, 
 held in much esteem by tried and able anglers. In the 
 whole course of my experience and Jnquiry, I never heard 
 of a single wonderful feat having been achieved by any of 
 them, although the qualities and virtues of not a few have 
 been expatiated upon, in my presence over and over again. 
 One imitatiop of tjie minnow, reckoned very deadly, has, ag 
 
124 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the seat of its attractive qualities, a coating formed from 
 the belly-skin of the salmon ; others are made of mother- 
 of-pearl, horn, whalebone, etc., and an additional sort of 
 lute introduced to Tweedside two or three years ago, under 
 sanguine hopes of its proving successful, consists of a piece 
 of crystal, shaped like a small fish, and set in metal. This 
 last-mentioned artifice, when brought to the test, possesses, 
 I understand, a certain degree of merit, that, namely, of 
 attracting the notice of the fish, and bringing them towards 
 the tackle. Invariably, however, they refuse to seize it, 
 turning tail when within arm's-length of doing so, and only, 
 instead of rewarding, provoking the patience of the angler. 
 Imitations of small fish, I can readily believe, may prove 
 tolerably successful during a stiffish breeze, when trolled 
 with in some Highland loch, but on rivers, at least on those 
 of the south of Scotland, and I am convinced our northern 
 ones also, they assuredly do not answer. They want a 
 very important essential, and that is, smell or flavour, the 
 sense of which in /trout is, as fishing with the salmon roe 
 demonstrates, most exquisite. 
 
 In this article on minnow-trouting, I have omitted, in its 
 proper place, to allude to the English system of capping the 
 head of the bait, a plan which, when adopted in connection 
 with certain combinations of hooks, materially, I allow, 
 assists the spinning, but one, the advantages of which are 
 completely done away with by the use of such tackle as I 
 have recommended. There are also two evils resulting 
 from the adoption of it, apparently unregarded; one is, 
 that it intereferes with the protrusion of a hook from 
 the very part of the minnow, namely, the head, whereby 
 trout generally seize it ; and the other, that it disguises in 
 some measure the conformation of that section of the lure, 
 more especially the eyes, which I esteem to be of a very 
 attractive nature. To pike, at any rate, they are so, a 
 proof of which I very recently met with. 
 
 Happening, one afternoon, to troll from the bank for 
 these fish, in a favourite resort of theirs, on Teviot, I 
 employed for my bait the lower half of a parr or small 
 trout, using gimp tackle and swivels. The cast itself is not 
 above twenty or thirty yards in length, and to fish it care- 
 fully over did not occupy me ten minutes. This I did on 
 the occasion alluded to, without, to my knowledge, stirring 
 a single fin. Not content, however, with one trial, 
 
CAPPING THE MINNOW. 125 
 
 although a searching one, I continued to ply on in the 
 same spot for nearly half-an-hour, with no better success. 
 At length, as a farewell resource, I resolved to re-fish the 
 cast with the upper half of the parr. Accordingly, append- 
 ing it to my tackle, I recommenced throwing, and although 
 in playing it below the surface of the water, it spun but 
 indifferently, to my surprise, in a very short time, I 
 captured with it no fewer than five pike, two of which 
 weighed about six pounds each. These were scattered 
 along with others, which managed, owing to the nature of 
 the landing-place, to make their escape, over the whole 
 cast in question, and in my opinion had preferred the bait 
 latterly employed, solely on account of the eyes and head. 
 This incident, however, I mention, not as any argument 
 against the use of the parr- tail, whether for pike or trout. 
 It only proves the occasional caprice of the fish, and the 
 influence which a very minute circumstance, namely, the 
 want of the organs of vision or some such deficiency in 
 the bait, may have over their inclinations. I think, there- 
 fore, the system of capping the minnow not at all a 
 judicious one, and indeed, if adopted in connection 
 with the most approved form of tackle, scarcely practic- 
 able. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SALMON. 
 
 Its Position Among Fishes. —Distinguishing Points. — Marine and 
 Fresh-water Existence. — Internal Colour. — Effects of Rich Feeding 
 on Trout and Charr.^ — Marine Food of the Salmon. — Its Voracious 
 Habits. — Sea-Trout in the Moray Firth. — Yarrell and others on 
 the Food of the Salmon. — Capture of Sea-Trout with the Worm in 
 Salt Water. — Norwegian Fiords. 
 
 Its Stages.— Parr ; Sroolt or Black Fin ; Grilse ; Salmon. 
 
 Fin-rays.— Dorsal, 13 ; Pectoral, 12 ; Ventral, 9 ; Anal, 9 ; Caudal, 
 19.—Vertebrce, 60. 
 
 Generic Characters. — Head smooth ; body covered with scales ; two 
 dorsal fins, the first supported by rays, the second fleshy, without 
 rays ; teeth on the vomer, both palatine bones, and all the maxil- 
 lary bones ; branchiostegous rays varying in number, generally from 
 ten to twelve, but sometimes unequal on the two sides of the head 
 pf tlie sa.me fish, — Yarrell, vol. ii. p. 1. 
 
126 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 Among objects closely associated with the sublime and 
 beautiful, I cannot help classing the noble fish of which it 
 is my purpose to treat in the following pages. The elegance 
 of its form, the justness of its proportions, its glittering and 
 gorgeous apparel, all entitle it to rank loftily in the scale of 
 beauty, while its size and noble bearing, its strength and 
 velocity, the rocks, torrents, and whirlpools among which it 
 glides familiar, unite, in some degree, 'to elevate its preten- 
 sions and give it place withal amid creations of sublimity. 
 That it- stands unrivalled among the variety of fishes, ex- 
 tending to many hundreds in number, which inhabit the 
 flood, there can be little question. The dolphin, famed in 
 poetry, whose glowing surface may be termed the pallet of 
 nature, the mullet, the opah or king-fish, the carp, dorie, 
 and sturgeon, all yield before it the submissive palm. Nor 
 is it undistinguished, independent of its shape and beauty, 
 by certain instincts and properties, which elevate it still 
 higher above the rest of the finny tribes. 
 
 One of these, the foremost in rank, is the freedom it 
 possesses of transporting itself from the saline abysses of 
 ocean into rivers and lakes — the capability, in fact, of exist- 
 ing and enjoying its existence within two distinct media, 
 differing from each other in taste, in gravity, in motion, 
 and in produce. Certain fish, it is true, such as sturgeon 
 and mullet, eels and flounders, forsake, like the salmon, 
 their sea-haunts and betake themselves into fresh water ; 
 yet never do we hear of these or any others penetrating far 
 inland and overcoming the strong currents and rapids with 
 which many rivers abound in the upper districts. To the 
 salmon alone this capacity belongs, and is exercised by its 
 several species, in degrees apportioned to their strength 
 and inclinations. For instance, the eriox or bull-trout, one 
 of these species which, although seldom attaining the size 
 of the full-grown solar, is on the whole a more powerful 
 and venturesome flsh, becomes led by its instincts to the 
 very heads and sources of the rivers it frequents, and is 
 sometimes found shedding its spawn in feeders where it is 
 scarcely able to turn itself. 
 
 Among those peculiarities which distinguish the salmon 
 tribe (salmonidcej from other flshes, I shall also take notice 
 of the pink or reddish colour of its flesh — a distinction 
 which, to the best of my knowledge, it holds in common 
 v^ith Rone of the finny creation, Several naturalists ascribe 
 
COLOUR OR COMPLEXION. 127 
 
 this colour or complexion to the description of food upon 
 which it subsists in the salt water. Dr. Knox holds, that it 
 is derived from the ova of various kinds of echinodermata 
 and some of the Crustacea, endowed, for so his theory leads 
 one to presume, with the virtues of cochineal. Others 
 again affirm that it is induced by a species of sea-weed, al- 
 though they prudently forbear condescending any further 
 upon the matter. Without altogether rejecting such 
 opinions as incorrect, I cannot help asking how it happens 
 that, in a,bsence of all marine sustenance whatsoever, trout 
 and charr (themselves, it is true, belonging to the same 
 family, but inhabiting fresh-water lakes and streams) ac- 
 quire, in many instances, the hue referred to ? That it 
 proceeds in their case, as well as that of the marine salmon, 
 from some virtue or peculiarity in the food supplied by 
 them, is very possible. To all who have studied the 
 habits and nature of the fario or common fresh-water 
 trout, it is well known that its internal colour is largely 
 affected by the quality of its subsistence, and that this fish, 
 when taken from a river or streamlet (where, if suflPered to 
 remain season after season, it would assume no tinge of 
 redness whatsoever), and transferred to a lake or pond con- 
 taining marl or other rich food, speedily acquires the. high 
 complexion in question, independent of other changes else- 
 where dilated on. 
 
 This is true, but there is nothing connected with the 
 transformation spoken of to be traced to the fish itself — 
 no inherent tendency, analogous to that which flowers 
 possess, to disclose, under certain circumstances, a particular 
 hue or tinge of colour ? They, too (flowers), depend, to 
 some extent, for their tints and richness of bloom to the 
 sustenance they are supplied with, or, what is the same 
 thing, to the soils and climates, the manures and moistures 
 which nourish and refresh them. Still this susten- 
 ance is in no case the direct occasion of any particular hue 
 disclosed by the blossom, otherwise in plants that live on 
 the same chemical substances, and are reared together on 
 the same soil, the tints and colours unfolded would always 
 be the same, without the possibility of their varying; 
 wtereas, it is well known this is not the case, every plant 
 possessing a virtue of its own, which is the secret or origin 
 of its colour, although acted upon in many instances, as 
 florists inform us, by change of circumstances. What J 
 
128 THE ANGLER'S- COMPANION. 
 
 have stated in respect to flowers holds good also as regards 
 trout and salmon. The kind and quality of their food 
 contribute, no doubt, to bring out or exclude the colour 
 spoken of, but this colour is one that really appertains to 
 the fish, and is by no means derived from the sustenance 
 taken by it. Were this the case, perch and other fresh- 
 water fishes, subsisting on the same kinds of food that 
 trout do, would frequently, like them, acquire the pink or 
 red colour spoken of. 
 
 Of whatever force these observations are as respects the 
 question at issue, one thing is clear, that the salmon proper, 
 whether they derive their high colour from marine susten- 
 ance or not, are possessed of it in common with fresh- 
 water trout and charr, fishes that have no access to the 
 aliment mentioned by Dr. Knox and other naturalists. I 
 may also state a fact well known on Tweedside, and bear- 
 ing upon the matter in hand, namely, that although salmon, 
 after their entrance into fresh water, do undoubtedly, after 
 a time, lose a portion of their high colour, in the same 
 manner as trout and charr do, on becoming what is 
 technically called foul ; yet, as is well known, this property 
 is, to some extent, recovered by them after parting with 
 their spawn or milt, before returning to the sea as kelts. 
 
 In reality, however, this question is one of no great 
 esteem or consequence; nor do I believe it to be so re- 
 garded, even by those whose assertions have given rise to 
 it; their sole motive being, by such random and hap- 
 hazard affirmations, to throw light upon the still unsettled 
 question with respect to the food of salmon. 
 
 Having thus briefly treated of the leading peculiarities 
 which distinguish this fish, namely, its adaptation equally 
 to fresh and salt water, and the high colour that character- 
 ises its fleshy particles, I may now venture to unfold my 
 own views on so speculative a subject as the food of 
 salmon. That it has, like many other fishes, including even 
 the vast and unwieldly whale, the power of sustaining 
 existence upon very minute particles of food, I have no 
 intention of questioning ; nay, that it is very possible for 
 it to acquire its bulk and delicate richness from aliment, to 
 our ideas so scant and precarious as marine animalculse 
 cannot be denied; still, before positively deciding the 
 matter, and leaping to a conclusion, tlie sole basis of which 
 is vague and fictitious, there cap be po harm ii; cjemanding 
 
STRUCTURE OF THE FISH. 129 
 
 one moment's investigation of those parts in the structure 
 o£ the fish, which are adapted by Providence for the seizure 
 and engulfment of its prey. 
 
 The salmon, as is well known, is furnished with strong 
 jaws or mandibles — a mouth somewhat capacious, and 
 armed, as well as the tongue, with sharp teeth. It pos- 
 sesses moreover a broad gullet, capable of passing at one 
 gulp no inconsiderable quantity of food. Provided with 
 these powers and functions, it is at least reasonable to sup- 
 pose that the inclination to use them is not withheld from 
 their possessor. Were it otherwise, there is evidently a 
 flaw in the works of Nature — a breaking up of the harmony 
 hitherto found so consistent and universal throughout her 
 multifarious arrangements. To aflSrm that the powerful 
 jaws, the firm-set teeth, and the expansive throat of the 
 salmon, are, one and all, allotted it without the will to 
 exercise them, or what is the same thing, without a pur- 
 pose, is not less than to assert that Providence allows the 
 existence of anomalies among His works; that, in fact, 
 there is a defect, as palpable as our senses can make it, in 
 the system of creation. Such is the ultimate conclusion 
 we lead their own arguments to bring them to, who give 
 out that the chief sustenance of the salmon consists of 
 marine insects and ova, too minute for the naked eye to 
 discover. That it jars equally against truth, reason, and 
 experience will be acknowledged by all; nor need I, in 
 order further to expose its absurdity, do more than ' call 
 attention to the fact, that Nature, in no other instance that 
 I can bring to mind, hath been accused of the like incon- 
 sistency or mal-organisation in her structure, but rather, in 
 all ages and among all nations, though most powerfully 
 among the most civilised, hath excited wonder, too deep for 
 utterance, by the singular adaptation of portion to portion, 
 which is manifest throughout her works, as well as by 
 their endless variety, their striking utility, and the har- 
 monious spirit which reigns among them ; — so harmonious 
 and yet so needful, that were an atom of this globe to be- 
 come defective or extinct, nay, drawn out merely by an 
 angel's hand, from the attractive sphere of what remains, 
 who dares question, but that the fine balance of earth 
 would be thereby destroyed — its pillars misplaced — its cor- 
 nice broken — its whole fabric shattered and dissolved? 
 
 I shall now proceed to relate what has fallen, from time 
 
130 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 to time, under my personal observation, in regard to the 
 marine food of the salmon ; following up what I have to 
 state with a few quotations from various ichthyologists, 
 corroborative, in some measure, of my own opinion on this 
 subject. One instance, impressed on my recollection, is of 
 date 10th June, 1836, and occurred not far from the mouth 
 of Nairn water, which discharges itself at the town of Nairn 
 into the Moray Frith. The northern coasts of Scotland, 
 both on the west and east sides, are, at the period of the 
 year I refer to, frequented by immense shoals of young 
 herring, smaller even than those known by the denomina- 
 tion of garvies ; many of them not measuring above an inch 
 and a half in length. It is worthy too of remark, that at 
 this season, the friths and bays abound, seemingly more 
 than usual, with different varieties of the salmon tribe, such 
 especially as are recognised under the somewhat general 
 title of sea-trout. Whether or no, these fish are in reality 
 more plentiful in such localities, during the summer months, 
 crowding shorewards from the deep and distant haunts, to 
 which some suppose they betake themselves on descending 
 from their parent streams in spring, I shall not stop at 
 present to enquire. One thing, however, is certain, that be 
 their transit like that of the woodcock or cuckoo, from 
 some clime remote, or be it only the passage of a minute 
 from the channel to the surface — from such retreats as 
 rocks and tangles afford them, to the upper layer, if I may 
 so express it, of waters ; in whatever way this point of 
 controversy remains to be settled, there is no doubt that we 
 have the most frequent opportunities, during the warm 
 months, of acquainting ourselves with several of their 
 marine habits, and among others, though perhaps in a 
 somewhat limited degree, their manner of feeding. 
 
 It is at the season alluded to, that our friths and estuaries, 
 nay, our whole range of coast waters, display, plunging and 
 disporting themselves on the surface, immense numbers of 
 the smaller species of saZmonidce, such as the sea-trout, 
 whitling, etc., enlivening the spectacle occasionally by the 
 appearance of some large salar-, whose noble form' glancing 
 for a single instant above the.lblue abyss, attracts and 
 rivets the eye of the beholder. Most curious and engaging 
 is a scene of this description, on a calm, cloudless eve, when 
 the sea-tide is flowing and almost at its full, murmuring 
 plaintively at one's feet, and presenting in front, a billowless 
 
SMOLTS OR ORANGE-FINS. 131 
 
 extent of waters, tinged in some places, by the retiring sun- 
 light, in others, and in the distance, grey and indistinct, 
 scarcely to be recognised among the hanging mists of the 
 horizon itself. Such an eve was that of the 10th day of 
 June, 1836 ; such was the appearance presented on it, along 
 the coasts of the Moray Frith, as I sauntered down to the 
 beach, rod in hand, under the expectation of alluring one or 
 more of the numerous sea-trout which, as I had anticipated, 
 were crowding in with the tide and animating the surface 
 in every possible direction. 
 
 Havingoftenbeforeheard of the capture of these fishin salt 
 water, by means of the artificial fly, under circumstances 
 precisely similar to those described, I felt naturally anxious 
 to accomplish the like feat with my own hands. On this 
 occasion, however, I was not destined to be successful, and 
 although managing now and then to heave my lure with 
 sufficient lightness and dexterity immediately over the 
 belling snouts of several prime fish which, more adventurous 
 than the main shoal, had edged themselves shoreward, to 
 within twelve yards of the margin, I found myself, never- 
 theless, wholly unable to divert the attention of any one of 
 them from the object that seemed to have pre-engaged it. 
 My success, in fact, was limited to the seizure of a few 
 smolts or orange-fins, which, as I drew in my flies, close to 
 the beach, invariably favoured me with attempts to get hold 
 of <;hem. 
 
 While engaged with fruitless endeavours to accomplish 
 my object, the peculiar surface-kissing mode in which the 
 sea-trout continued rising within cast, inciting me to per- 
 severe, I was approached by the tacksman's overseer and 
 his assistants, who with a small boat carrying their nets, 
 had sallied out, for the purpose of taking a haul or two 
 before the tide commenced ebbing, when, as might be 
 expected, the fish would retire back to a greater distance 
 from the water's edge and beyond reach of danger. Al- 
 though I generally take considerable interest in seeing a 
 net shot, when the haul is likely to prove successful, on 
 the present occasion, this interest was not a little heightened 
 by a certain degree of curiosity, with respect to the cause 
 of those belling and busy motions I had observed on tlie 
 surface, and which, from their dissimilarity to the natural 
 risings of sea-trout, when in salt water, I mentally attri- 
 buted to the circumstance of their being on the feed ; 
 
132 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 although, as to the kind and character of the food itself, I 
 abstained, at the moment, from forming any conjectures. 
 
 Upon this point, however, the first draught of the net 
 afforded me ample satisfaction. It consisted of about thirty 
 sea-trout of the white and grey kinds, averaging from a 
 pound and a half to three pounds each. These, or a great 
 number of them, immediately on being hauled to shore, 
 disgorged from their maws individuals of the herring tribe, 
 measuring about an inch and a half in length. In one or 
 two cases, the trout seemed literally crammed with this 
 sort of food. I took five or six specimens out of the mouth 
 of a single fish. So far, for the first haul of the net or 
 seine. The next, which was more judiciouslj'' effected, dis- 
 covered no less than seventy or eighty sea-trout, among 
 which lay enthralled a prime and beautiful salmon, sixteen 
 pounds in weight. An examination of the mouth of this 
 monster, for so it seemed, in comparison with those beside 
 it, Convinced me that it too had partaken of the feast. It 
 was in the act of swallowing, or what was as likely, that of 
 disgorging three entire fry or soil, the latter being a name 
 commonly given to the young of the herring, in many parts 
 of Scotland. Here there was no deception — no possibility 
 of mistake : the fish in question had evidently mingled 
 with the others of smaller species, for the purpose of feed- 
 ing upon these infant coasters, and in order, moreover, to 
 gratify this predatory instinct, had approached within a 
 stone's throw of the beach, where, as I have just related, it 
 was taken, to use a worn-out phrase, red-handed, or in 
 the act. 
 
 With regard to what has subsequently fallen under my 
 observation, confirming the notion here contended for, that 
 salmon, during their marine state of existence, subsist 
 largely upon small fishes and such sorts of food as are more 
 adapted to the structure of their mouths and their powers 
 of aggression than minute insects or ova, I think it un- 
 necessary to enter into close detail, and shall only state, 
 that, while residing at Nairn, I had several opportunities of 
 witnessing proofs of the habits of these fish, while in salt 
 Water, similar to the one above enlarged upon. Most of 
 these, however, I am forward to confess, related to the 
 lesser species of the genus sahno, such as sea-trout and 
 finnocks. The latter, for instance, I remember on more 
 occasions than one, to have caught while angling near the 
 
MARINE FOOD OF SALMON. 133 
 
 entrance o£ the river with their mouths and stomachs filled 
 ■with small herrings, sprats, or sand-eels. They had come 
 up on the tide, as was evident from the numbers and 
 tenacity of the sea-lice that adhered to them, and in all 
 likelihood, would have returned on it, to the salt water, 
 had I not thus intercepted them, for as is well known with 
 respect to the finnock of our northern rivers, it is not a fish 
 which at any time roams far inland, neither is it one which 
 ascends solely for the purpose of spawning, seeing that it 
 frequently exhibits on its appearance in fresh water a 
 remarkable backwardness, if not deficiency, in its genera- 
 tive dispositions. But of this I shall take notice at more 
 length, when I come to treat of it separately, as one of the 
 salmon species. 
 
 Meanwhile, in reference to the marine food of salmon, I 
 may further, in confirmation of what I have myself ob- 
 served, quote the opinions of well-known ichthyologists on 
 the subject. Mr. Yarrell, in his "History of British 
 Fishes," vol. ii., p. 17, observes — " That the salmon is a 
 voracious feeder may be safely inferred from the degree of 
 perfection in the arrangement of the teeth, and from its 
 own habits, of which proof willl)e adduced, as well as from 
 the well-known habits of the species more closely allied to 
 it ; yet of the many observers who have examined the 
 stomach of the salmon, to ascertain the exact nature of that 
 food which must constitute its principal support, few have 
 been able to satisfy themselves." 
 
 He then goes on to quote the opinion of Dr. Knox, and 
 observes in allusion to it — "That they occasionally take 
 other food, is well known." Faber, in his " Natural History 
 of the fishes of Ireland," remarks, " The common salmon 
 feeds on small fishes and various small marine animals.'' Dr. 
 Fleming says, " Their favourite food is the sand-eel," and I 
 have myself taken the remains of sand-launce from the 
 stomach. Sir. William Jardine says, " In the north of 
 Sutherland, a mode of fishing for salmon is sometimes 
 successfully practised, in the firths, where sand-eels are used 
 as bait ; a line is attached to a buoy or bladder and allowed 
 to float with the tide up the narrow estuaries. The salmon 
 are also said to be occasionally taken at the lines set for 
 haddocks, baited with sand-eels." 
 
 I recollect seeing a fish 10 pounds in weight, of the solar 
 species, which was taken in this way off the coast of 
 
 9 
 
134 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 Cromarty, during the winter of 1836, the bait used being 
 part of a garvie or small herring. At the mouths of rivers 
 they rise freely at the artificial fly within fifty yards of the 
 sea, and the common earth-worm is a deadly bait for the 
 clear salmon. All other marine salmon are known to be 
 very voracious, and there is nothing in the structure of the 
 mouth or strong teeth of the common salmon to warrant us 
 to suppose that there is any material difference in their food. 
 In reference also to the sea-trout, Sir. W. Jardine, as quoted 
 by Mr. Yarrell, adduces the following remarkable circum- 
 stance : — " When angled for in the estuaries with the or- 
 dinary flies which are used in the rivers of the south foi 
 grilse, these fish rose and took so eagerly that thirty-four 
 were the produce of one rod engaged for about an hour and 
 a half." Although personally I have never had the good 
 hap to kill above one or two sea-trout with fly in salt water; 
 of course, I do not include salmon fry or small finnocks, yet 
 from the appearance which these fish present at certain 
 seasons, on our coasts, I can readily give credence to the feat 
 above related, whether performed by Sir. W. himself, or 
 under his superintendence as an eye-witness. With regard 
 to the common earth-worm as a bait for ^sea-trout, I have 
 ample authority for stating that it is employed as such, with 
 success, by the inhabitants of some of the Shetland islands, 
 who in using it resort at full tide to the cliffs and rocks, 
 remote, in many instances, from a discharge or breeding 
 stream, and angle with line and float as one would do for 
 perch and other fresh-water fish. 
 
 I have been told also by an excellent angler who has fished 
 a good deal in Norway, that, on one of its numerous fiords, 
 when the tide was ebbing at a prodigious rate, he on several 
 occasions caught, with a salmon fly having its wings tied 
 down over the bend of the hook, both sea-trout and grilses, 
 the depth of water where they rose being upwards of a 
 hundred fathoms. These fish were evidently near the 
 surface, on the outlook for fry of some description. 
 
FINNOCK OR HERLING. 135 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SEA-TROUT. 
 
 The Eriox or Bull-Trout — Its Size and Strength — Abounds in the 
 Tweed — ^Its Instincts and Voracity — Distinguished from the 
 SaJcM-— The Whitling— Error with Regard to it— The Finnook — Its 
 Habits — Silver-white of Tweed — Herlings and Bills — Bull-Trout 
 of Tarras — Norway Salmon — ^Increase of the Eriox in Tweed. 
 
 Under the general term sea-trout, are included the salmo 
 eriox, or bull-trout ; the saMio trutta, or salmon trout ; and 
 the salmo alhm, a designation given hy Dr. Fleming to the 
 Finnock or Herling. The salmo erioai, or bull-trout, is a 
 fish well known to Tweed anglers. It attains occasionally 
 a large size. I once saw an individual, taken out of the 
 river Carron, in Ross-shire, which weighed upwards o£ 
 twenty-four pounds. They have been caught in Tweed a 
 stone weight, and I have frequently, when rod-fishing, 
 killed them weighing eight pounds. They ascend in scanty 
 numbers during the spring and summer seasons, but are 
 then in excellent condition. On the whole, however, they 
 are a coarse fish, when compared with the salar, or salmon 
 proper. They want the same richness of taste ; and the 
 internal colour of the flesh is much fainter and less inviting. 
 Still there is no fish that I know of which aiFords, on being 
 hooked, such sport to the angler. In proportion to their 
 size, they are much stronger and more wayward in their 
 movements than the salmon, and test to a greater extent 
 the sufficiency of the tackle. Although, as I have men- 
 tioned, comparatively scanty during the spring and sum- 
 mer seasons, they ascend the river, on the occurrence of a 
 flood, in enormous quantities, at a later period of the year. 
 Betwixt the middle of October, when the net-fishings close, 
 and end of November, I have no doubt that, in ordinary 
 seasons, fully a million of these fish enter Tweed, and push 
 upward to the very sources of its tributaries and their 
 feeders. I have seen them, weighing five or six pounds, 
 taken by means of the leister, out of insignificant burns 
 close to Mosspaul ; I have known them to. be captured, by 
 the score, in the upper portions of the main river, of Lyne, 
 
136 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 Manor, Gala, Yarrow, Ettrick, and Leader, sometimes in 
 mere threads of water connected with these streams. They 
 frequent the Ale, Kale, and Oxnam running into Teviot. 
 They ascend the Till and Whitadder, wending their way 
 around the bases of Cheviot and into the heart of the 
 Lammermuirs. 
 
 During these journeys, which are undertaken for the 
 purpose of spawning, the bull-trout, unlike the salmon, is 
 not content to fast, as it proceeds. It is evidently a fish of 
 great voracity, but endowed with strong instincts and per- 
 ceptions. In the very heat of its progress, it may be 
 enticed readily to the hook, by means of salmon roe em- 
 ployed as a bait, especially on a cold day and when the 
 water is large and discoloured. Its sense of smell, in 
 common with that of the river-trout and whitling, is so 
 delicate as to occasion the detection of the above-mentioned 
 bait, at the distance of many yards, and in a favourable 
 state of water, it will seldom refuse it. I have known of as 
 many as twenty fish of this description, weighing on the 
 average three pounds a-piece, having been taken, by means 
 of a single rod, and in the course of a few hours, from 
 Tweed, all of which were on the run upwards, as, on oc- 
 casions of this sort, is indicated by their coming to the 
 surface every now and then. At the period referred to, 
 although frequently they exhibit an attractive appearance 
 externally, the bull-trout, with few exceptions, are very in- 
 ferior as food, and contain large quantities of roe. The 
 kipper fish, however, being in a more backward state of 
 maturity, are. sometimes presentable enough. 
 
 The bull-trout is distinguished from the salmon by the 
 number of maculae on its gill cover ; the salmon or grilse 
 seldom exhibiting above one or two spots on that part of 
 the head. It is also more plentifully strewn with spots on 
 the back, shoulders, and upper portion of the flank ; the 
 teeth are long and strongly formed, the tail square and ex- 
 pansive, and the scales, which are much smaller in pro- 
 portion than those of the salar, adhere tenaciously to the 
 skin. 
 
 Mr. Yarrell says, that during its second year, it is termed 
 a whitling in the Tweed. By many fishermen it certainly 
 is so, but quite erroneously. What I have always regarded 
 as a whitling, and what others in common with myself hold 
 as such, diflFers in many respects from the bull-trout. It 
 
St2E AND STRENGTa 137 
 
 agrees, in fact, more with Mr. Yarrell's description of the 
 salmo irutta. Its tail is forked, its mouth tender and 
 armed with small teeth; the spots on the gill cover are 
 silvered over, or but faintly marked in comparison with 
 those of the eriox ; the ones on the back, shoulders) and 
 upper portion of the flank are few, and occupy a lighter 
 ground, while the scales, in proportion, are much larger, 
 and less tenacious. Besides, a great number of these fish, 
 which weigh, generally speaking, from a pound to three 
 pounds, ascend Tweed in June and July, — tlie run of bull- 
 trouts during the above months being comparatively scant. 
 Quantities also make their appearance after the removal of 
 the nets, and I have frequently captured, by means of the 
 salmon roe, whitlings and bull-trout, on the same occasion, 
 the former equalling the latter in point of size. There is 
 another distinguishing peculiarity in the whitling, namely, 
 that its flesh is much redder and better flavoured than that 
 of the eriox. It occasionally also, like the latter fish, attains 
 large dimensions, without losing any of its characteristic 
 features, except, as in the case of the grilse on becoming a 
 salmon, the tail acquires more squareness, its central rays 
 lengthening as the fish advances in age. 
 
 The finnock or herling is included by Dr. Fleming among 
 the difierent species of sea-trout, under the designation of 
 the salmo alhus. I have been fortunate enor^gh to have 
 had an opportunity of capturing this fish, or one answering 
 in some degree to its description in various rivers in 
 diflFerent parts of Scotland. I have taken it in Ross-shire, 
 in the Conan and the Carron; the one discharging its 
 waters into the Cromarty Firth, near Dingwall, on the east 
 coast ; the other into Loch Carron above Jean-town, on the 
 west coast. I have caught it over and over again, in the 
 Nairn, the Ness, as well as in the Findhom. I have also 
 angled for it successfully in the Loehie, and other streams 
 in the Western Highlands, and I have taken it under 
 another denomination, from Tweed, and the Esk above 
 Langholm ; in which two. last-mentioned rivers, it is 
 severally designated the silver-white, and the herling, 
 whiten, or bill, a bill being the term applied to it when 
 in breeding condition. 
 
 That the finnock of the north of Scotland is the same fish, 
 at an earlier stage of existence, as the whitling or salmo 
 trutta, there can be little question. Every feature in its 
 
138 THE ANGLER'S COMtANtoM., 
 
 external appearance assists to prove this, and I am quite 
 satisfied, from what I observed some years ago while resid- 
 ing on the Moray Firth, that such is the case. The habits of 
 the finnock on the Nairn water, near which I lived, disclosed 
 to me, however, one peculiarity which distinguishes it in 
 some measure from the herling or bill of the Dumfries- 
 shire rivers, not certainly from the silver-white of Tweed, 
 which, in the point I allude to, greatly resembles it. It was 
 this, that a large proportion of these fish entered the river 
 and remained there for weeks without spawning, or even 
 discovering any tendency or fitness to do so. I have caught 
 several of them in good edible condition, as early as the 
 first of February, at a period when the river swarmed with 
 kelts of all descriptions, and continued to take them through- 
 out that month, as well as March and April. They had 
 entered the fresh water, -many of them, I have reason to 
 conclude, the previous autumn, and seeing they had done so 
 not as breeding fish, had retained, in a large measure, their 
 condition and edible properties. I may mention, however, 
 that I seldom caught them in this state above three miles 
 from the river's mouth, so that it is possible enough, during 
 the months I refer to, they had ascended direct from the 
 salt water, or kept moving to and fro, betwixt it and the 
 river, as tides and floods assisted them. This however, is 
 mere conjecture, for I am rather inclined to think they had 
 located themselves in the Nairn, during the previous season, 
 preferring it as a harbour of shelter in winter, to the furious 
 billows of the German Ocean. 
 
 The silver-white of Tweed also, which is closely assi- 
 milated in external appearance to the finnock, I have cap- 
 tured in good condition during the spring season and when 
 the river abounded in kelts. The silver-white is by no 
 means an abundant fish in Tweed, in comparison at least to 
 the finnock in our northern waters. They are more numer- 
 ous, however, some seasons than others. In 1846 this 
 was particularly the case. They exceeded in numbers 
 that year what I ever recollect them to have been, and I 
 frequently, in the month of October, captured four or five 
 in a forenoon. These were all in good condition, lively on 
 the hook, red-fleshed and well-flavoured at table. 
 
 Early in November, in the same year, I had occasion to 
 pay a visit to a friend in Dumfries-shire, who resided on 
 the Esk, some miles above Langholm, and within a stone's 
 
SKELLIES OR CHUB. 139 
 
 cast of the river. Wishing to test the attractive power of 
 salmon roe in that stream, I sallied out one forenoon, rod in 
 hand, to a spot called the Maiden Pool, and had the grati- 
 fication, in the course of two or three Lours, to capture 
 several skellies or chub, one of great size, above two dozen 
 fresh-water trout, and seven or eight bills or foul herlings. 
 Next day, with the salmon-fly, I caught three more of these 
 last-mentioned fish. Of all the bills taken by me not one 
 weighed half-a-pound, and without a single exception, they 
 were kelted females. Externally, a few of them were black 
 and of loathsome appearance, but the generahty, although 
 lank, large-headed, and loose in the scale, retained their 
 silvery coating. The question naturally occurring to me, 
 on the capture of those fish was, are the bills or herlings of 
 common species with the finnock or silver-white ? Here 
 they were, at the same period of the year, in very different 
 condition from the latter. (What the finnock is, in this 
 respect, at the season referred to, I never had a fair oppor- 
 tunity of ascertaining, the close-time on our northern rivers 
 commencing on the 14th September, but judging from what 
 I have related, as occurring early in spring, on the Nairn 
 water, I draw the' inference that many of this tribe retain 
 their condition during winter). On examining them 
 minutely, I descried two distinct varieties, one plentifully 
 spotted on the back, shoulders, and flanks, like the bull- 
 trout ; the other, the true herling, having the maculae thinly 
 distributed, the scales silvery and easily separated from the 
 skin, the head small and delicately formed. 
 
 The Esk, above Langholm, by no means excels as an 
 angling stream. It contains few yellow trout, there termed 
 eldrins, and these of small size, seldom weighing half-a- 
 pound, — some scattered troops of skellies or chub, and is 
 visited, moreover, by a scant and straggling supply of 
 salmon, few of which, after wending their way upwards, 
 are allowed time to aifect a deposit of their spawn, but 
 become slaughtered, without mercy, by the ruthless 
 leisterer. In summer, before they commence their ascent, 
 a few sea-trout answering the description of whitlings, and 
 weighing from one to three pounds, push their way up and 
 generally meet with the same fate as the autumnal fish. 
 After them, in July and August, succeed the herlings, and 
 lastly, the bills or bulls. These latter, as well as the 
 herlings, were wont to be destroyed in great numbers 
 
140 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 below Langholm, by means of the pout-nets. This destruc- 
 tion, however through the medium of the Earl of Minto's 
 Act, was in 1846, put a stop to, and in consequence, the bills 
 were more abundant than usual in the upper part of the 
 river. 
 
 Although the bills, on a small scale, may be held to 
 resemble them, the Esk contains no fish answering the 
 description of the Tweed bull-trout, and I make no question, 
 judging Trom this circumstance, that the far-famed bull- 
 trout of Tarras, a tributary of the Esk, were merely bills, 
 and when " ta'en in season," herlings or whitens, the latter 
 being another local name for the same description of fish. 
 This is certain, that Tarras, in the present day, is not 
 resorted to by sea-trout of any magnitude, while its fresh- 
 water breed lays claim to no manner of superiority. The 
 eriox or bull-trout proper is not, however, a stranger in the 
 Solway Firth. It ascends Annan, where it is called a 
 round-tail by the fishermen. Mr. Yarrell mentions that it 
 is to this species, " that the names of Norway trout and Nor- 
 way salmon are believed to refer, as used occasionally in 
 Tweed and some of the northern parts of Scotland." I 
 recollect recognising the bull-trout, a few years ago, in 
 Edinburgh, as forming the bulky part of an importation 
 of what were termed kippered Norwegian salmon. 
 
 As some have conjectured the bull-trout to be a hybrid 
 or breed betwixt the salmon and common river-trout (a 
 supposition which the fact of its possessing the generative 
 power in all its completeness sufiiciently disposes of), I may 
 mention that it is, comparatively speaking, a recent invader 
 of our border river. The old fishermen affirm that, thirty 
 years ago it was looked upon as a rare fish ; this being the 
 case, at a period when both salmon and river-trout were 
 fully as abundant as at present, it requires no further proof 
 in order to set aside the conjecture as far-fetched and 
 irrational. 
 
FLIES IN SALMON-FISHING. 141 
 
 CHAPTEB XL 
 
 SALMON FLIES. 
 
 PowBK of a Salmon to Distinguish the Colours of a Fly- Hook. — Its 
 Caprice and Fanciful Tastes.— Irish Fly-Hooks. — Modern Refine- 
 ment in Regard to Salmon Flies. — Lists of Approved Salmon 
 Flies. — Adapting Them to Difierent Rivers. 
 
 I KECOLLECT, several years ago, meeting with a well-known 
 landed proprietor in the north of Scotland, and the posses.sor 
 on both sides of a noted salmon-river, who, being an angler 
 in his own time and way, took it into his head to use no 
 flies in salmon-fishing but such as were made up with 
 materials of a white colour. This, he did upon the advice, 
 or in approval of the theory of a celebrated optician, who 
 affirms that the position of the fish underneath, with regard 
 to a fly traversing the surface, prevents it altogether from 
 distinguishing the colour of the insect, its visual organs in 
 this respect being acted upon by the superincumbent light 
 of day, and so contracted in power as to be able merely to 
 recognise the shape of its prey. That this theory is correct, 
 I am very much inclined to doubt, and so I think would 
 most anglers be, whether on Tweedside or elsewhere. Still, 
 the individual alluded to, notwithstanding his whimsical 
 assortment of flies, one and all, though varying in respect 
 of magnitude, being composed of snow-white dubbing and 
 hackles, silver twist, and portions of the pencilled wing 
 feather taken from the silver pheasant, was no unsuccessful 
 angler ; and although occasionally competed with by one of 
 the ablest craftsmen in the district, whose notions regarding 
 the visual perceptions of fish were perfectly different, and 
 who actually took pleasure in using flies of the opposite 
 colour, managed generally to bear off" the palm. 
 
 Now, independent altogether of the views taken by the 
 gentleman in question, and of the reasons assigned by him 
 for his capricious usage, I hold this fact to be worthy of 
 some attention ; the more especially, as certain deductions 
 from it, which I shall immediately set forth, are fortified 
 by other occurrences in the history of fly-fishing as singular, 
 
142 THfi ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 and in some respects more inexplicable. These additional 
 facts may be all clumped together in one statement ; and 
 as, individually, they are well known, I shall be at no pains 
 to separate or particularise them. They consist of the 
 proofs daily recurring in the experience of salmon-fishers, 
 with respect to a fanciful taste as regards flies, naturally 
 possessed by the fish or inherent in it. A general instance 
 of this develops itself in the well-known circumstance that 
 salmon, in the lower parts of Tweed, are not now to be 
 allured with any degree of readiness by mfeans of the same 
 colours and descriptions of flies as those successfully em- 
 ployed against them twenty or thirty years ago. At that 
 not very distant period, they were wont to be taken only 
 by a limited variety of hooks ; on few occasions did the 
 angler venture to experimentalise with any others ; he 
 repudiated, above all, those gaudy lures which are now 
 found to be so killing, and looked with strange distrust 
 upon any Irish innovation — concoctions of foreign feathers 
 and highly-stained hackles. Nor, as some of this passing 
 school continue to assert, were the flsh themselves a whit 
 less capricious, but shared to a tittle the prejudices and 
 suspicions of the angler, refusing the rich yellow of the 
 golden pheasant, the orange of the toucan, the cserulean of 
 the blue lowrie, the green of the trogon, the crimson of the 
 parroquet, and even those magical fibres which gleam 
 on the much-prized tail-feather of the blue /and buff 
 macaw. 
 
 Salmon were then, like our sage and grey-haired fore- 
 fathers, of sober tastes and simple habits — content with 
 fare of the homeliest description, and scornful of new- 
 fangled delicacies, gilded tit-bits, and savoury provoca- 
 tives. They esteemed the speckled feather or white tip of 
 some strutting turkey, the dun plume of the gledd or 
 buzzard, select filchings from the maldrake, teal, or widgeon, 
 along with twitches of home-dyed wool, rough barn-fowl 
 hackles, and the threads of an old service- worn epaulette, 
 better than the combined luxuries of Mexico, the Indies, and 
 New Holland. 
 
 Thou silver-headed angler ! canst tell of these better and 
 less degenerate days ? Thy feats are all registered within 
 thee, and that lack-lustre e3'e regains its olden fire when, 
 with hand outstretched, thou recountest the capture of 
 some goodly fish, the sojourner once of yonder pool whose 
 
A DOLT OF A KELT. 1^3 
 
 runs and careerings are to-day as deeply traced on thy 
 memory as if the sward that bears thee were still red and 
 moistened with its hlood. Answer me, — where in thy day 
 was the doctor ? where the parson ? where the butcher ? 
 where the Childers ? where, in short, all those prismatic 
 rarities that stock so amply the tin and vellum of a 
 modern salmon-fisher ? You possessed them not. It was 
 neither your wish nor your interest to employ them. They 
 were harmful to the salmon in so far only as they alarmed 
 and annoyed it ; and if now and then, in the hands of 
 a stranger, they should chance to draw blood, a dolt of a 
 kelt was at best the only victim. 
 
 I am only, reader, stating a well-known fact, when I 
 affirm that in the time I allude to, the salmon-fishers on 
 Tweedside not only held what is called the Irish fly in 
 absolute ridicule, but actually forbade the use of it on 
 those portions of the river they individually rented ; and 
 this they did, not because they deemed it too deadly for 
 everyday use, but solely because they conceived it acted 
 as a kind of bug-bear to the fish, scaring them from their 
 accustomed haunts and resting spots. And, indeed, it is 
 only gradually that in the lower part of the district I allude 
 to, a complete change has been effected in the matter of 
 flies. Not absolutely discarding the old standard and 
 local lures, modern anglers have introduced into their stock 
 at least a thousand and one other varieties, all dignified with 
 the name of killers, yet no single fly-hook resembling any 
 known insect, bird, or other animal. For every season and 
 month, for all hours of the day, for all changes of weather, 
 for waters low, flooded, or in mid state, sunned or clouded, 
 deep or shallow, streamy, wind-ruffled or still, icy-cold or 
 at blood-heat, black or clear, leaf-strewn or otherwise, they 
 have a peculiar and favourite lure ; nay, were it possible, 
 by some adaptation of phosphorus, to cause hooks to reveal 
 their trimming in the dark, no doubt a nocturnal assort- 
 ment would become added, possessed as became it, of all 
 the powers of diablerie and witchcraft. 
 
 I go back to ask, what are the deductions to be drawn 
 from all I have instanced ? Was the bygone school of 
 salmon-fishers a humbug ? Is the modern one less so ? 
 Can the disciples of either unfold anything which was not 
 as well known in the days of Agricola, as it is now ? 
 Seriously speaking, are the tastes and habits of the salmon, 
 
144 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 as some assert, of a revolving nature ? Is the fish too, so 
 capricious, that a single fibre wanting in the lure, a mis- 
 placed wing, a wrongly assorted hue, will discompose and 
 annoy it ? Such questions I leave to be answered by wiser 
 anglers than myself. Tbey search too deeply into the 
 philosophy of the art to obtain their reply from one so im- 
 perfectly versed in it, nor does it render the task less 
 arduous were I to comprehend them all under the single 
 query — can the principle upon which salmon in certain 
 waters accommodate themselves to certain colours in the 
 fly be regulated or explained ? 
 
 From this dark, insoluble, and thoroughly speculative 
 subject, it is high time to retire. My apology for intro- 
 ducing it at all rests on the desire I have to discover to 
 those who make of it a matter of argument, the absurdities 
 they are liable to run into. There is, I cannot help think- 
 ing, a great deal of prejudice, self-conceit, and humbng 
 exhibited by salmon-fishers generally with respect to their 
 flies — a monstrous mass of nonsense hoarded up by the 
 best of them, and opinions .held quite at variance with 
 reason and common-sense. I will not go so far as to assert, 
 in relation to salmon-flies, that it would be . expedient 
 greatly to reduce their number or establish, as I have re- 
 commended to be done in regard to trouting-hooks, any limit 
 to their variety. An innovation of this sort, if proposed, 
 would, I well know, be treated with ridicule." Still, I have 
 reason to believe that the salmon is not quite so finical a 
 fish as many anglers represent it to be — that the fastidious- 
 ness is more on their part, and that, through carrying it on 
 occasions to an extreme length, they frequently accomplish 
 the very thing they are desirous of avoiding, that is, they 
 alarm instead of alluring the fish. This is exemplified very 
 often on the raising of a grilse or salmon with a particular 
 fiy. A great many anglers with whom I am acquainted 
 make it a practice never immediately to cast over the same 
 fish, with the same hook, but having started and missed 
 their game, at once to substitute another size and description 
 of fly. Now this I hold is all well enough, when a second offer 
 of the lure, due time being granted, has been made and 
 refused ; but to present to the eye of the fish, after a few 
 moments occupied in making the change, a hook of different, 
 perhaps opposite colours, must now and then inevitably 
 excite suspicion. As far as my own experience has led me 
 
SIZE OF THE HOOK. 145 
 
 to judge, I generally find that a grilse or salmon, i£ inclined 
 to rise a second time, is as ready to do so at the fly first oflfered 
 it, as at any other ; nay, I have even, on more occasions 
 than one, raised the same fish, before hooking, four or five 
 times in rapid succession with the same identical lure. Of 
 course, my doing so was more a matter of chance than good 
 guidance, and I should not, on general occasions, were I 
 fishing carefully, have encountered the risk my persever- 
 ance was likely to incur of disheartening, if not disgusting 
 the salmon. 
 
 I am of this opinion,however, talking more generally on the 
 subject, that if one only knows how to adapt the size of his 
 hook to the state of the water and season, and is acquainted 
 with two, or at most three approved-of local flies, he will 
 find it not only quite unnecessary but positively disadvan- 
 tageous to experiment upon the tastes and fancies of the 
 fish with others of a doubtful and untried nature. The 
 only occasions on which he has an excuse for doing this 
 are when the pools have been well thrashed over before 
 him by resident anglers ; nay, even then, he will find it 
 expedient in selecting a hook, not to deviate very largely 
 from the discovered likings or prejudices of the salmon fre- 
 quenting this or that locality. He never, acting otherwise, 
 can fish with any proper measure of confidence, and that 
 very fact only renders his experiment the more precari- 
 ous. 
 
 I shall now proceed, without further remark, to draw out 
 lists of the most approved Scottish salmon files, adapting 
 them severally to their appropriate rivers. I shall also in- 
 troduce into the proposed classification a limited number 
 of Irish fly-hooks, such as gradually, of late years, have been 
 adopted by our fishermen, and become of common use 
 throughout Scotland. 
 
146 
 
 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
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LISTS OF APPROVED SALMON-FLIES. 147 
 
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"EVERY MAN TO HIS TASTE." 151 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON SALMON-FISHING WITH THE FLY. 
 
 Introductory Sketch. — Salmon-Fishing Considered as a Manly Sport. 
 — !lts Practice. — Salmon Rivers. — Casts and Resorts of the Fish. — 
 Attractive Nature of Certain Rocks and Places of Shelter. — On 
 the Practice of Leistering ^Salmon. — Advice to the Angler. — 
 Throwing the Line. — Working the Line. — Depth and Distance to 
 which Salmon will come to the Lure. — Rule to be Observed on 
 Raising a Fish. — Change of Fly. — Management of a Hook and 
 Fish. — Landing, Gaffing, etc. 
 
 " Every man to his taste." For my own part, 1 would 
 sooner hook, play, and capture a clean run April fish of 
 sixteen pounds weight than follow the best fox ever tally- 
 hoed out of cover, under guidance of old Williamson^ — aye ! 
 or stalk the noblest pair of antlers reared in Glen Tilt or 
 Tor Achility. And yet, I can understand, and in some 
 degree appreciate the enthusiasm of the fox-hunter ; I can 
 share the delight afforded by a good meet in mild, open 
 weather — the assemblage of well-appointed red coats and 
 stalwart yeomen in front of some old baronial residence — 
 hounds and horses, the huntsman and the whippers-in^all 
 mixed up with the landscape — life and joy depicted on 
 every countenance — greetings and introductions passing — 
 jests and sporting phrases on the wing: I can enjoy, in 
 fancy, the ride to covert — the speedy finding of the fox — 
 the view halloo — the gallant burst — the baying of the dogs 
 — the run, spirited and brilliant, with its checks and 
 hazards, its hundred incidents ; and the death too of 
 wicked old Reynard, remote in some sheltered nook, I can 
 enjoy even it. The height of mawkish affectation it would 
 be to do otherwise. What although he has thrown out the 
 whole pack of his pursuers, save a half-dozen or so of 
 staunch old dogs, and thinned the field to a trio of red coats, 
 including the huntsman, he is but " varmint " after all, a sly, 
 sneaking thief, the despoiler of hen-houses, and devastator 
 of pheasantries. Who pities him ? who grudges these 
 panting hounds their mouthful of spite, or would rob the 
 gaUant rider of his well-earned tooth and brush ? 
 
 Deer-stalking too has its delights and inducements. A 
 manly and noble sport it is — nobler far and more kindred 
 to noble minds than fox-hunting. Well can I appreciate 
 
152 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the enthusiasm of the keen-eyed hunter, when on a 
 September morn before sunburst, he sallies forth, rifle in 
 hand, attended by a single gillie similarly armed, and hold- 
 ing in leash a powerful staghound. They have threaded 
 the valley far up to its remotest extremity, and are now 
 ascending the mountain side. ' Above them, in long wreaths, 
 the rnist is still hanging. It fills the ravines and torrent 
 courses, creeping sluggishly through them, like a thing of 
 life and feeling. For an interval, we lose sight of the deer- 
 stalkers. They are deep in the heart of the cloud, but lo ! 
 like the curtain in a theatre, up it furls, and again are they 
 descried on the highest shoulder of the mountain. The sun 
 is now out, bright and cloudless. Onward they move — still 
 onward. It is an expanse of heath that stretches before 
 them knolled here and there, and at length terminated by 
 a tarn or mountain loch, from the far margin of which rises 
 abruptly a scaur or precipitous ascent, formed partly of 
 crags and partly of loose stones. But the moor is yet to be 
 traversed — three weary miles at least. Twice, unsuccess- 
 fully, has the prospect-glass been applied to the eye of the 
 attendant — but now the halt is long, the survey steady and 
 minute. Something is discerned. The glass exchanges 
 hands. Heads are shaken, fingers pointed, the eye brightens 
 up. Far off, in the extreme of the landscape, is a speck — 
 little more than a speck. It bears to the naked vision the 
 colour of the moss ; seen through the artificial medium, it 
 resembles an animal — a jackass. But no ! the antlers (they 
 are just discernible) proclaim it to be what it really is — a 
 hart magnificent. And see, not far from it, lie couched a 
 couple of hinds. High beat the hearts of the deer-stalkers 
 and quickly is their council of war concluded. Oflf they 
 move, not forward in direct line towards the object of their 
 anxiety, but describing, as it were, part of a circle, so as to 
 meet or face the wind, and at the same time keep under 
 cover of one of the knolls or small hillocks already alluded 
 to. 
 
 At length, after much strategy, by crouching and creep- 
 ing on all fours, they gain the desired point of concealment. 
 A natural excavation or hollow it is in the moor ground, 
 half-filled with black mossy water, and lying about two 
 hundred yards in front of the deer. But see, their quarry 
 is browsing towards them. In a short time, it will approach 
 the mark. Unconscious of danger, it moves along, invited 
 
NOBLE SPORT OF SALMON-FISHING. 153 
 
 by every successive tuft of herbage to its fate. Three- 
 fourths nearly of the intervening distance have been passed 
 over, and now suddenly the animal halts, and lifting its 
 stately head snuffs the perilous air. Too late ! The mur- 
 derous barrel is on the discharge. The bullet is winging 
 its way onwards with lightning speed and unerring ac- 
 curacy. It has reached the heart of the antlered monarch. 
 A death-bound — a stagger, and all is over. The warm 
 blood gushes from the fatal orifice. The blade of the hun- 
 ter is at the throat of his victim. 
 
 I have not introduced into this cursory sketch the unleash- 
 ing of the staghound, its angry impatience, its fleet, uncon- 
 querable pace; nor have I thrown in the figure of its 
 cruelly- wounded chase, unable longer to hold ahead, yet in 
 despair and fury showing front to its savage assailant. I 
 have not described the crouching and spring of the daunt- 
 less hound, the defiant, menacing posture of the deer at bay, 
 with its fruitless attempts to ward off the fatal grasp ; all 
 this — the piteous wind-up of a more prolonged tragedy — 
 can scarcely with truth be included among the delights of 
 deer-stalking, or if ever esteemed so, it is only by the steeled 
 and semi-barbarous mind — by one of matador breed, not by 
 the sterling, generous-hearted sportsman. 
 
 Allowing to these recreations — fox-hunting and deer- 
 stalking — all they lay claim to as interesting, manly, and ex- 
 citing pastimes, I cannot help preferring to either of them — 
 indeed, to any of our national amusements whatsoever — 
 the noble sport of salmon-fishing. The others, it is true, 
 have their moments and intervals of extreme, it may be 
 thrilling, pleasure: even their blanks and disasters scarcely, 
 on some occasions, deserve the name of disappointments or 
 calamities. But there is wanting that indescribable some- 
 thing which gives its zest to the other, rendering its pursuit 
 throughout more equably pleasurable, and yet offering no 
 hindrance to higher and intenser occasions of enjoyment, 
 created, for instance, by the play and capture of some 
 vigorous and magnificent fish. 
 
 When I speak, however, of salmon-fishing, I renounce all 
 allusion to it as practised under that name by the aristo- 
 cratic frequenters of certain portions of Tweed. To those 
 who live at a distance from this river, the feats recorded 
 and vaunted of, from time to time, by these noble pisca- 
 tores, may appear, as displays of skill and ci^aft, highly 
 
154 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 creditable to the parties engaged. To the spectators o£ 
 them, they are; in many instances, next thing to farcical — 
 quite undeserving the name and character of feats of sport, 
 and, in reality, no more the achievements of those profess- 
 ing to execute them, than Punch and Judy is the veritable, 
 unassisted performance of a set of wooden puppets. 
 
 Let me describe the mode of rod-fisliing for salmon in the 
 parts of Tweed I allude to. A stretch of water, a mile or 
 two in length, and comprehending in some instances both, 
 but in more only one side of the river, is rented by a fisher- 
 man. For this he pays yearly a sum of money, varying from 
 -fifteen to seventy pounds. He has the liberty of using and 
 constructing cairns, or artificial projections, formed generally 
 of stones, stakes, and turf, to which, during small spates or 
 floods, when salmon are on the run, nets of a particular size 
 and shape can be attached. ■ He may also, in some localities 
 adapted for its use, employ the long or seine-net ; but be- 
 sides these advantages, he is empowered, generally speaking, 
 to hire out boats for the purpose of rod-angling. It is from 
 the hire of these, chiefly, that he derives his livelihood ; and 
 really, to those who have a good tack, and are of frugal 
 habits, it is no unprofitable business. The angling mania of 
 late years has arrived at such a height, that salmon-fishing 
 may truly be considered a princely amusement, to be ob- 
 tained only by gold and interest, and ranked on the same 
 footing with deer-stalking itself. It is very ±rue that the 
 j'ate of charge for a day's amusement is not what some 
 would consider absolutely exorbitant, being fixed by the 
 fisherman at ten shillings, for which sum the boat is pro- 
 vided and managed — it being understood, however, that all 
 fish caught are delivered up to the tacksman, or taken ofi' 
 his hands at market price ; but then, in order to obtain, even 
 on these terms, the boon in question, is a matter of some 
 difficulty, requiring, in many instances, the permission of 
 the proprietor as well as that of the lessee of the salmon- 
 fishing; and, at all times, made a subject of rivalry aud dis- 
 appointment. In fact, to prevent, or rather alleviate the 
 latter feeling, it is necessary, owing to the press of applicants, 
 often to engage the water many weeks before one designs 
 fishing it ; and, for this purpose, the fisherman keeps a book 
 of entry, which is frequently, as respects certain months, 
 filled up before the season itself has actually commenced. 
 Of course, in this registry the ijanje of the saiQ§ in^dividual, 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE SPORT. 153 
 
 i£ a resident at hand, or a regular frequenter of Tweedside, 
 may occur statedly, as contracting for a number of days 
 throughout the season ; for instance, it is a common thing, 
 on application to the tacksman, to find that his Monday's 
 boat on the upper water is engaged by General So-and-so ; 
 
 on the lower streams by the Duke of . On Tuesday, 
 
 Colonel and Lord fish ; on Wednesday, Major 
 
 and the Honourable Mr. ; the latter days of the 
 
 week being generally less run upon and monopolised. 
 
 But I come to the description of the sport itself, so termed, 
 although in my opinion but partially entitled to that de- 
 signation, as far, at least, as regards the possession of skill 
 and judgment on the part of the angler, and also, in respect 
 to the kind of salmon forming the majority of those killed, 
 and which, in the spring season, consist, with comparatively 
 few exceptions, of kelts and baggits.. These, although they 
 sometimes run long and sullenly, are very far from having 
 the activity of clean-run salmon ; moreover, they are totally 
 unfit, after being captured, for human use, retaining neither 
 the internal curdiness nor rich taste of properly conditioned 
 fish. As exercising, moreover, the ingenuity of the sports- 
 man, they are quite at fault, possessing a voracity that, on 
 occasions of great success, induces disgust and satiety 
 rather than satisfaction or triumph. 
 
 For my own part, I would rather capture in spring a 
 single newly-run salmon than a whole boat-load of kelts. 
 Yet these, and no others are the fish frequently boasted of, 
 as afibrding under the name of salmon, amusement to some 
 brainless scion of nobility — some adept by purchase, not 
 skill, in the art of angling. For, let me ask, what all the 
 science displayed by this sort of salmon-slayer consists of ? 
 Is he versed in the mysteries of rod and tackle, taught by 
 experience what fly to select, when, where, or how to fish ? 
 Is this amount of knowledge at all necessary ? Nothing of 
 the kind. The performer has no will or say in the matter. 
 In every act, in the choice of his fly and casting-line, in the 
 position and management of the boat, he is under control of 
 the tacksman. By hiin he is directed where to heave his 
 hook, and, if a novice, how. Nothing is left to his own 
 fancy or discretion. He has forfeited all freedom of action. 
 Nay, more, he is fettered with the presence of his griping 
 taskmaster. Enough it is that he pays, and that hand- 
 somely, for the sport, so termed, of hauling within reach of 
 
156 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 the gaff-hook a miserable kelt or two, which, when secured, 
 he sees no more of, and is unable, unless by purchasing it, 
 to exhibit to his friends as a trophy of his prowess — enough 
 methinks, this measure of endurance, without adding to it 
 the annoyance in question. 
 
 Angling and butchering fish I consider as two totally 
 different occupations. - The true angler I would describe to 
 be one who follows the art as a science, who cultivates it, 
 not by usurping the experience of others, not by becoming 
 the mere slave to precept, but by fond and zealous assiduity 
 in the practice of its various departments, by carefully 
 studying the habits of the fish he wishes to capture — their 
 food and feeding hour — their customary and occasional 
 haunts — the effects of different states of weather or sizes 
 and colours of waters upon their tastes — together with a 
 hundred other matters essential to be known, before he can 
 venture to claim for himself the reputation of an adept in 
 the craft. I do not say he is to refuse the instructions of 
 others ; far from it. These he should receive and treasure 
 up with due gratitude ; but let him do so only after they 
 have been weighed and examined, — when the occasion and 
 benefit of them are ascertained and understood. 
 
 That salmon-fishing, as practised from the boat on Tweed, 
 is upon the whole a very agreeable recreation, affording ex- 
 ercise and some measure of joyous excitement to the person 
 engaged in it, I do not mean to deny ; but it is not, to my 
 mind, nearly so pleasurable or satisfactory a sport as when 
 pursued on foot. Give me a stream which T can readily 
 command, either from the bank or by means of wading — a 
 dark, hill-fed water, like the Lochie or the Findhorn, full of 
 breaks, runs, pools, and gorges — give me the waving birch- 
 wood, the cliff and ivied scaur, tenanted by keen-eyed 
 kestril or wary falcon — more than this, give me solitude, or 
 the companionship, not less relishable, of some ardent and 
 kindred spirit, the sharer of my thoughts and felicity — 
 give me, in such a place, and along with such an onlooker, 
 the real sport of salmon-fishing — the rush of some veteran 
 water-monarch, or the gambol and caracol of a plump new- 
 run grilse, and talk no more of that monotonous and spirit- 
 less semblance of the pastime, which is followed by the 
 affluent, among the dubs and dams of our Border river. 
 The two modes of angling, with their attendant circum- 
 stances of place and companionship, "are not for a ipoment 
 
SHAPE AND ARRANGEMENT. 157 
 
 to be compared. They, in fact, no more resemble each 
 other than does the stroll of the sportsmen through a pre- 
 served park, under guidance of the keeper or his assistant, 
 to whom every brood, covey, and form is as well known as 
 are the denizeas of the dog-kennel themselves. They differ 
 as widely as does the straight-jacketed method of cramming 
 a game-bag differ from the free march along moorland and 
 hill-side, through heather and fern, over a domain well 
 plenished but not wedged with birds, where you are at 
 liberty to follow or keep in check your highly-trained 
 setter, and, without taunt or ridicule, can miss with either 
 or both barrels some prodigy of a blackcock, or a hare 
 which in size and length of ear resembles some veritable 
 donkey. 
 
 Having ventured these preliminary remarks, I shall now 
 proceed to give shape and arrangement to such instructions 
 and matters of knowledge, in relation to the subject of this 
 chapter, as I think will prove of advantage to some of my 
 readers. And first of all, as to the places or portions of 
 a salmon-water frequented by the fish, and where, in the 
 common phrase, they are most likely to take the hook. 
 This is a question I have already, to some extent, treated 
 of in my observations upon rivers, but it is one that lays 
 claim, in the present chapter, to more ample notice. 
 
 In all rivers there are certain pools, and portions of pool 
 or stream, to which salmon naturally resort, and, under or- 
 dinary circumstances, are inclined to favour the angler. 
 Nor are these always to be discovered by the eye, even of 
 the most experienced and able fisher on a water to which 
 he is a perfect stranger. It is only through actually testing 
 or having them pointed out to him by some resident angler 
 that he can acquire an intimate knowledge with respect to 
 the different casts ; whereas, in the case of a purely trout- 
 ing stream, his own practised eye is sufficient to direct him 
 where to throw, and will detect at once, without fail, the 
 likeliest feeding-grounds and places of resort. 
 
 As a general rule applicable to salmon-streams, the fish, 
 on the subsiding of the flood or swell, which forces them 
 either from the sea itself, or higher up the river, take re- 
 fuge, in their healthy state, among rocks or large stones, 
 both of which are to be found in marked abundance in all 
 well-reputed salmon-rivers. It is not, however, every rock 
 or large stong that the salmon will choose to frequent ; nor 
 
158 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 does the seeming convenience of this or that place of shelter 
 always prove attractive to it. Ab in respect to its food, so 
 in respect to its accominodation, the fish is royally fastidious, 
 passing over, on occasions, what seems, in point of structure, 
 to be adapted for its concealment and habits, and selecting 
 instead what, to our fancy, is less in unison with them. 
 Thus, for instance, in a long stretch of water, to all appear- 
 ance the most inviting, being full of breaks and gorges, 
 walled with rocks and teeming with places of retreat and 
 security, have I failed, times without number, to stir a 
 single fin ; while at its neck, where the river widens up, 
 and at which the only appearance of shelter is a dimly- 
 discernible slab of stone, half-embedded among gravel, I 
 scarcely ever heave a fly without doing execution. Nor do 
 I state this circumstance as a solitary one, seeing I could 
 point out in various rivers many such positions, taken up 
 and held in retention by salmon, apparently out of sheer 
 caprice, but no doubt from some reason which their natural 
 instinct leads them to have respect to. What this reason 
 is I shall not stay to inquire. It may stand connected with 
 the accommodation or shelter, the feeding, the facility of re- 
 moval in case of a sudden flood, the sensation of the fish, 
 its state of pregnancy, or all or several of these matters 
 combined ; but be this as it may, to trace out the exact 
 motives which direct salmon to particular spots in prefer- 
 ence to others, apparently as advantageous, is a task not to 
 be ventured upon with materials purely speculative. As I 
 have said, I could point out many such spots, even in. large, 
 broad waters like the Tweed, near Kelso ; as the Red Stane 
 below Makerston ; the Prison Rock, at Sprouston Dub, etc. 
 etc., each of which is, as it were, a magnet for the attraction 
 of salmon ; so much so, that it has been proved in regard to 
 them, that should one of the occupant fish happen to be ab- 
 stracted by the angler, its place will, even when the river 
 is at its average height, become, in the course of two or 
 three hours, supplied by another. 
 
 I recollect some years ago being along with a party who 
 were sun-leistering or spearing from a boat, in the month 
 of August or September, during a season of great drought, 
 and when the fish in Tweed had become scarce. We had 
 ransacked nearly a mile of water to little purpose, having, 
 in the course of our descent, slaughtered only a single 
 grilse. ,Nor, although the clearness of the day and low 
 
A BARBAROUS AMUSEMENT. 159 
 
 state of the river afforded every facility for detecting the 
 presence of other fish, were any such observed — none, most 
 certainly, lurking within a hundred yards of the stone or 
 rock, alongside of which the individual above mentioned 
 was taken ; and yet, on our return thither with the boat, 
 not an hour afterwards, a dun salmon, of ten or twelve 
 pounds in weight, presented itself to view, in occupancy of 
 the identical spot where the grilse had been discovered. 
 This fish, also, it may be mentioned, we secured ; I shall 
 not say legitimately, for, in truth, leistering salmon is at 
 the best a barbarous and questionable amusement, entitled, 
 under rare circumstances, to the name of sport, and in most 
 cases no more deserving that dignified appellation than if 
 it were the slaughter of a flock of diseased sheep, pent up 
 within fence or inclosure. I find a number of anglers at 
 one with me in opinion upon this subject ; and all who 
 have witnessed night-leistering on Tweed, during the 
 autumnal or winter months, will acknowledge that even 
 the romantic character which torchlight and scenery invest 
 it with, fails as an apology for the ignoble, wasteful, and 
 injurious nature of the occupation. In nine cases out of 
 ten, it is pursued, either during the spawning season itself, 
 or when the fish are heavy with roe — when they are red 
 or foul, having lain a considerable time in the river, and 
 moreover, when they have lost all power of escape or are 
 cut off from exercising it, both by the lowness of water and 
 by the circumstance of their being hemmed in, at the head 
 and foot of the pool or place of action, by nets and other 
 contrivances stretched from bank to bank. 
 
 It can scarcely be credited, but I relate a fact known to 
 many on Tweedside, that about four or five years ago, 
 upwards of three hundred breeding fish, salmon and grilses, 
 were slaughtered in the course of a single night, from one 
 boat, out of a stretch of water not far from Melrose, two 
 leisters only being employed; and of this number — I allude 
 to the fish — scarcely one was actually fit to be used as food, 
 while by far the greater part of them were female salmon, 
 on the eve of depositing their ova. In the neighbourhood 
 of Kelso upwards of ninety have frequently been butchered 
 with this implement during a single night, from one boat, 
 all of them fish in the same rank and unhealthy condition 
 above described. In September, 1846, according to the 
 ijiost pioderatie calculation, no fewer tljan foiir thousand 
 
160 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 spawning fish, consisting chiefly of full-grown salmon, and 
 comprehending the principal breeding stock of the season 
 — those fish, which, from their forward state, promised the 
 earliest and most vigorous supply of fry, were slaugjhtered 
 in Tweed, with the consent and under the auspices of the 
 upper holders of fishings, in the manner I speak of. Need 
 it be said that the injury done to the salmon-fishings in 
 general by this malpractice on the part of two or three 
 lesser proprietors is incalculable, and when linked with 
 the doings of poachers during close-time, to which it un- 
 questionably gives encouragement, and the system pursued 
 on Tweed of capturing and destroying the kelts and 
 baggits, it must operate most prejudicially against every 
 plan devised to further the breeding of this highly-prized 
 article of food. 
 
 Having thus briefly described the likeliest resorts of the 
 fish in a salmon river, and alluded to their caprice in select- 
 ing this or the other point of shelter, in preference to one 
 seemingly as accommodating, I am brought to treat of what 
 is more pertinent to the matter in hand, namely, the ques- 
 tion, how ought salmon to be angled for ? 
 
 I shall, first of all, set forth a few instructions as to the 
 best method of capturing this fish with the fly, and then 
 proceed to explain how it may be taken, most readily, by 
 means of the worm, minnow, or parr-tail. As I have 
 already, in former chapters, described the tackle generally 
 used by the salmon-fisher, it is quite unnecessary for me to 
 make any further mention of it at present. Let me urge, 
 however, upon the angler a single advice in regard to it. 
 On no occasion, while fitting it to his rod, should he neglect 
 examining into its sufficiency. Every knot, strand, and 
 length of the entire casting-line ought to be separately 
 scrutinised, and, to a due extent, tested. The fiy-hooks 
 also, which are intended to be made use of, require close 
 investigation. It may happen, for instance, that the barb 
 is deranged or broken, the hackle loose, the eye or neck of 
 gut fretted and weakened. There may, in fact, be half a 
 score of matters connected with the fiy-hook that naed to 
 be looked into, nor is the requisite investigation accom- 
 panied with much trouble or loss of time; at any rate, 
 what trouble it costs or time it involves is made up for by 
 the measure of risk avoided or got rid of. 
 
 The Casting of the Line. — In fly-fishing for salmon, 
 
METHOD OF THROWING. 161 
 
 the casting of the line is generally managed, first of all, by- 
 raising the rod back over the left shoulder. This part of 
 the operation requires to be done slowly and deliberately, 
 with a slight increase of speed or force on the part of the 
 performer as he proceeds. He will thus, if managing pro- 
 perly, raise the dipping or employed portion of the line 
 above and behind him, so that, by further elevating the rod 
 and bringing it round over his head, both hands being 
 employed in the exertion, he shall cause the tackle in ques- 
 tion to describe, as it were, a sort of semi-circle in the air. 
 He must then, at the moment when the sweep in question 
 is completed and the rod has attained its highest elevation, 
 direct his fly forward, by a rapid impulse, towards the sppt 
 where he wishes it to alight ; and this should be done with- 
 out any accompanying jerk or violent movement, but solely 
 by a firm continued exertion of strength, as in the " put- 
 ting " or launching of a large stone or cannon ball. 
 
 This is the left-shoulder method of throwing the salmon- 
 line, and is commendable, not so much on account of its 
 being more easily managed than the other, but chiefly 
 because of the advantage it gives the angler when under a 
 bank or in advance of shrubby ground, where his hook, 
 were it suffered to fly back instead of being kept aloof over 
 his head, would frequently find its anchorage behind, and 
 thus endanger the safety of rod and tackle, as well as try 
 the patience of the thrower. But there is no reason why, 
 under favourable circumstances, right-shoulder casting 
 should not be resorted to. I think, for my own part, that 
 the fly hove from the right shoulder generally alights on 
 the stream surface with greater lightness, and can be 
 directed with more accuracy towards the desired spot. 
 The sweep or circle is, in this case, described over the arm 
 or shoulder and not over the head, as in the other mode of 
 throwing. The fly, consequently, during its performance, is 
 held more aback and occupies a less elevated range. On 
 this account it is extremely apt, should the angler prove 
 too liberal of his line, to come into contact, as already 
 mentioned, with the bank behind him. 
 
 I have frequently heard salmon-fishers argue upon the 
 matter of distance to which a fly may be hove, one boast- 
 ing that he can discharge so many yards of line, another 
 that he can master a still greater surface of water, and a 
 third, who ridicules the exploits of both, asseverating that 
 
162 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 he can lay his fly with dexterous precision across the 
 broadest stream in Scotland. Now, in its adequate place 
 among vaunters and freshmen, it is quite fitting to talk, of 
 such wonderful feats as fill philosophers with amaze and 
 doubting, but these marvels fall on our sober ears without 
 the desired effect ; and we feel assured that every practised 
 angler will only give his contempt in exchange for their 
 relation. Does it never, I ask, occur to those who make the 
 casting of some fifteen or twenty fathoms a matter of moon- 
 shine, to inquire what of actual power the lever they em- 
 ploy possesses, which enables them, as they fancy, to lift or 
 recover such an extraordinary outlay of line ? Giving even 
 the advantage of a rod twenty feet in length, and allowing 
 moreover that its wielder is fully six feet in height, with a 
 proportionate extent of arm, and that he stands elevated 
 above the surface of the stream not less than a foot, I 
 maintain it to be impossible for him to lift in or recover, so 
 as to efiect a second discharge, more line than will measure 
 three times the length of his salmon-rod ; I do not of course 
 include what is confined within the rings of that imple- 
 ment. 
 
 In fact, without adopting the heaving or pitching system 
 practised on Thames and other English rivers — a mode of 
 throwing not adapted to fly-fishing, it is impossible for the 
 angler to command a range of cast exceeding twenty-seven 
 yards from the spot whence he plies his hook. It is, I 
 admit, quite practicable for him, in the act of throwing, to 
 let out a yard or even two of line more than he is able to 
 lift or recover ; but, by doing so, he only imposes upon him- 
 self the neeessity of using the reel or winch before repeat- 
 ing his cast, in order to shorten or again accommodate the 
 line to the power of his lever. 
 
 I might readily, were I so inclined, dilate upon this sub- 
 ject with more order and ceremony, but I have no wish to 
 treat of it in a plenary or philosophical manner, by dis- 
 quisition or diagram, as if it merited the special attention 
 of the angler. All I desire to be observed is — and the fact 
 bears its own explanation among the axioms of mechanical 
 law — that the length of the lever or lifting power comprised 
 in the rod and its wielder regulates to all intents and 
 purposes the distance to which the fly can be hove. The 
 action of the arm and muscles, the weight of the line, the 
 make and pliancy of the rod, and the propelling or repelling 
 
STREAMS OR SLUGGISH WATER. 163 
 
 virtue of the air when in motion, its resistance, and many- 
 other causes, act, there is no doubt," to the advantage or 
 prejudice of the cast taken j but the lever power, when 
 used as a power of recovery, is affected by them to an ex- 
 tent easily calculated on, and, on the whole, they can only 
 act as very subservient aids or drawbacks to the exercise of 
 that power. 
 
 The Working of the Line and FLT.^In what are 
 properly called pools, that is, the terminations of streams 
 or sluggish water that can only be fished over with effect 
 when rippled by wind, it is generally expedient to direct 
 the fly across, almost at right angles with the bank, and 
 allow it to sweep or sail round, so as to catch the current 
 and bring the line to its full natural tension. To do this 
 invitingly, the angler must ply his rod, gradually lowering 
 it as the fly beats round, until the point has declined to 
 within two or three feet of the water's surface. The ply- 
 ing motion consists of a measured and gentle working of 
 the line, so as to impart a life-like appearance to the lure, 
 causing it, as it were, to amble and sport leisurely in the 
 stream, opening and shutting its wings, and giving oppor- 
 tunity to the fish to pursue and seize it. This motion also 
 assists to keep the line in sufficient stretch, and to disguise 
 all the unattractive, exposed, and suspicious points of the fly 
 and tackle. 
 
 In fishing streams (I use the word as one differing in 
 . signification from ppols, and referring to those portions of a 
 river which are of rapid movement), the line, instead of 
 being directed across at right angles with the bank, ought 
 to be thrown more in accommodation with the run of the 
 current, say at an angle of 45 degrees, so that the fly, in 
 describing its sweep or curve, may not come round too 
 rapidly and escape the notice of the fish. In rapid water, 
 such as the necks of streams, straiks, and eddies, the plying 
 and working of the hook is not always requisite ; at any 
 rate, one should have resort to it as a secondary measure, 
 allowing every chance to be given to the fish rising, at the 
 juncture which takes place on the completion of the curve, 
 or what is termed the moment of hing. This failing, the 
 salmon-fisher advisedly , may finish off' his cast with the 
 process in question, which, if it do not prove irresistibly 
 attractive to a pursuing fish, may be the means of stirring 
 up to the scratch one hitherto dormant. 
 
164 THE AlJGLEIl'S COMPANION 
 
 Those parts of a stream or pool, which are known to 
 afford favourite shelter to salmon, cannot be angled over 
 with too much care. A single cast or two will, in most 
 instances, be sufficient to determine the presence or humour 
 of a lish, in places where the shelter is limited, or, it may- 
 be, doubtful, such as a single stone or projection of crag ; but 
 with a range of water underwrought with rocks and re- 
 treats, the angler should deal prudently and circumspectly. 
 A cover of this sort it will not answer to beat in quick, 
 slovenly style, forwarding oneself within ken and survey 
 of the game, as some do who, i'rom from their eagerness to 
 be in mediobs res, plunge waist-deep into the primest por- 
 tions of the stream, scaring right and left the liers in wait, 
 whose plunges in the distance are mistaken for sober^ mat- 
 ter-of-course movements, indicative not of alarm and excite- 
 ment, but of readiness to favour the adventurous and im- 
 patient rodsman. 
 
 It is here, on such a range of water, that the salmon- 
 fisher should exercise caution and employ method. He 
 ought to work progressively and with deliberation, com- 
 mencing above the extreme head or foot of the range in 
 question, and compassing the whole, I do not saj^^ inch by 
 inch, but in such a manner that no opportunity shall be 
 given for any one fish to avoid seeing the fly. He should 
 also beware, if possible, of disturbing the water already ex- 
 perimented on, as by doing so, he not only destroys the 
 charm of a yet untried hook, but, in frequent instances, so 
 alarms the fish as to cause them immediately to shift their 
 quarters. Sometimes also, when thus disturbed by the ap- 
 proach of one's person too near their haunts, they will grow 
 sullen and suspicious, and this effect is not always readily 
 worn off, but will continue influencing them for days to 
 come. 
 
 How far ofi" a salmon can discern the transit of a fly 
 from its retreat, it is not easy to ascertain ; and it would 
 require a good deal of particularising to take away from 
 the general nature of the question. This, however, is well 
 known, that fish lying in a depth of water exceeding ten or 
 twelve feet seldom, if ever, rise at the artificial fly. It is 
 true there are many gullies, Tsoth in Tweed and other rivers, 
 of nearly twice the depthgabove specified, where salmon are 
 known to rise freely, but such fish are not at the bottom. 
 They rest merely on the craggy sides and ledges which wall 
 
SALMON AND THE FLY. 165 
 
 in the water. In some localities, they hold their out-look 
 from a sunken fortalice of rock — the fissures of which 
 afford them ample and secure accommodation. 
 
 That a fly-hook, say of the largest spring size, may catch 
 the observation of salmon at a still greater depth than 
 twelve feet is possible enough '; but it is quite true that, if 
 so, it loses all attractive effect, and a fish would as soon 
 think of leaping at the moon as bestir itself for a mouthful 
 so remote. So much as to sheer depth of water, when con- 
 sidered as distance betwixt the salmon and the fly; but let 
 me tak^ the case of a fish Ijnng in a shallow break. How 
 far off, in this instance, would the hook operate as a lure ? 
 For my own part, I think it would require to pass within 
 four or ,five feet of the spot where the salmon holds watch, 
 and I am led to think so, in some measure, from experi- 
 ments made at Coldstream bridge, where, during the grilse 
 season, in a fine water, there is every opportunity for one 
 stationed above to observe the natural powers and instincts 
 of the fish, both as regards the matter in question and in 
 respect to their likings and aversions manifested towards 
 the colours and sizes of artificial flies. 
 
 Salmon, be it noted, are a duller fish, by many degrees, 
 than ' common river-trout, and by no means so sharp-eyed 
 ^s bull-trout and whitlings., These frequently take the 
 hook well in waters considerably discoloured, and refuse it 
 when the streams have resumed their ordinary size and 
 transparency. It is otherwise with salmon, whose visual 
 organs are generally, under such circumstances, unable to 
 detect the transit of the fly over currents comparatively 
 shallow ; nor will they attempt to seize it or look out for 
 prey, until the flood or fresh has very much subsided, and 
 the floating particles of opake matter, consequent on such 
 swell, are entirely at rest. But, although I have every 
 reason to believe that the salmon is not quite such a quick 
 or sharp-sighted fish as some give it the credit of being, 
 and that, even in the clearest water, it is unable to detect 
 the passing of the fly at a depth and distance from its re- 
 treat exceeding twelve feet, yet, should the lure emploj'^ed 
 hit its fancy, it will, if inconvenient to attempt seizing it, 
 owing to the rapidity of the current or other cause, follow 
 the hook round over a space of many yards, until a position 
 and rate of speed have been acquired by the latter, which 
 either encourage the endeavour to take hold of it, or lead 
 
 11 
 
166 THE ANGLEE'S COMPANION. 
 
 to the detection of its nature as a guile or artificei Thisj 
 however, is a mode of procedure on the part of the fish by 
 no means invariable ; for salmon will often make for the 
 fly the moment it is perceived, nay, in some instances, the 
 instant it alights on the surface; besides, there are many 
 casts or salmon-throws which do not admit of travelling the 
 hook at all, such as the narrow heads and hings which fre- 
 quently preface deep, ragged water, also confined places, 
 formed by breakwaters and cairns, etc., etc. Into water of 
 this description the fly should be heaved with care and 
 lightness so as not to alarm the fish. As to its primary 
 movements allow the current in some measure to control 
 them, but do not give it the full sway. Always recover 
 the hook upwards or towards yourself after allowing it to 
 drop, and do this by gentle impulses, not urging it into a 
 gallop or hasty pace, but guiding it at an amble, so as to 
 appear more life-like and natural, whether taken as an in- 
 sect or as a small fish. 
 
 In salmon-fishing, never allow the hook itself to plough 
 or ruffle the,, surface of the water. By the trout-fisher, 
 whose lures are in point of size comparatively insignificant, 
 this may be done occasionally without any bad result ; but 
 a salmon-fly thus worked will generally occasion distrust 
 or terror, and seldom prove inviting. On the other handyi 
 however expedient it is to keep the fly well-sunk while 
 travelling it, one must avoid falling into the error of allow- 
 ing it to sink too far. It is into this extreme that many of 
 our best salmon-fishers are apt to run. They employ 
 frequently, when there is no occasion for it, too much 
 throwing line, and, at the same time, while working it, 
 lower the point of the rod beyond all due proportion. 
 Consequently, they are often obliged to gaUop in order to 
 sustain the fiy, and should a fish incline to take it, in two 
 cases out of three they are left without any indication of its 
 attempt; nay, more, in the event even of a marked and well- 
 directed rise, where the presence of the fish could not fail of 
 being detected, a very long line is incapable, from its want 
 of sufficient pressure, to insure the planting or fixing of the 
 barb in the mouth of the salmon. It acts as too distant 
 and too loose a method of communication betwixt the 
 angler and his spoil. It makes it necessary for him to 
 attempt hooking the fish — by striking^a mode of opera- 
 tion in respect to salmon which is certainly reprehensive. 
 
HOW TO ACT ON RAISING A E'ISH. 167 
 
 In the case, however, of a sfcong current, or when the 
 Angler is highly elevated above the water, as on a bridge 
 or rock, the employment of a long travelling line is quite 
 expedient, and in no respect falls within compass of the 
 objections above stated. 
 
 Recommendations How to Act on Raising a Fish. — 
 When fly-fishing for salmon, the angler requires to have a 
 general notion of where his hook is, and ihow it traverses 
 the stream or pool, but this is all.- To watch it minutely 
 is not necessary. By doing so, the eye is frequently 
 brought into inopportune contact with the fish itself when 
 rising. It detects its presence before the salmon has seized 
 the fiy ; and, as a natural consequence, the rodsman in the 
 surprise or flutter of the moment, is very apt, either to 
 draw away his hook by a sudden or violent jerk, or else to 
 check its progress for the moment, and allow opportunity 
 for the fish to discover the deception. In trout-fishing with 
 the fly, we can scarcely, in the event of a break on the 
 surface, strike too rapidly. It is different in the salmon- 
 fishing. Here, one should not alter the motion of the hook 
 until he is actually made sensible of the presence of the 
 fish by feeling his weight on the line ; nor even then is 
 there any act of exertion required on the part of the 
 angler, further than the simple raising of his rod, in order 
 to fix the hook. When force is applied, or any motion 
 approaching to a jerk made use of, the chances are, that 
 either the line itself or jaw of the fish gives way : whereas, 
 a line of mere ordinary strength and the tenderer parts of 
 the mouth will always sufficiently resist the slight impulse 
 which is required in order to hook salmon. But I need not 
 say more on this matter, for it will become natural to 
 one practising on a salmon-river and travelling the fly 
 properly, to strike, as it were, with effect, and also to make 
 the most of such rises or attempts on the part of the fish to 
 seize the hook, as indicate something faulty in its humour 
 or vision. 
 , All occasional salmon-fishers have, in their experience, met 
 with blank and adverse days ; and of these, the most tan- 
 talising happen when the fish are plentiful; when they are 
 -inclined, moreover, to look at the hook, to follow it, and 
 even break the surface above or near it, without making 
 ■any real attempt to take hold. What, it will be asked, is 
 to be done by way of remedy on an occasion of this sort ? 
 
168 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 The practice of experienced anglers has been to change tlte 
 fly over the fish ; and, indisputably, it is the correct one. 
 It must not, however, be presumed, that there is, to meet all 
 circumstances, a great deal of eflScacy in this resort, and that 
 one, after experimenting to a certain extent, may hit upon 
 what he chooses to term the killing fly of the day. It 
 generally happens, when fish are in the capricious humour 
 I speak of (affected possibly by atmospheric causes, often by 
 the state of the water, and as often by the action of solar 
 light), that they remain so for a considerable time — for the 
 space, at least, of three or four hours, sometimes nearly a 
 whole day. The operation of a change of fly, made under 
 such circumstances, is almost always limited to an individual 
 fish ; were it otherwise, there could be no reason to com- 
 plain ; but I doubt much, unless in the event of a change of 
 weather or state of water, that salmon, having shown a 
 degree of partiality to the three or four flies first used by 
 rising at them, would, on the exhibition of a fifth or sixth, 
 all at once discover towards these a peculiar fondness which 
 induces them, without reserve, not merely to show face, 
 but greedily to take hold. In the case of an individual fish, 
 this is, I allow, possible enough to happen ; but I cannot 
 bring myself to believe in the infiuence of any particular 
 hook, used under such circumstances, over the tastes and 
 caprices of the general body. 
 
 For my own part, I am commonly content to find out a 
 killing fly in the one which induces fish to rise ; and the 
 reason I have for substituting another, should a salmon 
 merely break the surface without taking hold, is not that I 
 expect the substitute to prove a whit more enticing, but I 
 would do all in my power to prevent the distrust and alarm 
 
 f)ossibly consequent upon a repeated transit of the identical 
 ure. This distrust, however, be it noted, is only a possible 
 event, as regards the fly-hook in question ; and the substi- 
 tution of another, so far from acting as a counter-charm, 
 may, on the contrary, operate strongly to my prejudice, 
 occasioning or confirming the very alarm I am endeavouring 
 to suppress. 
 
 The expediency, therefore, of changing the flyimmediately, 
 over a grilse or salmon, on the failure of its attempt to take 
 hold, is very questionable ; nor although occasionally acting 
 on it, am I a slave to the practice. If led to believe that 
 the fish has missed bis aim, less from shyness than over* 
 
SCOTCH AND IRISH FLIES. 169 
 
 keenness — or, it may be, owing to the inconvenience of place 
 and position,, the rapid nature of the current, improper 
 management of the line, or other such cause, most assuredly 
 I would not change the fly over him, until convinced that 
 he had no inclination to rise a second time ; even then, I 
 should be chary of bestowing a new hook without allowing 
 him an interval of rest not shorter than a quarter of an 
 hour. In passing, however, the first fly over him a second 
 time, I would use little or no delay. The humour he is in 
 for rising at it has already been tested, and there is some 
 possibility of its subsiding, should the opportunity be given. 
 Was I convinced, however, that the fish started came towards 
 the hook in a dubious, distrustful mood, I would then most 
 assuredly allow him a reasonable respite of some minutes, 
 and, at the same time, substitute a fly-hook of smaller 
 dimensions — I do not say less gaudy in appearance, but 
 rather the contrary ; for it is well known, in respect to 
 Scottish rivers, that the Irish fly, with all its glitter, is most 
 killing under a clear sky and on low limpid water ; while 
 the Scotch one, sober in hue, develops its attractive powers 
 in dull, windy weather, and not unfrequently when the 
 streams are of a deep porter colour, the delight of the trout- 
 fisher's eye. This refused, I would experiment, according 
 to the state of the river, with a larger one ; and finally, as a 
 last resort, recur to the hook first employed. 
 
 Perhaps all this extreme fuss and trouble about a single 
 fish may be looked upon as unnecessary, if not ridiculous. 
 It is so, I allow, in certain rare positions; and there are 
 those who, being placed in such, laugh at the idea of bestow- 
 ing more than mere brachial exertion in the capture of 
 salmon with the rod. Such, having their will and wont of 
 a well-reputed stream, are less dependent for sport upon the 
 caprice of the fish, and take less care to exhibit craft and 
 science in the securing of them than others, whose range is 
 limited and unprotected. These latter, however, be it under- 
 stood, form the better salmon-slayers. They may be unable 
 to boast of many captures in proportion ; but it is not because 
 they are deficient in skill or practice. What honour is due 
 as a sportsman to the ranger of a well-stocked preserve ? 
 Is he necessarily a better shot — keener-eyed — steadier 
 handed — more active — more enduring — abler in the manage- 
 ment of his kennel, than one who has to toil over hill and 
 4ale, through marsh and stubble, in seaf cl^ of a brol^en covejr 
 
170 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 or solitary hare ? With the former, to miss his bird is a 
 matter of small consequence. He can afford to do so, while 
 the other cannot. He can afford to pass it over altogether 
 — to forgive his dogs a careless point or a run in. He re- 
 quires to take no pains and encounter no fatigue. The game 
 rises at his feet ; the bag can be filled at all events. It is 
 different with the latter. He cannot afford the throwing 
 away of a single chance. One act of misconduct on the part- 
 of his setter — a too hasty or too dilatory pull of the trigger 
 — an error in the fielding — a miss from over-excitement or 
 any other cause — the escape of a wounded bird, each of 
 these circumstances by itself tells hard against him, and is 
 frequently an occasion of lament and grievance. Such 
 occurrences, however,~produce their advantageous effect, by 
 encouraging the endeavour to avoid them for the future. 
 Being felt as matters of importance and treated as such, they 
 all act towards making the sportsman. They inculcate 
 prudence, decision, vigilance,the study also of natural history, 
 as far as relates to the habits of his game. They make him 
 careful, frugal, active, and earnest — superior, as respects his 
 occupation, to the slayer of hand-fed pheasants, as is the 
 wild-deer in strength and fleetness to the bloated venison of 
 some palace park. 
 
 And thus it is with the true angler. He is not made out 
 of thick and manifold, but out of few and scattered resources. 
 The science of his art is acquired in a rigid and exacting 
 school. He has to reconcile himself to disappointments, to 
 practise self-denial, to encounter hardships. He requires to 
 study devotedly, perseveringly ; to neglect or omit nothing. 
 With subdued expectations he ought never to despond. 
 His motto should be of bright letter — the banner-word of a 
 conqueror. 
 
 How TO Manage a Salmon when Hooked. — On hooking 
 a fish there remains often much to be done before he is 
 secured. About one-third of hookisd salmon escape ; some 
 through sheer carelessness or want of experience on the 
 part of the an'gler, others by reason of the fish being slightly 
 or insufficiently fastened, and a few owing to uncontrollable 
 circumstances which occasion, without choice or remedy, 
 the snapping or wearing through of the line. Thus, for 
 instance!, a strong fish, on being hooked, may betake itself 
 in a direction down or across the river, while the angler, his 
 stogk of line being run out, is, from tlie pature of the baiilss 
 
ON HOOKING A FISH. 171 
 
 or the breadth of the pool, unable to pursue ; or it may, 
 having its lair among sharp-edged rocks, exert itself with 
 success to wear through the gut which holds it — a mani- 
 festation of cunning, on the part of an old fish, by no means 
 uncommon, although it is seldom met with, when the 
 salmon is fresh-run and relies for escape upon the exertion 
 of its strength and fleetness. 
 
 On hooking a fish, the first thing to be done by the 
 angler is to* raise his rod to a proper height — ^to throw the 
 point of it well back over his shoulders, or, in technical 
 language, show the butt to his prisoner. To do this pro- 
 perly; one does not require to use force, or, in the smallest 
 degree, strain his rod ; nor should he, in all cases, act with 
 extreme gentleness, but accommodate his firmness of hold 
 to the strength of his tackle and size of hook employed. 
 At the same time, he should be prepared to allow line, and 
 that freely, in case the fish choose to exert its speed. 
 
 It is not always, on hooking a salmon, that the angler 
 can immediately form a just opinion as to its size. Fish, 
 under the control of the rod, often acquire dimensions very 
 different from those which, at first start, were attributed to 
 them, and as frequently they fall short of what is con- 
 jectured. It sometimes happens, for instance, that a 
 powerful salmon makes reserve of its strength, and by its 
 movements, passionless and confined, appears for the space 
 of several minutes little better than an unresisting, inanimate 
 mass ; nor, until irritated by the continued pressure, I say, 
 not pain, resulting from the rod and tackle, does it give 
 vent to its fury in grand impetuous bursts, which, as they 
 shake and agitate his rod and line, stir- also and agitate the 
 heart of their wielder. 
 
 On the other hand, a comparatively small fish will some- 
 times, on being hooked, exert, on the instant, an unexpected 
 degree of strength and velocity. It will dart upwards or 
 across the stream with railway speed, and conclude each 
 heat with a succession of somersets which, although they 
 exhaust rapidly the power of the performer, are severally, 
 as they occur, fraught with danger. In this case, the 
 salmon quickly betrays its size and can be dealt with 
 accordingly ; still there is always a necessity for the 
 exercise of extreme caution, for the more volatile in dis- 
 position the fish appears, the greater are the chances of its 
 escape. When deeply-hooked, it is generally imeiible or ua- 
 
172 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 willing to indulge the eye of the angler with antics, of the 
 above description, but will confine its mancBUvres to its 
 natural element, merely breaking the surface on emergencies 
 (on the lapse, for instance, of some powerful sally), and 
 frequently betaking itself to a different mode of action, 
 suited as readily to snap the line or detach the barb from 
 its mouth. The following instructions, as to playing or 
 managing a salmon with the rod, will be found useful. 
 
 Always in running a fish, keep well up to, or if possible, 
 at right angles with its head. In the event of its taking 
 across the current instead of stemming or descending it, 
 give the butt without reserve. In the case of a plunge or 
 somerset, slacken line as quickly as possible, but use no 
 delay iif recovering it when the danger is over. When 
 fish are plentiful and in humour to take the fly, it is, better 
 to risk the loss of an indifierent-sized individual which 
 you happen to have hooked than to allow a long range of 
 unfinished water to become disturbed, through its capricious 
 movements. In this case, stint the line and hold on ob- 
 durately, but not beyond the presumed strength of your 
 tackle. During the grilse season, there are many portions 
 of water, on Tweed especially, where it would be absolute 
 folly in the angler, were he to humour the fish to its heart's 
 content. A lively new-run grilse may occasion more, alarm 
 among its kind than one is aware of, especially if the water 
 be of the transparent hue it generally bears during the 
 summer or autumnal months. In event, however, of the 
 salmon being few or rising shyly, I would advise that some 
 degree of care and ceremony be taken with what fortune 
 brings to the hook, and that, on such occasions, more regard 
 be paid to the management of the fish under control than 
 to the non-disturbance of a few yards of stream, where 
 the chances of adding to one's success are, at least, ex- 
 tremely doubtful. 
 
 In these circumstances, avoid using undue violence. 
 Should the fish escape, the consciousness of your having 
 done so will only add to the disappointment. There is one 
 precaution particularly to be attended to in respect to a 
 newly-run fish, and that is, immediately on hooking it, use 
 a moderate degree of pressure. The salmon will then brave 
 or stem the current and direct its course upwards, whereas 
 on tightening the reins it will frequently do the reverse, 
 and thijs not only may a portion of the water in prospect 
 
LANDING OF THE FISH. 173, 
 
 become disturbed, but there is considerable chance, and in 
 some places an absolute certainty, of the fish, if a large one, 
 making its escape. 
 
 Baggits and kelts have often a strong inclination to 
 descend, instead of pushing upwards; but little danger, 
 on their doing so, accrues to the line, owing to the nature 
 of the places they frequent, their style of running, and 
 other causes ; moreover, the loss in their case is less felt or 
 regretted than when good, wholesome fish make off with 
 the tackle. 
 
 The Landing of the Fish. — On Tweedside, a gaff-hook 
 or cleik is generally made use of by salmon-fishers, in order 
 to expedite the landing of the fish. I have remarked, that 
 in some parts of Scotland a small hoop -net is also em- 
 ployed for this purpose. In respect that it is not liable to 
 abuse or injure the appearance of the salmon, the latter 
 implement may be considered the preferable one. The 
 cleik, however, is more convenient, and may be resorted to 
 in places and at distances where the hoop-net cannot be 
 made available. The employment of a landing appliance 
 at all — certainly not its advantage — may be considered, in 
 a sporting view, as questionable. I have heard it insisted 
 on, that the angler ought always to play his fish to bank 
 and secure him entirely by his own management, and with 
 his own hand. To this I do not entirely assent, but I cer- 
 tainly think that there are occasions when the gaff-hook is 
 'brought into play quite inopportunely, when, in fact, it 
 acts, along with its wielder, a part in the capture of the 
 fish that can scarcely be esteemed secondary to that en- 
 gaged in by the rodsman himself. The credit of taking the 
 salmon is thus divided betwixt two parties ; and really, on 
 many of the Tweed rod-fishings, this is the case : nay, I 
 have already, at the outset of the present chapter, had 
 occasion to state, besides his assistance with the landing- 
 hook, the attendant fisherman contributes largely, in other 
 respects, towards the sport of the angler, and is as fully 
 entitled as the latter to claim the palm after success. 
 
 In expert hands, the gaff-hook is unquestionably of great 
 advantage as an implement for securing partially-exhausted 
 fishr At the same time, it curtails what many consider a 
 portion of the sport : and I have seen it put into requisition 
 at a stage altogether premature : the fish, on being hooked, 
 El,nd befor^, its strength was yearly worn out, having wslj- 
 
174 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 wardly edged in, so as to give the opportunity referred to. 
 I am well aware that there are some salmop-fishers who 
 hold the playing and landing .of the fish as very inferior 
 considerations, and who reckon the whole art and amuse- 
 ment to consist in the raising and hooking. With one 
 gentleman I am acquainted, an able and eager sportsman, 
 who, after the first burst, was accustomed to resign the rod 
 into the hands of his attendant, in order to rid himself of 
 what he considered a slavish or supplementary task. To 
 such individuals, the employment of the gaff-hook is a 
 matter of perfect indifference : but I cannot reconcile my- 
 self to their cramped and petted notions on the subject of 
 what forms a most essential constituent of the amusement. 
 The playing and landing of the fish are unquestionably act 
 and part with the raising and hooking, aiid when separated, 
 all interest on the part of either performer is diminished ; 
 the capture of the fish becomes a disputed matter, achieved 
 betwixt both parties, and claimed accordingly. For direc- 
 tions how to employ the gaff'-hook, see chapter on tackle, etc. 
 In absence of an assistant, the salmon-fisher should 
 always be careful to select the best landing-place within 
 view — one to which he can readily lead his fish when ex- 
 hausted, and where he has no occasion to exert further 
 strength than he has all along been using, in order to draw 
 it ashore. Gravel banks partly covered with shoal- water, 
 fiat rocks similarly circumstanced, or any level spot where 
 the salmon may naturally turn over at once, without power 
 of recovery, on his broad side, are well adapted for the 
 purpose in question. In case of no such convenient 
 landing-place being at hand, I would, rather than risk 
 the loss of a good fish, guide him to some distance down 
 the river, until, in fact, I fall in with a desirable port. Do 
 not, however, be induced to haul a salmon up against the 
 stream, with the view of landing it on some jut of sward, 
 sand, or rock, that engages your fancy at the moment. 
 Should the fish press or incline to be guided towards it, 
 good and well ; but on no occasion resort to force, when 
 force may be avoided. The fish being grounded, shorten 
 line to the extreme, and, holding back your rod with one 
 hand, step forward, and with the other grasp the salmon 
 tightly above the tail. You may then toss or carry it to 
 the bank above, and, by a blow or two on the head, im- 
 fliediatelv despatch it. In case of your line being too long 
 
GAFF OR LANDING-HOOK. 175 
 
 to permit you to seize the iish without quitting hold of the 
 rod, then do so, only act with rapidity when you approach 
 to make your seizure. 
 
 I would recommend all anglers who are in the habit of 
 fishing salmon unattended to carry along with them a short 
 gaff or landing-hook, not exceeding in length of handle two 
 or three feet, such, in fact, as may be slung conveniently 
 from, or placed inside of, the pannier. This will be found, 
 on many occasions, greatly to facilitate the securing of a 
 tired fish, and is not intended, as is the ordinary gaff"-hook, 
 for striking with, but merely for inserting below the gill- 
 cover of the salmon and dragging it to the bank. 
 
 In the course of the above instructions, I have touched 
 upon most of the points worthy of notice, in connection 
 with the subject of salmon-fishing. To extend further my 
 line of observations, I feel to be more simple than satisfac- 
 tory. The matter is far from being exhausted, but I doubt 
 much that I could add anything of avail or interest to what 
 I have already stated or set forth. I shall not, therefore 
 hamper my code of instructions, however faulty or deficient 
 with any additional advice, or obtrude into a region of facts 
 what is purely theoretical in connection with salmon-fish- 
 ing. A great deal that might not unappropriately have 
 been placed under this head will be found in the chapter 
 upon Salmon-flies, and in other parts of the volume. By no 
 arrangement of subject that might have been entered upon 
 could I have avoided distributing through several portions 
 of the work what professed to belong entirely to one ; nor, 
 indeed, apart from this restraint, could I wish, for the mere 
 sake of isolating or giving separate distinctness to the 
 different parts, to break in upon the connection that 
 naturally exists betwixt them. 
 
 Considering, therefore, the entirety of the work as more 
 essential than the entirety of each of its parts, I make no 
 apology for what may be reckoned a loose and scattered 
 treatment of this or that subject ; the more especially as I 
 am shut up, without remedy, to the course before me. A 
 reference then, as at present, from this to that chapter, being 
 an interference with the subject matter of either, must be 
 held as showing the connection or intimacy already spoken 
 of, and without which the entirety of the volume could not 
 exist. I now proceed, in a separate chapter, to treat of salmon- 
 fishing as practised with the parr-tail, minnow, and wof ;n, 
 
176 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SALMON-FISHING WITH THE PARE-TAIL, MINNOW, AND WORM. 
 
 Tackles, Leads, etc. — When and Where to Pish. —Directions to Ex- 
 tricate Tackle when Foul Run.—Worm-Fishing for Salmon. — 
 When Available. — Approved Tackle. — Leading.— Baiting of Hook. 
 — Lob-Worms.— Younger's Birections. — Rule to be Observed as 
 Respects the Winch Line. — Method of Fishing. — ^Power of the 
 Salmon to Expel Food.— Seizure of the Worm by the Fish.— 
 General Remarks. 
 
 In a former chapter I have described, at some length, the 
 parr-tail tackle, the way in which the bait or lure ought to 
 be cut, how attached to the hooks, etc., etc. My observa- 
 tions upon these matters, although made in reference to 
 trout-fishing, comprise, when applied to salmon, nearly all 
 that can be said upon the subject. Almost the only 
 additional instructions I can give the angler refer to the 
 weighting of the tackle. In this respect, he requires to be 
 liberal of his leads or plummets, and in spinning the lure 
 careful that he keeps it well sunk ; in fact, close to the 
 bottom of the pool or stream. Salmon, when at all inclined 
 to take the parr-tail, will do so in water comparatively 
 still, as well as at the head of streams and rapid places. 
 They seldom pay any regard to it when the river is dis- 
 coloured or beyond its ordinary spring size, although bull- 
 trouts, especially kelted fish of this description, will seize it 
 greedily. It is esteemed by some surest as a bait at the 
 latter end of May, but a clean fish will take it, as it does the 
 minnow, throughout the spring months. 
 
 In very cold weather, during March, and when the water 
 is most uninviting to the eye, having that greenish tinge 
 which indicates the presence of snow at its sources, I have 
 known the parr-tail, in common with the minnow, to be a 
 killing bait. Nay, amid thick slabs of ice, and when the 
 air is so frosty, as in the course of a few minutes to stiffen 
 the wetted line, and render it unfit for work, this bait will 
 be found for the moment, if cast where salmon are, of 
 almost certain avail. Under circumstances, of course, such 
 as I have last mentioned, there would be much difficulty, 
 after hooking the fish, in securing it, as, unless forcibly 
 dealt with, it would certainly make for shelter under the 
 
TO EXTRICATE TACKLE WHEN FOUL. 177 
 
 ice, and in all likelihood cut or wear through the line 
 against its sharp edges. 
 
 In fishing with the minnow for salmon, observe the 
 same directions as when fishing with the parr-tail. Play 
 the lure near the bottom, and more leisurely than you 
 would do were river-trout the object in view. Use a 
 minnow of large size, and tackle to correspond. The parr- 
 tail tackle of three hooks may be substituted advan- 
 tageously for the common minnow tackle of two. Bright 
 frosty days in March and April are much preferable to dull, 
 windy ones, when the minnow is used ; and should the 
 streams be clear or in a dwindled state, most salmon-fishers 
 would look forward with certainty to obtaining sport. 
 
 In the spinning of the parr- tail and minnow, as it is 
 practised for salmon, that is with heavy leads and close to 
 the bottom of the cast or lair,, there is great danger of the 
 tackle running foul below of rocks and other impediments. 
 Sometimes in playing, it will become locked in betwixt two 
 stones; sometimes one of the hooks catches against a 
 sunken tree or mass of turf, and in either case the angler 
 finds himself what is termed fast. On such occasions, and 
 they frequently happen to those even who have an accurate 
 knowledge of the ground they fish over, the angler having, 
 without success, made every attempt at extrication which 
 ordinarily suggests itself, ought, as a final expedient, to 
 give out line liberally with his hand— say three, four or 
 five yards beyond what was made use of ; he should then 
 cast put from him, as if with fly tackle, in the direction 
 taken immediately before running foul, and finally, this 
 done, recover line quickly. I know of no surer method 
 than this of liberating fast tackle. The experiment, as de- 
 tailed, may and ought to be repeated at least a dozen times, 
 without despair of success. Indeed, unless the locking of 
 the tackle happened to be an involved or desperate one, I 
 never saw it fail. 
 
 I proceed now — having thus briefly disposed of these 
 methods of salmon-slaying, not, however, because they merit 
 small regard, but chiefly, as I have already in a former 
 chapter, engrossed all that appertains to either subject — I 
 proceed to describe the manner of fishing "for salmon with 
 the worm, as practised on Tweedside. I am not aware that 
 in any one of our large northern rivers, the Tay, Dee, Spey, 
 Findhom, Ness, or Shin, the mode of angling I am about to 
 
1?8 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 treat of has been more than very occasionally tried, and I 
 can easily comprehend why such occasional experiments, 
 although made by those instructed in the art at the feet of 
 old Father Tweed himself, have generally proved failures. 
 
 On these rivers, to give the experiment full justice, the 
 experimentalist would require not only an accurate know- 
 ledge of how he is to conduct the whole process, but he must 
 have besides a most intimate acquaintance with the stream 
 he is angling in, and be able at a glance to ascertain from 
 its size, colour, and temperature in what humour the fish are; 
 for in worm-fishing for salmon there is this peculiarity, that 
 it cannot be indulged in as a common or every day sport, but 
 is dependent more closely upon circumstances than any other 
 branch of the gentle art I am acquainted with. Thus, to 
 insure success, one must have the water at a certain reduced 
 state to act upon ; he requires to be favoured in general with 
 a clear sky, none the worse of there being a disposition in 
 the air towards frost. The streams, also, to which he has 
 access must possess that degree of depth and rapidity which 
 are necessary both to conceal the fish and assist the play of 
 the bait ; moreover, it is essential that, notwithstanding one 
 and all of them may have been angled over repeatedly with 
 the salmon-fly, they shall not previously, during the decrease 
 of the river, have been disturbed with the worm itself ; if 
 so, should the angler impatiently have resorted to it before 
 they were in order, every fish then descrying it would, at 
 its reappearance on a favourable occasion, hold it in distrust. 
 
 The most approved of tackle for this description of angling 
 consists of a large hook of the round-bend shape, Nos. from 
 14 to 16 of Adlington's. It requires to be tied upon picked 
 salmon-gut, fresh and round ; the shank-end of the wire in 
 tying ought to be left bare to the extent of nearly a quarter 
 of an inch. 
 
 The single gut or foot line, from the hook upwards, should 
 extend at least six feet, and terminate with a loop, so as to 
 allow of its being readily annexed to the higher casting-line. 
 It should also be furnished with a box-swivel fixed below 
 the uppermost length. 
 
 With regard to the Jeads or plummets, these ought to be 
 placed at a distance of eighteen inches from the hook, and 
 should consist of at least five or six pellets of large shot,- 
 Nos. 2 and 3, In all cases, the tackle in question requires- 
 to be heavily shotted, but in regulating the quantity o£ 
 
BAITING THE HOOK. 179 
 
 Weight, it is quite necessarj' that attention be paid to the 
 power, depth, and swerve of the cast or stream fished in. 
 
 As to the worms best adapted for salmon-fishing, I require 
 to say little. The lob or large dew-worm is esteemed the 
 favourite. This is easily obtained in the desired quantity 
 from almost any piece of garden ground. It is met with, 
 stretched on the earth during mild nights, and especially 
 alter a shower when the surface of the soil is damp. 
 Besides the lob-worm, the large button-worm is sometimes 
 used, and possesses this advantage, that it is easily scoured 
 and becomes tougher and redder than the other. It is not, 
 however, found in such great abundance or in all localities, 
 and with respect to size is decidedly inferior to the lob- 
 worm. 
 
 In baiting the hook, two, sometimes three worms are 
 made use of. These are attached in the following way : 
 Holding one of them betwixt the thumb g,nd forefinger of 
 the left hand, insert the point of your hook a short way 
 below the head of- the worm, which, I shall suppose, 
 measures in length eight or nine inches ; run the bend of the 
 wire carefully along through the bait, to the full extent of an 
 inch, in the direction of the tail ; bring the point out again, 
 and passing over an equal portion of the worm, re-enter it 
 further on, drawing up, as you do so, what has already 
 been transfixed, along the shank of the hook, then, as 
 before, bring out the point an inch lower down. Repeat 
 this proceeding a third time, and at its completion pull the 
 worm up quite free from the hook to the gut above. Select 
 a second worm, and insert, as formerly, the barbed wire 
 below the head ; run it along underneath, until the shank, 
 bend, and point are completely concealed. Then, with your 
 finger and thumb, press down the first bait close against 
 the shank, so as to hang over in small loops or folds. 
 
 In the event of a third worm being thought necessary, 
 string on the one preceding it in the manner 1 have already 
 described, and use the worm in question to cover the hook. 
 
 I find on referring to Younger of St. Boswells well-known 
 treatise on river-angling, as practised on Tweedside, that 
 the tackle recommended by him, and consequently the 
 mode of affixing the bait, differ very materially from what 
 1 have described to be in use in the neighbourhood of 
 Kelso. I shall quote what he says on the subject at full 
 length ; at the same time I have, on my side, the authority 
 
180 THE ANGLEE'S COMPANION. 
 
 of the most able worm-fishers, and among others, Rob Kerss 
 of Trows, Forest of Kelso, etc., etc., for asserting that his 
 practice is in many respects faulty. 
 
 " Anglers," says he, " differ in their choice regarding size 
 of the two hooks proper to be used for this sort of bait ; 
 but those most generally preferred on the Tweed are large 
 sizes Nos. 18, 19, or 20 of Adlington's, the others 15 or 16. 
 As they require to be shorter in the shank for this purpose 
 than for the fly, it is requisite to break a piece from the 
 shank of each, when the longer one is tied to the end of the 
 gut, the other as much further up on the gut as'to allow its 
 point to be turned round to the shank of the first hook, 
 and a little of the shank of each to be left untied, for the 
 purpose of catching into the worms and preventing them 
 from slipping down from their proper positions. The first 
 worm is then put on; by inserting the hook at its head and 
 running it up over that hook altogether ; then turning the 
 uppermost hook round and inserting it also at the same 
 incision ; then run the worm up over this hook also till 
 the tail of it is fairly above the bend of the hook, and 
 the upper part on the line above. A second worm is 
 taken, and the hook entered about its middle, running it 
 up also to the second hook, which is entered at the same 
 incision, and run round in the loose end of the worm, which 
 covers it over the bend and point. The remainder of that 
 worm is pressed up till it appear contracted and thickened 
 on the short piece of gut intermediate between the two 
 hooks • then a third worm is taken and run on the first 
 hook head foremost, leaving its tail to cover and project 
 over the point. This is called a full and proper salmon 
 bait. Some use only two large worms in the manner of 
 the first and third, with half a worm, or a small one put on 
 the second hook to cover its head and point." 
 
 Upon what I have quoted I need only to remark, that the 
 simpler tackle and simpler mode of baiting adopted on the 
 lower salmon casts have always been found sufficiently 
 etfective, and the feats from time to time performed by the 
 single hook, attests that it works well, while its very sim- 
 plicity is itself commendable, and affords ample guarantee 
 for the ease with which one — the veriest novice, may em- 
 ploy it. 
 
 I shall now describe the most approved way of angling 
 with the worm for salmon. The performer requires to use 
 
QUANTITY OF LINE EMPLOYED. 181 
 
 a long, stiffish rod, eighteen feet and upwards, such as is em- 
 I)loyed for pike trolling. The rings should be large, allowing 
 the line to pass through them without the smallest restraint, 
 and the reel itself ought to be facile in the extreme, having 
 neither -catch nor multiplicator. With regard to the 
 quantity of line employed in casting, it should not greatly 
 exceed the length of the rod itself. Considering the manner 
 in which it is weighted, and the mode of using it I am 
 about to point out, it is difficult to manage more. 
 
 Having baited his hook, let the angler take his place at 
 the head of the cast or salmon-stream he intends fishing. 
 Immediately on commencing operations, there is a matter of 
 observance to which he must pay particular attention. It 
 forms, in fact, to some extent the secret of the successful 
 worm-fisher, and is embodied in this simple piece of in- 
 struction, vie. : Let him draw out with his hand, over and 
 above what he uses in casting, a yard or so of line from 
 off the reel, allowing the same to bang loosely down towards 
 the butt-end of his rod. The intention of this is, that he 
 may afford instant and unresisting compliance with the 
 movements of the fish, on first seizing the bait. Should the 
 'east check occur in the running off of the line, the salmon 
 will, in most cases, quit before gorging. I perceive that 
 Younger makes no mention of the expedient I refer to, 
 esteemed of such importance by many salmon-fishers ; but 
 I am not astonished at the omission, seeing his other 
 directions are scarcely calculated to impress the idea that 
 he knows much of this branch of angling, at least of the 
 finer part of the practice. With regard to the gorging of 
 the worm by salmon, I may here state what fell under the 
 observation of my brother. Captain Stoddart, RN., while 
 angling on the west coast of Ireland, in the river Ballyna- 
 hinch, in Galway. During the hot weather which occurred 
 in June, and preceded the long-continued rains of that re- 
 markable season, the streams had becoine in some places so 
 clear and reduced in size, that (taking the oppressive heat 
 also into consideration) fly-fishing was rendered, at certain 
 periods of the day, a hopeless waste of labour and ingenuity. 
 At the same time, there was no deficiency of salmon, and 
 these were to be distinguished, with difficulty, from the high, 
 rocky banks by which many of the pools are hemmed in. 
 The only legitimate manner in which one or several of them 
 might be captured was with the worm, and to that bait my 
 
 12 
 
182 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 brother had recourse. As in many instances, while employ- 
 ing it, he had a distinct view of such fish as chose to 
 approach, during the whole procedure and course of attack, 
 he remarked that, on its seizing, the salmon instantly 
 swallowed the worms, hook and all, but in nine cases out of 
 ten as quickly disgorged them, expelling the whole mass 
 from its mouth with considerable violence, and seldom 
 appearing inclined to renew the charge. Accordingly, acting 
 on a different plan from what is the recognised practice on 
 Tweedside, he immediately, on observing the fish seize, 
 struck with vigour, and almost always with success. Under 
 ordinary circumstances, this expedient is almost impractic- 
 able ; the fish not being observed, the angler has no direct 
 intimation of its having engrossed the bait, and should such 
 afterwards become vouchsafed to him, it is generally too 
 late, the expelling process (being one of violence, and accord- 
 ingly more fitted to convey the intimation in question, than 
 the mere act of gulping over the bait) having already com- 
 menced. I may remark that, however dissimilar in appear- 
 ance, the two modes of practice are quite reconcilable, and 
 as suited to the habits of the salmon, severally, each in its 
 own locality, deserve attention. 
 
 I may state here, that the late Walter Jamieson, one of 
 the best anglers that ever waved a rod on Tweedside, and, 
 as far as regarded salmon, the most scientific of worm- 
 fishers, attached primary regard to the drawing out of the 
 line, as a precautionary measure, and that it was his 
 practice, as well as it is that of others famed in the craft, 
 to employ a single hook, baited as I have already described. 
 Recurring, however, to the subject-treated of, I have placed 
 the angler at the head of a cast or salmon-stream. Let 
 him heave his bait across, and, in some measure, with the 
 current, which I take to be so heavy or rapid as to bring 
 round the weighted line, at a deliberate rate, until it attains 
 its full stretch or tension. It is necessary, during this 
 circuit, that the worm travel deep, in contact almost with 
 the channel of the river, otherwise it will not prove attrac- 
 tive to the fish. On completing its range, the angler should 
 allow it to hing, as it were, for a few seconds in subjection 
 to the current, and when recovering, in order to renew the 
 cast, should do so with extreme caution and deliberation. 
 
 When a check occurs, no matter from what cause it may, 
 on the instant, be imagined to proceed, he ought at once to 
 
METHOD OF CAPTURING SALMON. 183 
 
 give line, not merely exhausting what he has in preparation, 
 but dealing out ungrudgingly a further supply from his 
 reel, and this by means of the hand, so that it may run off 
 easily, and, as it were, humour the movements of a sup- 
 posed fish. The check itself may very possibly be occasioned 
 iDy collision of the plummets with some stone or jut of rock, 
 or it may proceed from the interference of a trout or eel, 
 but this being quite uncertain, the angler has himself to 
 blame, should he, by dealing with it as such and uncircum- 
 spectedly, give opportunity for a good fish to escape. In 
 general,f however, I may remark, a mere check or stoppage 
 is not the usual indication of a fish having seized the worm. 
 What takes place has more the nature of an attack, quick 
 and vigorous as is that of the pike on a running bait. The 
 progress of the hook downwards is disturbed by a violent 
 jerk or pull, sometimes in the direction of the current, but 
 as frequently to the side, towards the lair or retreat of the 
 salmon. Should this attack on the bait be met with un- 
 resistingly by the angler, and sufficient line allowed on the 
 occasion, it will generally, after a short pause, become re- 
 peated, with less violence indeed, but with more earnest- 
 ness and efiect. In the interval between the charges, how- 
 ever, care must be taken to sustain and give an animated 
 appearance to the worms. If allowed to drop to the 
 bottom, the salmon will no longer assail them. Accordingly, 
 recover line with the hand, and be a little more chary 
 than at first of yielding it when the fish renews the attack. 
 At this point it is that a slight measure of resistance will 
 act as a proyocative ; previously its efiect was to alarm and 
 beget suspicion. 
 
 The salmon will now, after two or three successive 
 assaults, bolt the bait ; and his doing so may be inferred 
 from a peculiar strain upon the line, more fixed and con- 
 tinued in character than any it had yet been subject to, 
 during the attack. The resolute and quick elevation of the 
 rod will suffice to fix the hook deep among the entrails of 
 the fish, and nothing further is left to be done but to 
 fatigue and land him. 
 
 Such is the method of capturing salmon with the worm 
 pursued in the neighbourhood of Kelso. It can be prac- 
 tised with success only when the river is clear and small. 
 A slight degree of frost is also favourable, sharpening 
 wonderfully the appetite of the fish. The greatest feat I 
 
184 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 happen to have witnessed, in the way of killing salmon 
 with the worm, was accomplished six or seven years ago, 
 on the Hemp-side Ford stream, close to Kelso, by a friend 
 of the late Sir Francis Chantrey, who himself, on the occa- 
 sion I allude to, was also engaged angling on the pool 
 immediately above. Sir F. I understand to have been held 
 in repute as a Thames fisher, and from the specimen I then 
 witnessed of his skill in heaving the line, the perfect con- 
 trol he exhibited over his rod and tackle, I could at once 
 perceive that he was no raw or undisciplined angler. Quite 
 otherwise it was with his friend, who, although I make no 
 question but that he had frequently, before then, disturbed 
 the finny tribe, was evidently a very inferior craftsman, 
 compared with the sculptor. The latter, however, notwith- 
 standing that he plainly knew nothing or little of the 
 habits of salmon, relied upon his own address and attain- 
 ments, as a Cockney angler, to achieve something extra- 
 ordinary. Accordingly, instead of chiming in with the 
 approved practice of the district, he chose to resort, as a 
 means of capturing the fish in question, to the mode of 
 taking trout adopted on some of the English rivers, and 
 actually plied Tweed with a tackle comprising nearly a 
 dozen hooks and a whole string of pellets weighing 
 almost a quarter of a pound, while the bait, in absence of a 
 bleak or gudgeon, consisted of an entire parr or fingerling. 
 This he pitched from him, by means of a long, stiff" rod, to 
 an extraordinary distance, not less certainly than forty or 
 fifty yards, allowing his line to spin out through the rings, 
 and recovering it by the double action of his reel and hand, 
 until the bait, having completed its course of transit, hung 
 suspended midway betwixt the butt and top-piece. He 
 then repeated, in a similar manner, the cast or heave out, 
 causing the parr, as it returned towards him, to revolve 
 with considerable speed and no doubt attract the notice of 
 all the finny tribe within range of observation. I need not, 
 however, state the result. The craziest salmon that ever 
 cleft water would scarcely dream of showing snout to such 
 a contrivance. At that season of the year especially, it was 
 then about the end of autumn, there was not the smallest 
 chance of obtaining even an offer, and unless the tackle 
 should happen, by pure accident, to run athwart some 
 spawning fish lying heedless on its redd, our distinguished 
 sculptor might have ventured cast after cast, during a 
 
Monarch oi* tAe riv^r. iss 
 
 whole term of weeks, without being able to hit the features 
 of a solitary grilse. 
 
 While Sir F. was thus employed attempting to reconcile 
 the monarch of the rivers to the food of the fresh-water 
 tyrant, his friend Mr. W. had judiciously placed himself 
 under guidance of T. Kerss the fisherman, who, as the water 
 was small and the day clear, recommended the use of the 
 worm in preference to fly. Acting according to Kerss's in- 
 structions, who stood at his elbow with the gaff-hook, Mr. 
 W., in the course of two or three throws, had the satisfac- 
 tion of fastening on a moderate-sized grilse. It was evident, 
 however, that he had not been accustomed to deal with fish 
 of great calibre, for no sooner was it hooked than he en- 
 deavoured, by a violent eifort, to haul it directly to the 
 edge — an act of temerity immediately repaid by the snap- 
 ping asunder of his casting-line, and, of course, the escape 
 of the fish. Being a dun grilse, the loss was by no means 
 severe, and became speedily supplied by the capture of one 
 in better condition. To this succeeded another, and after 
 it a third. In short, within the course of two hours, Mr. 
 W. landed no fewer than eleven fish, salmon and grilse, all 
 within the distance of one hundred yards from each other 
 — an a.ngling feat, under the circumstances of the case, 
 seldom equalled. It may be proper to state that the fish 
 were none of them in the primest condition. Those taken 
 with the worm, at a distance from the sea, seldom are so ; 
 for it generally happens that at least three weeks have 
 elapsed betwixt the running of salmon during a flood, and 
 the reduction of the water down to worm-fishing level. 
 
 Although the true salmon (8almo salar) will seldom, in 
 a full or swollen state of the river, show regard to bait of 
 any kind, yet it does so occasionally. On the Nairn river, 
 I captured with the worm a small clean salmon, the water 
 being brown and full ; and I have frequently on Teviot 
 seen kelted fish taken by means of the minnow or parr-tail, 
 under similar circumstances. I recollect capturing a newly- 
 run salmon of above nine pounds weight out of the same 
 river, under circumstances not at all favourable for the 
 angler, the streams running large, and, although not absol- 
 utely dirty, being highly impregnated with snow water. 
 As to bull-trout or whitlings, they will snatch at a worm, 
 minnow, or parr-tail without much ceremony, I do not say 
 freely or at all times, but with many degrees less fastidious- 
 
186 I^HE ANGLER*S COMPANION. 
 
 ness than the salmon, during floods or while running. Cold 
 weather also appetises them wonderfully; but when the 
 river is clear and small they become a shy, distrustful fish. 
 As kelts, however, they are, in all states of water, voracious, 
 and will dash equally at bait and fly, with the fearlessness 
 and avidity of the pike itself. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PIKE AND PIKE-FISHING. 
 
 PiKB-Fishing. — Enormous Eel. — Ravages Committed by Pike among 
 Salmon Fry and Trout. — Increase of Pike.^Pike Tackle. — Gorge 
 Hook.^Mode of Baiting. — Spinning Bait Tackle. — Pike Ply. — 
 Peculiar Disposition of the Fish. — When in Season. — Superiority 
 of the Teviot Breed. — Weather and State of Water Suitable for 
 Pike-Fishing.— Approved Method of Dispatching Large Fish. 
 
 Pickerel ; Jack ; Pike ; Luce ; Gedd. 
 
 Filf-EAYS.-D. 19 ; P. 14 ; V. 10 ; A. 17; C. 19. 
 
 Generic Chakactebs. — Head depressed, large, oblong, blunt ; jaws, 
 
 palatine bones and vomer furnished with teeth of various sizes ; 
 
 body elongated, rounded on the back ; sides compressed, covered 
 
 with scales ; dorsal fin placed very far back over the anal fin. — 
 
 YarreU, vol. i. p. 383. 
 
 Although, in common with most anglers, I esteem salmon- 
 fishing and the capturing of trout, whether with fly, 
 minnow, or worm, pre-eminent among river sports, the 
 trolling for pike also in places where they are known to 
 attain great size and are tolerably abundant is an amuse- 
 ment by no means uninteresting. 
 
 Of late years, I have occasionally practised this branch 
 of the art with great success ; my principal scene of action 
 being the river Teviot, or, in fact, two or three pools belong- 
 ing to it, which lie in the vicinity of Roxburgh, a small 
 village situated about three miles from Kelso. As these 
 pools, or the portions of them where pike lie (for they are 
 not all throughout equally infested by this species of water- 
 pirate), are neither extensive nor numerous, I generally 
 managed to test them quite suificiently for the day in the 
 course of an hour or little more. In a brown water, and 
 when the fish were in taking humour, I sometimes confined 
 
PIKE-TROLLING. 187 
 
 myself to a single hole or haunt, from which, ere the elapse 
 of twenty minutes, I have managed over and over again to 
 abstract a large creel-load of fish, varying in point of 
 numbers from two to six, and in point of weight from ten 
 to two pounds. The period of the day I commonly, on 
 these occasions, devoted to pike-trolling, ranged from one 
 to five in the afternoon, and often succeeded a morning 
 spent in trouting, when I was well supplied with fresh and 
 proper sized baits. In their edible qualities, the Teviot 
 pike are the finest I ever tasted. They cut firm and white, 
 have little or none of that slimy flavour which this fish 
 generally possesses, and in their formation are comparatively 
 small-headed, deep-flanked, and broad-shouldered. 
 
 In respect to size they have varied considerably of late 
 years, and at present, except in one or two spots difficult of 
 access, few very large ones are to be met with. 
 
 The first time I had reason to suspect that pike were 
 somewhat numerous in the part of Teviot alluded to 
 was on the 29th of May, 1838. Previous to this date no 
 one, I believe, ever dreamt of angling for them farther 
 down the river than the pool at Mount Teviot, a strictly 
 preserved stretch of water, into which the original stock 
 had been committed by the late Marquis of Lothian, along 
 with a breed of perch of a valuable description, attaining 
 individually the weight of three or four pounds. On the 
 day in question, the water being of a fine amber colour, I 
 had been engaged trouting at the turn above Sunlaws Mill, 
 the Nine Wells, and lower portions of the Ormiston streams, 
 and had met with very fair success, having captured a fine 
 whitling and several dozen of good yellow trout. Nearly 
 three in the afternoon it was before I thought of retracing 
 my steps homewards in the direction of Kelso, and this I 
 did leisurely along the south bank of the river. On reach- 
 ing that part of Teviot which runs opposite Roxburgh 
 boat-house, I was struck, as I had previously been more 
 than once, with the appearance of the water a little farther 
 down, as being a likely refuge place for any stray pike 
 which some large flood might possibly have carried away 
 from the cauld at Mount Teviot. Accordingly, acting 
 under this impression, I mounted appropriate tackle, 
 appending the ordinary double-barbed gorge hook, and 
 baiting it with a small trout. Holding the rod in my left 
 hand, I hove the lure well out beyond a bed of pickerel 
 
188 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 weed wliich extended to some distance from under the 
 rush-lined margin beside me. Scarcely was the bait out of 
 sight, when the half-expected token of a fish having seized 
 it took place. No one that ever felt the first attack of a 
 pike at the gorge-bait can easily forget it. It is not, as 
 might be supposed from the character of the fish, a bold, 
 eager, voracious grasp; quite the contrary, it is a slow, 
 calculating grip. There is nothing about it dashing or at 
 all violent ; no stirring of the fins — no lashing of the tail — 
 no expressed fury or revenge. The whole is mouth-work ; 
 calm, deliberate, bone-crashing, deadly mouth- work. You 
 think at the moment you hear the action — the clanging 
 action — of the fish's jaw-bones; and such jaw-bones, so 
 powerful, so terrific ! You think you hear the compressing, 
 the racking of the victim betwixt them. The sensation is 
 pleasurable to the angler as an avenger. Who among our 
 gentle craft ever pitied a pike ? I can fancy one lamenting 
 over a salmon or star-stoled trout or playful minnow ; nay, 
 I have heard of thosewho, on being bereft of a pet gold- 
 fish, actually wept; but a pike! itself unpitying, unsparing, 
 who would pity ? — who spare ? 
 
 Returning, however, to the point in my narrative at 
 which I broke off; I no sooner felt the well-known inti- 
 mation, than drawing out line from my reel, and slightly 
 slackening what had already passed the top-ring of my 
 rod, I stood prepared for further movements on the part of 
 the fish. After a short time he sailed slowly about, con- 
 fining his excursions to within a yard or two of the spot 
 where he had origin&lly seized the bait.. It was evident, as 
 I knew from experience, that he still held the trout cross- 
 wise betwixt his jaws, and had not yet pouched or bolted 
 it. To induce him, however, to do so without delay, I very 
 slightly, as is my wont, tightened or rather jerked the line 
 towards myself, in order to create the notion that his prey 
 was making resistance and might escape from his grasp. 
 A moment's halt indicated that he had taken the hint, and 
 immediately afterwards, all being disposed of at one gulp, 
 out he rushed, vigorous as any salmon, exhausting in one 
 splendid run nearly the whole contents of my reel, and 
 ending his exertions, in the meanwhile, with a desperate 
 somerset, which revealed him to my view in all his size, 
 vigour, and ferocity; the jaws grimly expanded, the fins 
 erect, and the whole body in a state of uncontrollable ex- 
 
AN INCIDENT IN PIKE-TROLLING. 189 
 
 citement. Being provided with a single-handed rod, and 
 winch-line suited in respect of strength and thickness to 
 light fishing, it was a marvel that either of these stood the 
 test on an occasion so very trying. The worst, however, 
 was over, and although the pike, as fish of its kind under 
 similar circumstances always do, showed signs of remaining 
 strength, coupled with great suUenness, it nevertheless, in 
 the course of a few minutes, submitted to its fate, and 
 allowed itself to be drawn ashore at a convenient landing- 
 place, which fortunately was not far off". 
 
 This fish, the first I ever captured in Teviot, weighed 
 nearly a stone, and preceded in its fate no fewer than four 
 others, of the respective weights, or nearly so, of ten, eight, 
 seven, and three pounds, all of , which I took from about 
 the same spot, in less than an hour's time. Shortly after, 
 three or four days intervening, I killed two pike of twelve 
 pounds weight each, close to the place mentioned, and in 
 the same season met with an incident which, as it has some 
 connection with pike- trolling, is worthy of being recorded 
 in this chapter. It happened in the month of July, on 
 which day Teviot, owing tp recent rains, was somewhat 
 discoloured, and I had ventured as far up its banks as the 
 Roxburgh pool, intending to trout with fiy and minnow, 
 and also to give the pike a trial. That I might not, how- 
 ever, consume much time upon the latter fish, I had pro- 
 vided myself with a couple of set lines formed of strong 
 cord. These it was my intention to lay out in a portion of 
 the pool hitherto untried, and to allow them to remain 
 there, while I angled for trout higher up the river. With 
 the view of doing this I had secured, by desultory throwing 
 in my progress towards Roxburgh, several small trout, and. 
 when arriving at the spot where I had intended to lay the 
 lines, was unable to resist an anticipatory trial for pike 
 with the rod itself, which, on this occasion, was a double- 
 handed one, and provided with a good-sized reel and line to 
 correspond. 
 
 Having affixed and baited a gorge-hook, I accordingly 
 commenced operations, and in the course of a few throws 
 hooked what I conceived to be a pike of extraordinary size. 
 It pouched quickly, ran far, and forcibly crossed and re- 
 crossed the river, which, at the spot in question, is by no 
 means narrow, — rushed upwards to a distance of at least a 
 hundred yards and down again, seemingly without the least 
 
190 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 fatigue. Having regained, however, the spot from which' it 
 had commenced its run, all on a sudden the fish halted, and 
 immediately, without any jerk or strain on my part, the 
 line came to hand, neatly severed or cut through by the 
 teeth, above the wire-fastenings to which the gorge-hook 
 had been appended. No slight disappointment it was. I 
 fancied of course that I had lost a pike of such uncommon 
 size, as to have been able to engross, in pouching, the whole 
 extent of arming in question, measuring nearly a foot. My 
 sole resource, therefore, or hope of retrieve, — and I was by 
 no means sanguine of the result, — lay in the setting of the 
 two lines I had brought along with me, at or near the spot 
 where the fish had made its escape. Accordingly, baiting 
 each with a trout of at least four ounces in weight, I threw 
 them in not far from one another, with small fioats attached, 
 in order to show off the lure and keep it from the bottom. 
 This done, 1 pursued my way farther up the river and 
 commenced trouting. On my return, after the expiry of 
 two or three hours, to the place where I had set the lines, 
 I found that both the corks were out of sight and the cords 
 stretched to the uttermost, but quite motionless. Drawing 
 the nearer one, I was surprised to observe it, although made 
 of strong and fresh material, snapped through at the middle. 
 It was not so, however, with the other. There was evi- 
 dently something attached to it of considerable weight and 
 bulk, without, however, any live resistance. Imagine my 
 surprise, when, on hauling it nearer the bank, I beheld a 
 huge eel enveloped among the cords, quite choked and life- 
 less. Of river eels it was the largest I had ever witnessed, 
 although I certainly have seen congers of greater size. 
 Above four feet and a half in length, and in girth fully 
 eleven inches, I think it could not have weighed less than 
 twenty pounds. This point, however, I wanted the ready 
 means of determining, although I regret not having made 
 an effort to acquaint myself with it. On examining the 
 stomach of the monster, I found that it contained all the 
 three gorge-hooks employed by me, and the trouts with 
 which, individually, they had been baited. My experience 
 in eel-fishing has not been very great, but I have taken 
 some hundreds of them in my time, and I do not remember 
 above one or two that showed fight in the same manner this 
 one did, while on the^ rod. In general, they waddle or twist 
 about, betake themselves under rocks, stones, or roots of 
 
tllVES CAlRNS. 191 
 
 trees, but very seldom push out directly across or up the 
 pool. With the gorge-hook indeed, and a small trout as the 
 bait, I have often, both before and since the occasion above- 
 mentioned, captured them ; also while trolling for pike with 
 gimp and swivel tackle, and that in mid water betwixt the 
 bottom and surface ; nor, indeed, will eels, when impelled 
 by hunger, shrink from assailing the largest fish, should 
 these happen to be sickly or in adverse circumstances. It 
 is well known that what are termed river cairns, or heaps 
 of stones raised by the tacksman of salmon-fishings for the 
 purpose of inveigling running fish into a certain description 
 of net attached to them, afibrd shelter to large numbers of 
 eels and lampreys which, if the grilse or salmon' happening 
 to becpme entangled is allowed, through neglect or other- 
 wise, to continue two or three hours in this state of thral- 
 dom, will, forcing an entrance through the gill or mouth, 
 speedily disencumber it of its entrails ; nay, if allowed to 
 pursue their work of molestation unchecked, absolutely hol- 
 low it out, until little remains but a sack or skinful of bones. 
 To return, however, to the subject of pike-fishing, I may 
 mention that, within the last eight or nine years, I have 
 captured about one hundred and fifty pike out of Teviot 
 alone, five-sixths of them with the rod, and, as has been 
 already mentioned, chiefly during spare hours, and on my 
 return from some trouting excursion. Of these, the largest 
 was a male fish, and weighed about seventeen pounds. I 
 caught another with the minnow and single gut line, on the 
 8th of March, 1845, weighing fourteen pounds, and I have 
 not unfrequently taken others approaching to twelve 
 pounds. That there still exist in the Heaton Mill Cauld 
 several fish heavier than any I have named cannot be ques- 
 tioned. I once hooked and played one, apparently a twenty 
 pounder, until quite exhausted, and had I been accommo- 
 dated with a gaff-hook or convenient landing-place, would 
 certainly have secured him. As it turned out, in the ab- 
 sence of either, I was compelled to use more than ordinary 
 force, in order to bring him within rea^ch of my hand. 
 The tackle being formed of single gut, accordingly broke, 
 and the fish, after lying motionless for some minutes on the 
 surface of a bed of thick weeds, made his escape. A pike 
 weighing nineteen pounds was killed, some years ago, with 
 the leister, a little way below Ormiston Mill. This, per- 
 haps, was the largest, actually secured, of Teviot pike. 
 
192 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 The introduction of these fish into the principal tributary 
 of Tweed, has, there is no question, conduced very materially 
 to injure the salmon-fishings ; nor, as may be supposed, 
 have the common trout remained wholly unscathed. With 
 regard to the ravages committed aipong the fry of the 
 salmon, I may mention that almost every pike captured by 
 me during the months of April and May contained in its 
 stomach, or disgorged on being landed, the remains of one 
 or more smolts. These frequently were quite entire — to 
 all appearance, indeed, newly killed ; they were sometimes 
 also in a partly- digested state, and on other occasions pre- 
 sented to the eye little more than was sufficient to dis- 
 tinguish them as having been small fish. I have taken 
 five or six salmon-fry, in the stages above described, out of 
 the stomach of a single pike. Two, three, or four, are a 
 matter of common occurrence. Such being the case, and 
 if it be true, what many ichthyologists affirm, that fish 
 dissolve their food with such astonishing rapidity as to 
 rival, in some instances, the action of fire ; nay, allowing 
 that the stomach of the pike occupied a couple of hours in 
 completing the digestive process, the amount of havoc com- 
 mitted by this ravager on Teviot, during the smolt season, 
 is quite astonishing. Confining my calculation within very 
 moderate bounds, I shall presume that each pike, on the 
 average, as his daily meal, during the months already re- 
 ferred to, engrosess four salmon or bull-trout fry. This, in 
 the course of sixty days, gives an allowance to every indi- 
 vidual in Teviot of two hundred and forty smolts : and 
 supposing there are from Ancrum Bridge downward, a 
 stretch of water nine or ten miles in length, not more than 
 one thousand pike, the entire number consumed by these 
 in less than one-sixth of the year amounts to two hundred 
 and forty thousand, or nearly a quarter of a million of 
 salmon-fry — a greater number, there is no question, than is 
 killed during the same extent of time by all the angling 
 poachers in the district put together. This work of de- 
 vastation among the smolts is the more to be regretted, 
 seeing that there is not only no likelihood of its being 
 brought to an end, but, on the contrary, from what I have 
 observed, there is every chance of its extension and increase. 
 The pike of Teviot, being well supplied with food, is of 
 quick growth. I have ascertained pretty accurately that 
 the average weight of a two-year-old fish runs from three 
 
A FAVOURITE MINNOW CAST. 193 
 
 to five pounds. It is also a plentiful breeder, the leaf or 
 waim of roe frequently taken by me from the inside of a 
 highly-pregnant female. pike exceeding, in point of size, 
 what is generally found in a grilse or salmon of equal 
 weight, and in the same advanced state of pregnancy. 
 The ova or pellets, moreover, are much smaller, and conse- 
 quently a great deal more numerous. They are to boot, in 
 all likelihood, better defended during the spawning season 
 from the attacks of trout and eels ; and, in fact, every cir- 
 cumstance in connection with their growth and breeding 
 subserves to impress the belief, that the pike, on many 
 parts of Teviot, is in the fair way of adding to its depre- 
 dations, and becoming numerically stronger and better 
 intrenched. As lately as theyear 1845, 1 captured several 
 of these fish in portions of the river which until then had 
 continued altogether free from their presence. One of 
 these was previously a favourite minnow-cast for trout and 
 salmon — excelled, in fact, by none on the river. It is now, 
 as a resort of the former, nearly deserted ; and even by the 
 latter cannot be visited with security, for large and jealous 
 pike will not hesitate to assail and drive away a fish so 
 defenceless as the salmon really is, when interfering with 
 what they esteem their acquired territories or strongholds. 
 In the cast I allude to, I lost one day four minnow-tackles 
 in succession, all of them having been bit through, directly 
 above the hooks, by different pike. On attaching my bait, 
 at length, to a small gimp-set tied on for the occasion, I 
 secured two of the gang which, though by no means large 
 ones, being only four pounds weight each, discovered in 
 their shape and appearance the effects of ample and good 
 feeding. An acquaintance of mine, also, not long after, 
 caught a perch with the minnow in the same place — a cir- 
 cumstance which very rarely. If ever, happened so far down 
 Teviot, certainly not in a rough, rapid stream which the 
 greater portion of the cast in question consists of. 
 
 But indications of the increase of pike are, I understand, 
 not confined to Teviot. They extend also to some of the 
 pools in Tweed about Carham, etc. Fortunately, however, 
 very few localities belonging to this river favour, as per- 
 manent haunts, their numerical increase. The rapid and 
 clear nature of its waters, as well as their comparative free- 
 dom from weeds and bye-pools, secure the salmon-fry against 
 any possibility of their suffering, as those in Teviot and Tay 
 
194 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 do, from the assaults of so merciless an enemy. It is need- 
 less, however, to pursue this subject, being entirely one of 
 local consequence, any further ; nor have I done so up to 
 the present point, with any intention of actually depreciat- 
 ing the fish in question as a sporting, or what a learned 
 j udge on the Scottish bench has expressed it, a game fish ; 
 all I wish to be inferred is, that its introduction into salmon 
 or trouting waters is a matter of policy highly questionable 
 — that at no time ought the rearing of a few pike to be 
 effected, at the sacrifice of what are generally acknowledged, 
 both with regard to sport itself and in their edible qualities, 
 so very superior. 
 
 I shall now, therefore, proceed to make a few general 
 observations relative to pike-fishing, and the ordinary modes 
 of pursuing it. The pike-rod ought invariably to be long, 
 stout in the material, and stiffish in the make. It should 
 be provided with a reel or winch of corresponding dimensions, 
 and line to suit. Of pike tackles, there are in common use 
 three or fotir descriptions. The simplest, and in certain 
 seasons and places the most deadly, is the gorge tackle. 
 This consists of a double hopk, having a detachable arming 
 formed of brass wire. 
 
 The lure commonly employed on the gorge tackle is a 
 small trout or parr, but it is capable, from its construction, 
 of being baited in various ways and with diverse delicacies 
 and attractions, such as frogs, morsels of bacon, etc., etc. In 
 baiting with the trout or any other small fish, enter the de- 
 tached end of the wire arming through the mouth, and 
 passing it along under the skin of the fish, bring it out again, 
 avoiding the vent, as near as possible to the tail or caudal 
 fin. Draw all tight, and observe that the hooks protrude 
 freely on either side of the mouth. The tail, if thought re- 
 quisite, may be fastened with thread or small twine to the 
 wire arming, in order to keep the bait in shape and allow of 
 its being gorged more easily. ^ 
 
 In angling, either pitch the bait forward by means of the 
 rod, or heave it from you with the hand. Allow it, if in 
 deep water, to sink well, before commencing to fetch it 
 home. Do this by degrees, impelling it towards the surface, 
 in short, urgent movements, and then, just as you catch a 
 glimpse of it, relaxing your pull and thereby occasioning it 
 to drop again towards the bottom. Repeat, unless pre- 
 vented by weeds or other obstacles, this mode of drawing 
 
RUNNING TACKLE FOR PIKE. 195 
 
 home the bait, until you bring it to the water's edge. I 
 have already described the manner in which pike generally 
 attack the gorge-bait and the proper way of dealing with 
 them. One instruction, however, I shall repeat, as most 
 essential, with respect to this kind of fishing. Always give 
 the pike time to swallow. If he is disposed to take time, 
 allow him five, or even ten minutes. A slight measure of 
 resistance generally, however, provokes him to be more 
 expeditious, and even a prick from one of the projecting 
 barbs of the gorge-hook casually infiicted upon him has 
 often the same effect ; but I would, in most cases, be careful 
 how I use much freedom with the rascal, for the boldest 
 fish are sometimes shy and distrustful beyond expectation. 
 When a large pike has fairly swallowed the bait, he soon 
 gives intimation of it, and even a small one makes his chain 
 ring. 
 
 The running tackle for pike I recommend to be made up 
 of three hooks, like the parr-tail tackle on a larger scale, 
 and dressed upon good gimp traces with a pair of box-swivels, 
 the lower one fastened about eighteen inches above the 
 hooks, and the uppermost at or near the junction of the 
 casting and reel lines. Bait with a small trout or parr, and 
 according to the directions already given in my chapter on 
 minnow and parr-tail*fishing, when treating of the spinning 
 lure. Should the trout be too large to be employed entire, 
 cut it as there instructed into two parts, using the lower 
 one divested of its fins, tail-foremost, and the remaining or 
 head portion, as the shape suggests. See that the bait spins 
 freely, and let the striking of the fish command your 
 particular attention. Never attempt this operation until 
 he has fairly turned with the lure betwixt his jaws, and you 
 actually feel his weight ; then, knowing the strength of 
 your tackle, drive the barbed hooks smartly across his 
 mouth, and he is fastened to your heart's content. 
 
 In loch trolling from a boat, it is common, where pike 
 are plentiful, to crowd the tackle with hooks. The advan- 
 tage of this practice is Very doubtful. Certainly, it does 
 not in the slightest degree assist or improve the spinning, 
 and as tp rendering the getting hold of the fish more 
 certain, experience has led me to believe that the parr-tail 
 running-tackle, already recommended, is, if properly man- 
 aged, as sufficiently effective as any other combination of 
 hooks in use. 
 
196 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 It may be from prejudice, but I must confess that, with 
 regard to the fiarm and making" up of pike and trolling 
 tackles, commonly used by English anglers, they appear to 
 me to be, many of them, shop contrivances, mere fancy 
 articles made to please the eye of the purchaser. In several 
 cases, also, they are the produce of a whim or speculative 
 notion, on the part of some angler who, no doubt, can ex- 
 patiate largely on the virtues and marvellous facilities of 
 his invention, perhaps can enumerate instances of its 
 successful application, and bids defiance to the possibility 
 of its being excelled or outrivalled. But there is a great 
 difierence, mark me, betwixt the actual and the possible — 
 betwixt tackle tried by experiment and contrivances whose 
 recommendatory points are only in the brain of the inventor. 
 To the former, there is due a fixed degree of appreciation ; 
 to the latter, little more than the regard called forth by an 
 object which excites our curiosity. 
 
 Of snap or spring-hooks for pike I shall say nothing, 
 holding them, as I do, quite superfiuous ; neither shall I 
 venture to describe the live-bait tackle, never having used 
 it. I have no doubt, however, that angling for pike with 
 the live-bait is, in certain places, a very deadly mode of 
 fishing, but there is too much of the drowsy, set-line kind 
 of work about it for my taste. Set-lines themselves and 
 trimmers I forbear touching upon. They are all well 
 enough in their way, and on many occasions afford very 
 good amusement, but I can scarcely treat of them in these 
 pages, as legitimate means of angling, much more so in fact 
 than netting itself is. 
 
 With regard to fly-fishing for pike, I used to practise it, 
 many years ago, with tolerable success in a shallow loch in 
 Fife. I have also tried it in Perthshire, but the result of 
 my several experiments with the pike-fly is, that I am con- 
 vinced it is not a lure at all attractive to large or even 
 middle-sized fish ; that, in fact, few of a greater weight 
 than three or four pounds are ever tempted to seize it, and 
 these do so only in shoal water, and during dull, windy 
 days. Pike-flies ought to be big and gaudy, the wings' 
 formed each of the eye of a peacock's tail-feather, — the 
 body plentifully bedizened with dyed wool, bright hackles, 
 and tinsels. Bead-eyes, also, are held in estimation, and 
 gimp or wire arming is of course essential. 
 
 The pike, although a bold, vindictive fish, careless of the 
 
THEIR SPAWNING MONTHS. 197 
 
 angler's presence when in pursuit of its prey, is nevertheless 
 sulky in its disposition, not to be tempted, at times, by any 
 bait, although dropped immediately before its snout. It is 
 liable, also, to be operated upon by the weather, more so 
 even than the trout is ; and moreover, in many places, has 
 its feeding hours, apart from which it is loth, unless under 
 very favourable circumstances, to follow the bait. . As re- 
 gards seasons, however, I have caught it in Teviot through- 
 out all the year, but the pike of this river may possibly 
 form one of several exceptions to the general rule ; for in 
 the Loch of the Lowes, in Selkirkshire, as well as in certain 
 lakes in Ross-shire, where I have over and over again 
 exerted my utmost skill, during the spring months, to secure 
 a single fish, I never could accomplish my object sooner 
 than the month of May ; and even then, the disposition of 
 the pike to take freely was very questionably mani- 
 fested. 
 
 Out of Till, which is an early river, and swarms with 
 pike, I once took several of these fish, during spring, and 
 have no doubt, that; as in Teviot, they may be captured 
 there at any season. Their spawning months, in the south 
 of Scotland, are March and April ; and they are considered 
 by many epicures as finest in condition when full of roe. 
 For my own part, with regard to the Teviot pike, at no 
 season did I ever capture one which was not highly relish- 
 able, being firm, white in the flesh, and well tasted. Those 
 of the Loch of the Lowes possess the same qualities ; but it 
 is very difierent with the pike of Yetholm Loch, of Earn, 
 Tay, and twenty other places where I have taken them. 
 On the contrary, the fish of these waters are, with few ex- 
 ceptions, soft and slimy — in fact, positively disagreeable to 
 the smell and taste. It is a great improvement to the fish 
 to have it crimped, immediately on its being taken, at the 
 water-side. I have seen grilses and salmon also treated in 
 this manner, and it brings out the curdy firmness of the 
 fish amazingly in boiling. After cleansing, wrap up the 
 pike in a cloth brought for the purpose, and transfer it to, 
 your pannier. The directions for boiling it are similar to 
 those I have elsewhere given for the boiling of salmon ; only 
 it is advisable, first of all, to immerse the fish for a minute 
 or two in hot, scalding water, and thereby render easy the 
 removal of the scales by means of a knife or scraper. A 
 pike of about eight pounds in weight, when baked or roasted, 
 
 lo 
 
198 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 forms an excellent disl). It is, of course, much improved by 
 various sauces and stuffings ; but it is not, as some affirm, 
 mainly indebted to these for its edible qualities. As for the 
 Teviot pike, I consider them, at all seasons, preferable to the 
 general run of salmon captured in that stream, these being, 
 during the spring months, chiefly kelts or baggits, and, 
 after September, dun, soft, unhealthy-looking fish. Occa- 
 sionally, it is true, one may alight upon a lively grilse in 
 July or August, or even a clean salmon, now and then, but 
 such events are of rare occurrence. 
 
 I have not, 'as yet, attempted any description of the 
 places generally resorted to, and held in defence by the pike 
 or jack. They consist, in lochs, of all shoal and weedy 
 parts, of bays and covert places, such as are formed by a 
 
 ' projecting wall or sunken tree. In rivers, they include.the 
 bye-water, and such spots as are not much operated on by the 
 ordinary current. Damheads, moreover, or the pools super- 
 intending them are favourite haunts with this fish ; the rich 
 mould which settles and remains in many of them, after 
 floods, conducing to the , growth of various kinds of water- 
 weeds, such as the pickerel, etc., the varied depth, also, and 
 limitation of currents being in accordance with its tastes 
 and habits. 
 
 Some naturalists affirm that the pike is a solitary fish. 
 This I hold to be quite a mistake. They are, at certain 
 seasons, as gregarious, if not more so, than the trout. 
 True, they do not swim exactly side by side, like perch ; 
 but, as accords with their size and rapacity, maintain a 
 wider range ; and when on the bask, or in sunning humour, 
 distribute themselves along the margin or plot of floating 
 weeds, at short distances, each seemingly having its own 
 lurking-place apportioned to it. I have captured frequently 
 five or six pike, one after the other, out of the same hole, and 
 from the same stance; although, in experimenting pre- 
 viously, for the space of an hour over the cast, I was unable 
 to detect the presence of a single fish. None, in fact, I am 
 convinced, were at that time upon the spot, and they had 
 evidently, in the interval, taken possession of it, as a body, 
 
 , not as individuals. 
 
 As to the weather and state of water best suited for 
 pike-fishing, the former I esteem most when dull and warm ; 
 there being at the time a breeze from the south or south- 
 west. Sunny glimpses, now and then, are not unfavourable, 
 
MODE OF DESPAtCHlNa fiKE, 19d 
 
 and the (approach o£ thunder, so inimical to the hopes of 
 the trout-fisher, may be held auspicious. On cold days, 
 however windy, pike seldom bite well, although in Teviot, 
 during the spring season, I have met with exceptions. In 
 this river also, 1 have noticed that these fish are in high 
 humour for taking immediately before a flood, and when 
 the water is just beginning to swell. This is owing, no 
 doubt, to the anticipations entertained by them, through 
 instinct, of being deprived for some length of time of their 
 usual food, which, during a thick, muddy water, they are 
 unable to discern and secure. They, moreover, bite freely, 
 when the river is of a deep brown colour, and I have caught 
 them in pools highly impregnated with snow ; in fact, 
 there is no state of water, actual floods excepted, during 
 which the river pike I allude to may not be induced to 
 take. 
 
 Before concluding this chapter, a single advice as to the 
 m6de of despatching pike when landed, and of extracting 
 most readily and with least danger the gorge-hook, may 
 not be reckoned superfluous. The quickest, simplest, and 
 most effectual way of killing the fish is by spining it, that 
 is, by urging a sharp instrument, such as the strong blade 
 of a pocket-knife, through the spinal marrow at its junction 
 with the brain ; a spot at once ascertained from its being 
 situated immediately behind the skull bone. The pike 
 being thus despatched, open the gill cover, and cutting 
 through the gills themselves, allow them to bleed freely. 
 This done, take hold of the wire arming of the gorge-hook, 
 and, drawing it tightly up, you will discover your hook 
 lodged fast among the entrails of the fish. You have then 
 only to cut it out with your knife, and, disengaging it from 
 the wire, draw the latter, along with the bait, through the 
 lifeless and unresisting jaws. 
 
26o 1;he angler*s companion. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 COOKING OF SALMON, &C. 
 
 A TwBEDSlDE Kettle.— Directions for Boiling Salmon, Grilse, and Sea- 
 Trout.— The Curing or Kippering of Salmon.— Berwick Mode.— 
 Pickled Salmon.— Method of Eoasting Salmon.— Recipe for Pot- 
 ting Charr, Trout, etc.— A Simple Way of Cooking a Whitling or 
 Good Trout by the Riverside.- Frying of Trout.— Boiling and 
 Baking Pike. 
 
 I SHALL conclude these chapters with a few culinary ob- 
 servations on the dressing of salmon, trout, and other fresh- 
 water fish. The method of cooking salmon on Tweedside dif- 
 fers in many respects from that practised elsewhere ; but it is 
 not, on this account, without its recommendations, and by 
 one who has enjoyed in perfection what is termed afisherman's 
 kettle, the Metropolitan mode of dressing the king of fishes 
 stands a chance of being resolutely decried in future. Our 
 Border epicures, it is necessary to state, are in general good 
 judges of a proper fish. Unlike the inhabitants of Leeds or 
 Birmingham, they can distinguish at a glance the kelt, 
 spring-spawner, or bull-trout from the clean or new-run 
 salmon. They can pronounce also, without hesitation, upon 
 the length of time a fish has been kept, whether taken from 
 the sea or river ; and if from the latter, how long ago it 
 left the salt water. In all these matters, I grant, they are ' 
 not only well versed, but somewhat fastidious, and regulate 
 their cooking accordingly. 
 
 Boiling of Salmon. — It is essential that a salmon in- 
 tended for boiling should have been newly caught ; the 
 fresher it can be procured the better, and a fish transferred 
 from the net or gaff"-hook to the pan or kettle, is always 
 sure to give the most satisfaction. The way of treating a 
 salmon, under one or other of these circumstances, is as 
 follows : — Crimp the fish immediately on its being killed, 
 by the water-side, making the cuts slantwise, and at a dis- 
 tance of two inches from each other ; separate also the gills, 
 and holding it by the tail, immerse its body in the stream 
 for the space of three or four minutes, moving it backwards 
 and forwards, so as to expedite the flowing off of the blood. 
 In the meantime, give orders, if you have not previously 
 done so, to have the fire briskened and the pot or cauldron 
 
BOILING THE SALMON. . 201 
 
 filled, or nearly so, with spring water, set on to boil. The 
 fish, after being crimped and bled as I have directed, must 
 now be conveyed to a table or kitchen dresser, and there 
 thoroughly cleansed inside. This done, divide it through 
 the backdone into cuts or slices, of the thickdess already in- 
 dicated in the crimping, throwing these into a large hand- 
 basin as you proceed. I shall presume, by this time, that 
 the water is at the boiling point. If so, convey to it a large 
 bowlful of kitchen salt ; do not scrimp the material or you 
 ruin the fish. Allow the water, thus checked, again to 
 bubble up, and then pop in the cuts of salmon, head and 
 all. Several minutes will elapse before the liquid contents 
 of the pot once more arrive at the boiling point ; when they 
 do so, begin to note the time, and see, as you measure it, 
 that the fire is a brave one. For all fish under nine pounds 
 weight, allow ten minutes brisk boiling, and when exceed- 
 ing nine pounds, grant an extra minute to every 
 additional pound. When ready, serve hot, along with the 
 brine in which the fish was cooked. This is salmon in per- 
 fection, and constitutes the veritable kettle of Tweedside, 
 such as frothed and foamed in the days of the merry monks 
 of Melrose and Kelso, and what, no doubt, has been feasted 
 on in a less civilised age than ours, by the crowned heads 
 of rival kingdoms within the towers of Roxburgh, Wark, 
 and Norham. Who knows indeed but some sturdy Roman 
 imperator has tickled his palate at a fish-kettle on Tweed- 
 side, and taken home to the Seven-hilled city, and the 
 gourmands of the senate-house, a description of the primi- 
 tive banquet ? 
 
 A fresh salmon thus cooked is remarkable for its curd 
 and consistence, and very unlike the soft oily mass generally 
 presented under that designation. Even when it has been 
 kept a day or two, this method of boiling will be found to 
 bring out more equally the true flavour of the fish, than if 
 it had been placed entire, with a mere sprinkling of salt, in 
 the fish-pan. Under these circumstances, melted butter is 
 preferred by some to the simple gravy above mentioned, 
 but no true fish-eater can tolerate the substitute. 
 
 Through the kindness of Thomas Whyte, Esq., solicitor, 
 Berwick-on-Tweed, I have been favoured with another 
 much-approved-of recipe for the boiling of this delicious 
 fish :— 
 
 " Cut off the tail of the salmon, grilse, or sea-trout about 
 
202 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 four inches above the fin, then split the fish in two halves 
 along the bone, and after removing the entrails cut it across 
 into pieces of about two and a half or three inches in 
 breadth, or a little broader if required. Remove all the 
 blood from the bone, and wash the cuts perfectly clean in 
 cold water. Hard water, both in washing and boiling the 
 fish, is to be preferred. The scales ought not to be scraped 
 off". 
 
 " The water in which the fish is boiled ought previously 
 to be made nearly as salt as to fioat an egg ; and the cuts 
 should be put into this salt water or pickle when boiling, 
 with the' skin uppermost. The quicker they boil the 
 better. 
 
 _" If the fish weighs twenty pounds, let it boil twenty 
 minutes ; if fifteen pounds, eighteen minutes ; if ten pounds, 
 fifteen minutes; and if five pounds, ten minutes. While 
 the cuts are boiling, the pickle ought to be continually 
 and carefully skimmed, and when sufficiently boiled, the 
 cuts cannot be too speedily taken out of the pickle. Dish 
 quickly, skin uppermost, with a quantity of the pickle in 
 which they are boiled." 
 
 The Curing oe Kippering of Salmon. — Kippered sal- 
 mon is a well-known article of food, and in high esteem 
 for its relishable qualities at the breakfast table ; but it is 
 generally met with in a faulty state, either too hard or too 
 salt. 
 
 The salmon best adapted for kippering are large fish, 
 averaging from fourteen pounds to thirty pounds in weight ; 
 the smaller ones and grilses make, however, excellent green 
 kippers, to be eaten when soft and juicy. Such kippers as 
 are intended for winter use should be prepared in the 
 month of October, immediately before close time. Although 
 the term kipper, signifying a he-fish, is likewise applied to 
 salmon cured in a particular way, it is really a matter of 
 indifference whether the male or the female be used for the 
 purpose in question. It so happens that, in the kippering 
 season, the generality of males captured are of a coarser, if 
 not larger, description than individuals of the other sex; 
 the market-price also is, in consequence, somewhat lower, 
 and they are generally preferred as fitter to be operated 
 upon. 
 
 In kippering a salmon, the first step taken is to lay the 
 fish on its broad side on a board or table, and bv mesps of 
 
CURING OR KIPPERING. 203 
 
 a sharp knife cut it up from tail to head, close along the 
 backbone, taking care not to injure the belly or keel by 
 inserting the blade too far. Disengage and throw away 
 the entrails and gills ; also wash the fish well, removing 
 and pressing out every bloody particle from the inside. 
 Take out the eyes and insert a pinch or two of salt in their 
 place, also cut away the vent. This done, sprinkle a hand- 
 ful or two of brown sugar over the inside, and above it, the 
 same quantity or rather more of common salt. The latter 
 will occasion the sugar to penetrate and help to improve 
 the flavour of the salmon better than if the materials had 
 been previously mixed up together. Some recommend the 
 rubbing in of salt and sugar, by means of the hand, against 
 the scales of the fish externally, as well as over the inside ; 
 but this is not at all necessary. After the application in 
 question has been made, lay the salmon flat upon a board, 
 the inside turned uppermost ; cover with a cloth, and allow 
 it to remain twenty -four hours, or if preferred saltish, thirty- 
 six hours in a cool place ; after which, give it a slight wash, 
 in order to improve its appearance, and arrange two or 
 'three wooden pegs or skewers along the interior from flank 
 to flank, to keep it stretched ; then hang it up to dry in a 
 place neither too hot nor too cool. Should the weather 
 prove fine, an hour or two of exposure to the sun and air 
 will conduce to accelerate the curing process, and render it 
 less liable to be injured by dust and smoke. Salmon, on 
 being kippered, are subject to considerable loss of weight ; 
 for instance, a fish that^ originally weighed sixteen pounds 
 will, when cured, not exceed eleven. In broiling kipper, it 
 is a great improvement to wrap up the cuts, which ought 
 not to be made too thin, in white paper. This will prevent 
 them being smoked or becoming too hard externally. Fresh 
 salmon broiled in the same manner is delicious, and made 
 to retain its flavour in full perfection. 
 
 The gentleman already mentioned has also favoured me 
 with an account of the modes of kippering and pickling 
 salmon, adopted at Berwick, and communicated to him, the 
 one by a fish salesman, and the other by a celebrated salmon 
 curer in that town. 
 
 " Kippered Salmon. — Split the fish in two halves, along 
 the bone, from the tail to the head, but without separating 
 the two halves, and after removing the entrails and all the 
 blood from the bone, wash the fish perfectly clean, in 
 
204 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 cold, hard water. The scales ought never to be scraped 
 off. 
 
 " Rub a little dry salt upon the outside of the fish, against 
 the scales,^ from the tail to the head, and throw some loosely 
 upon the inside, without rubbing. Lay the salmon or grilse, 
 when thus salted, upon a flat table or board, and cover with 
 another piece of laoard or thin deal ; let it remain so covered 
 for forty-eight hours or twenty-four hours, according to the 
 size of the fish. A salmon of from ten pounds to twenty 
 pounds requires to lie in this state for forty-eight hours, — 
 a grilse requires twenty-four hours only. Three or four 
 plaster laths or hoop sticks must then, to keep it flat, be 
 placed across the fish, which should afterwards be hung up 
 by the tail to dry. 
 
 _" The fish is in perfection, as a kipper, after it has been 
 dried about twenty-four hours; and it will keep, thus 
 kippered, for many months, though apt to get too salt, and 
 require steeping in cold water, before use." 
 
 "Pickled Salmon.— Allow the fish to lie twenty-four 
 hours in winter, or twelve in summer, after being caught. 
 It will not take the salt when quite fresh. Then split, wash 
 and cut into junks, as directed in boUing salmon. Boil 
 these in a very strong salt pickle, allowing to a fish of eight 
 pounds weight, nine minutes; one of twelve pounds ditto, 
 fourteen minutes ; one of fifteen pounds, seventeen minutes, 
 and one of twenty pounds, twenty-five minutes. A number 
 of salmon boiled together of ten pounds weight each require 
 fifteen minutes. The time must, in all cases, be calculated 
 from the moment the water returns to the boiling point, and 
 not from that in which the fish are put into it. 
 
 " When the salmon has boiled the proper time, take it out 
 of the pickle as expeditiously as possible, put it on a drainer 
 and allow it to cool for twenty-four hours in summer. It 
 should then be packed, skin uppermost, in kits or jars, and 
 completely covered with cold vinegar and a small quantity 
 of the pickle or liquor in which it was boiled. To exclude 
 the air efiectually, the kits or jars in which it is placed 
 should be run over, on the top of the vinegar, with a little 
 boiling lard and the whole secured by a tin or earthenware 
 cover. Jars are preferable to kits, as the air can be more 
 readily excluded from the fish. Care must be taken, on the 
 exhaustion of the vinegar, to add a fresh supply. Salmon, 
 in this state, will remain arood for months." 
 
RECIPE EOR POTTING CHARR. 205 
 
 The method of cooking or roasting salmon at the lakes of 
 Killarney, in Ireland, is pretty generally known, but as the 
 recipe is an excellent one, and I have seen it acted on in 
 Scotland, with this difference, that the skewers employed 
 were cut from the juniper bush instead of arbutus, I shall 
 insert it. 
 
 " The salmon, as soon as caught, to be cut into slices, which 
 are split and a strong skewer of arbutus run through each as 
 close to the skin as possible. These skewers are then stuck 
 upright in a sod of turf, before a clear wood fire, and con- 
 stantly turned and basted with salt and water ; — the fish, 
 when sufficiently roasted, is served up on the skewers, 
 which are supposed to communicate a peculiar aromatic 
 flavour." 
 
 Recipe for Potting Chaer and Trout. — The following 
 are the ingredients required, in order to pot a stone weight 
 of fish. 
 
 3 tea-spoonsful of ground black pepper. 
 3 ,, ,, allspice. 
 
 2 ,, ,, mace. 
 
 1 ,, ,, cloves. 
 
 1 „ „ nutmeg. 
 
 J ,, „ cayenne. 
 
 Keep these carefully corked up in a small phial, and add, 
 when employing them, a little salt. 
 
 Cut open the fish and clean well with a dry cloth. Re- 
 move the heads,-tails, and fins, along with the back bones. 
 This done, apply the mixture, transferring them, as you do 
 so, to a baking dish. Cover well with fresh butter, and 
 place the dish in a slow oven, allowing it to remain there 
 until the bones of the fish become dissolved ; drain off the 
 butter and remove the charr or trout into potting dishes : 
 press them well down and pour fresh butter over them. 
 Trout, treated in this manner, ought to be red-fleshed and 
 not exceed three-quarters of a pound -in weight. If well 
 selected and in good season, theywill be found not a whit 
 inferior to the best charr. 
 
 Simple Recipe for Cooking a Whitling or Good 
 Trout by the River-side. — Kindle a fire of dry wood. 
 Take your fish when just out of the water. Fill his mouth 
 with salt : roU him up in two or three folds of an old news- 
 paper, twisting the ends well together. Immerse all in the 
 
206 THE ANGLER'S COMPANION. 
 
 water, until the paper has become thoroughly saturated. 
 Then lay the fish among the embers of your fire. When 
 the paper presents a well-charred appearance, the trout is 
 properly done, and will prove a savoury and acceptable 
 morsel. The fish, I may observe, must not be cut open and 
 cleaned. During the firing process, the intestines and other 
 impurities will draw together, and not in the slightest degree 
 injure the fiavour of the trout. 
 
 The Frying of TKOUT.^Preparatory to frying trout, it 
 is common in Scotland to enwrap the fish in a coating of 
 oatmeal. I am not national enough in my tastes to ap- 
 prove of this mode of concealing its flavour, and I certainly 
 prefer, if the fish is to be encrusted at all, the adoption of 
 bread-crumbs and the yoke of an egg. Good red-fleshed 
 trout, however, require no disguise, on being fried, and 
 simple lard or butter is sufficient for the purpose. Trout 
 upwards of half a pound in weight ought to be split open 
 by the back bone, and placed flat in the pan, which should 
 previously be well heated, over a clear fire, and elevated, 
 when the fish are laid on. Small trout and parr make a 
 delicious dish, if properly fried. 
 
 Boiled and Baked Pike. — Pike and eels are fish not 
 much relished in Scotland, at least on Tweedside. I hold 
 both, however, in high esteem, as articles of food. The 
 former, if intended for boiling, ought to be crimped when 
 caught, and treated in the same manner as I have described 
 the salmon to be by Tweed fishermen. A baked pike with 
 bread stuffing is excellent, and oysters form a great im- 
 provement. The scales, or even the skin of this fish ought 
 always to be removed ; the flavour resulting therefrom not 
 being the most agreeable. .This is done by plotting the 
 pike in hot water and thoroughly scraping or flaying him. 
 Pike associated with trout, whether taken from a river or 
 loch, are always better tasted than those which feed on 
 eels and frogs. 
 
 Angler ! that all day long hast wandered by sunny stream, 
 and heart and hand, plied the meditative art, who hast 
 filled thy pannier brimful of star-sided trout, and with 
 aching arms, and weary back, and faint, wavering step, 
 crossed the threshold of some cottage-inn— a smiling, rural 
 retreat that starts up, when thy wishes are waning into 
 despondency, how grateful to thee is the merry song of the 
 frying-pan, strewn over with the daintiest of thy spoils and 
 
SLAYER, OF SALMON! 207 
 
 superintended by a laughter-loving hostess and her bloom- 
 ing image ! and thou too, slayer o£ salmon ! more matured 
 and fastidious, what soimd, when thy reel is at rest, like 
 the bubbling and frothing of the fish-kettle ! what fare 
 more acceptable than the shoulder-cut, snowed over with 
 curd, of a gallant sixteen-pounder, and where, in the wide 
 world, is to be found wholesomer and heartier sauce, to the 
 one as well as to the other, than a goblet generously mixed 
 of Islay, and piping hot ? Stretch thy hand over thy 
 mercies and be thankful. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 BRITISH TRADE; or, CERTAIN CONDITIONS 
 OF OUR NATIONAL PROSPERITY, By 
 Professor John Kirk. Crown 8vo. Price 4s. 6d 
 
 A companion volume to " Social Politics," by the same author, 
 and now out of print. Regarding the latter volume, RusHn says : 
 ' ' / had no notion mydf, till the other day, what the facts were in 
 this matter. Get if you can. Professor Kirk's 'Social Politics-^ 
 and read for a begiu,ying his 7.1st Chapter on Land and Liguor, 
 and then as you have leisure all the book carefully," — FoRS 
 Clavigera, March, 1873. 
 
 SPORTING ANECt::OTES, Being Anecdotal Annals, 
 Description^^ and Incidents relating to Sport and 
 Gambling. Edited by " Ellangowan." Post 8vo. 
 Price 5s. 
 An entirely new and most interesting collection of anecdotes, 
 relating to all sections of sporting life and character, such as horse- 
 racing, boxing, golfing, jockeys, cmier-shooting, gambling, betting, 
 cock-fighting, pedestrianism, fiat-racing, coursing, fox-hunting, 
 iittgting, card-playing, billiards, etc, etc, 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN KNOX, By THOMAS 
 M'Crie, D.D. Demy 8vo. Stiff Paper Boards. 
 Price IS. 6d. 
 A cheap edition of this important work. The life of Knox com- 
 prises a history of Scotland at one of the most critical petiods, 
 namely that of the Reformation. 
 
ASD NEW EDITIONS. 3 
 
 HUMOROUS READINGS FOR HOME AND 
 HALL. Edited by Charles B. Neville. First 
 Series. Price "s. 
 
 Humorous and amusing Readings jar large or small audiences, 
 and for the fireside. This series (the first) contains thirteen pieces, 
 such as "Old Dick Fogrum Getting Settled in Life, ""The Bachelor 
 Feeling his Way," "Mr. Gingerly' s Delicate Attentions," etc., etc. 
 
 HUMOROUS READINGS FOR HOME AND 
 HALL. Edited by Charles B. Neville. Second 
 Series. Price irf. 
 
 A sequel to the above. The second series contains fourteen readings, 
 such as '^ Dick DolefuPs Disinterested Motives," " Ferney Fidget, 
 Esq., in London Lodg'.Ags" "A Philosopher Getting Married," 
 etc., etc. ■ 
 
 HUMOROUS READINGS FOR HOME AND 
 HALL. Edited by CHARLES B. Neville. Third 
 Series. Price is. 
 
 The concluding series of Mr. Neville's readings. This issue 
 contains fourteen pieces, all of a highly humorous nature, such as 
 "Dandy Nafs Hopes and Fears, "How Billy Muggins was 
 trought to Terms," " Cousin Jone:/s Valuable Legacy" etc., etc. 
 
 HUMOROUS READINGS FOR HOME AND 
 HALL. Edited by Charles B. Neville. Post 
 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 The three aforementioned seties bound in one thick handsome 
 volume, cloth gilt- 
 
 THE SCOTTISH BOOK OF FAMILY AND 
 PRIVATE DEVOTION. By Twenty Scottish 
 CLERGvk^N. Crown 8vo. Price ss. 
 
 Morning and evening prayers for family and ptivate use for 
 quarter-a-year. Week day and Sunday. Also prayers for the sick, 
 forms of invocation of the Divine blessing at table, etc. 
 
 ANGLING REMINISCENCES OF THE RIVERS 
 AND LOCHS OF SCOTLAND. By Thomas Tod 
 Stoddart. Post 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 If not the rqost useful, this is at least the most interesting of 
 all Stoddart's angling works, of which there are three in num- 
 ber. The above is not to he confounded with " The Scottish 
 Angler " on the one hand, or " The Angler's Companion " on 
 the other, though from the same pen. The present work is 
 colloquial throughout, and teeming with the richest hvimour frcm 
 beginning to end. 
 
4 HEW BOOKS 
 
 HUMOROUS AND AMUSING SCOTCH READINGS- 
 
 For the Platform, the Social Circle, and the Fireside- 
 
 By ALBXAifDER G. Murdoch. First Series. Paper 
 
 Covers. Price Is. 
 
 Hmnorous and amusing Scotch readings, fifteen in number, 
 
 and illustrative of the socud life and character of the Scottish 
 
 people, than which the author believes no more interesting svh- 
 
 ject can be found. Among other readings may he mentioned, 
 
 "Mrs. Macfarlane's Rabbit Dinner," " The Washin'-Hoose 
 
 Key," "Jock Broon's Patent Umbrella," " Willie Weedrap'a 
 
 Domestic Astronomy," etc., etc. 
 
 HUMOROUS AND AMUSING SCOTCH READ- 
 INGS. For the Platform, the Social Circle, and the 
 Fireside. By Alexander G. Murdoch. Second 
 Series. Paper Cover. Price is. 
 
 A sequel to the foregoing, contains fourteen readings, comprising 
 "Johnny Gcrwdys Funny Ploy," "Jock Tumif s Mither-in-Law, 
 ^'Lodgings in Arran," "Robin Rigg and the Minister," etc., etc. 
 
 HUMOROUS AND AMUSING SCOTCH READ- 
 INGS. For the Platform, the Social Circle, and the 
 Fireside. By ALEXANDER G. Murdoch. Third 
 Series. Paper Covers. Price is. 
 
 The third and concluding series of Mr. Murdoch's, popular and 
 highly amusing Scotch readings. This issue contains "Jean 
 Tamson's Lave Hopes and Fears" " The Amateur Phrenologist," 
 " Peter Paterson the Poet," " Coming Home Fou'," etc., etc. 
 
 HUMOROUS AND AMUSING SCOTCH READ- 
 INGS. For the Platform, the Social Circle, and the 
 Fireside. By Alexander G. Murdoch. Thick 
 Post 8vo. Cloth. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 The, three aforementioned series, bound in one thick handsome 
 volume, cloth gilt. 
 
 THE COURT OP SESSION GARLAND. Edited by 
 James Maidment, Advocate. New edition, ineVading 
 all the swpplements. Demy 8vo. Price 7s. 6d. 
 A collection of most interesting anecdotes and facetiae con- 
 nected with the Cowrt of Session. Even to those not initiated in 
 the mysteries of legal procedure, much of the volwme will be 
 fownd highly attractive, for m> genuine votary of Momus can 
 be insensible to the fun of the Justiciary Opera, as illustrated 
 by the drollery of the "Diamond Beetle Case," and many others 
 of an amusing nature, such as " The Poor Client's Complaint," 
 "The Parody on Hellvellyn," "The King's Speech," "Lord 
 Barmatyne's Lion," " TJte Beauties of Over groggy," etc., etc. 
 
AND NBW EDITIONS. 6 
 
 ST. KILDA AND THE ST. KILDIANS. By Robert 
 - CoNNELL. Crown 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 '^ A capital hools. It contains everything worth hnouiing 
 about tJie famous islet and its people." — The Bailie. 
 
 " Interesting and amusing. It includes a lively description of 
 the daily life of the inliabitants, the native industries of fishing, 
 bird catching, and the rearing of aicMy sheep and cattle, and 
 gives a vivid pictwre of the Sabbatcurian despotism of the Free 
 Church minister who rules the small population." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 THE PRAISE OF FOLLT. By Erasmus. With 
 Numerous Hlvstrations by Holbein. Post 8vo. Price 
 4s. 6d. 
 
 An English translation of the " Encomium Moriae " which 
 has always held a foremost place among the more popular of 
 the writings of the great scholar. This work is probably the 
 most satirical production of any age. It is intensely humorous 
 throughout, and is entirely unique in character. This edition 
 also contains Holbein's illustrations, attaching to which there is 
 very considerable interest. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF FISH AND FISHING. By Thomas 
 BoosET. Post 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 An interesting collection of anecdotes and incidents connected 
 with fish and fishing, a/rranged and classified into sections. It 
 deale with all varieties of British fish, their liabits, different 
 modes of catching them, interesting incidents in connection with 
 their capture, and an infinite amount of angling gossip relating 
 to each. Considerable space is also devoted to the subject of 
 fishing as practised in different parts of the world. 
 
 TALES OF A SCOTTISH PARISH. By JACOB 
 RUDDIMAN, M.A. Post 8vo. Paper Covers. Price is. 
 
 The deceased author was a person of singular beauty and 
 eriginiflity of mind, and may well be ranked alongside of Wilson, 
 Hogg, Bethune, Pollok, and other such standard writers of Scottish 
 tales. The tales are nineteen in all, and comprise such as " The 
 Sexton," " The Unfortunate Farmer," " The Lonely Widow," 
 " The Foreboding," etc., etc. 
 
 SCOTTISH LEGENDS. By Andrew Glass. Post 
 8vo. Paper Covers. Price is. 
 
 Four legends, relating chiefly to the west and south of Scotland, 
 entitled, "A Legend of Potkesay Castle," " The Laird of Auchin- 
 lec/^s Gift," " The Cruives of tree," " The Grey Stones of Gar- 
 laffin." 
 
6 NEW BOOKS 
 
 A BANQUET OF JESTS AND MERRY TALES. 
 
 By Archie Armstrong, Court Jester to King James I. 
 
 and King Charles I., 1611-1637. PostSvo. Price3s.6d. 
 An extremely amusing work, reprinted in the original quaint 
 spelling of tht period. In addition to the immense fund of amuse- 
 ment to be found in its pages, the work is highly valuable as 
 throwing much light on the social customs and ideas of the petted. 
 The author experienced life in connection with all ranks and sections 
 of society, from his own peasant home in the north, to that of the 
 Court of his Sovereign. 
 
 AMUSING IRISH TALES. By Wi' t,iAM Carleton. 
 Post 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 A collection of amusing and humorous tales descriptive of Irish 
 life and chartuter. The distinguished author has been designated the 
 Sir Walter Scott of Ireland. The tales are fifteen in number, such 
 as " The Country Dancing Master," " The Irish Match-Maker," 
 " The Irish Smuggler," " The Irish Senachie," " The Country 
 Fiddler," etc., etc. All of them are overflowing with the richest 
 wit and humour. 
 
 THE WHOLE FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES OF 
 ERASMUS. Translated by Nathan Bailey. 
 Demy 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 A complete and inexpensive edition of the great booh of 
 amusement of the sixteenth century. Probably no other work 
 so truly a/nd intensely depicts the life and notions of our fore- 
 fathers 350 years ago, as does this inimical production of the 
 great Erasmus. 
 
 There a/re 62 dialoyMS in all, avd an immense variety of 
 avl^ects are dealt with, mch a:S ^'Benefice-Hunting," "The 
 Soldier and the JarthvMan," " The Franciscans," " The 
 Appcvrition," " The Beggars Dialogue," " The Religious Pil- 
 grimage," " The Sermon," " The Parliament of Women," 
 etc., etc. The whole work is richly clw/racteristic, and is full 
 of the richest humowr and satire. 
 
 AMUSING PROSE CHAP BOOKS, CHIEFLY OF 
 LAST CENTURY. Edited by Robert Hays 
 Cunningham. Post 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 A collection of interesting prose chap books of former times, 
 forming a good representative of the peoples earliest popular 
 literature, such as " The Comical History of the King and the 
 Cobbler," "The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham," "Tht 
 Merry Conceits of Tom Long, the Carrier" "The Pleasant History 
 of Poor Robin, the Merrif Saddler of Walden," etc., etc. 
 
AND NMW EDITIONS. 7 
 
 THE DANCE OF DEATH: Hlustrated in Forty-Eight 
 Plates. By John Holbein. Demy 8vo. Price 5s. 
 
 A handeome amd inexpensive edition of tht great Holbein's 
 moat popular production. It contains the whole forty-dght 
 plates, with letterpress description of each plate, the plate and 
 the description in each cast being on separate pages, facing 
 each other. The first edition was issued in 1530, and since 
 then innumerable impressions have been isstied, but mostly in an 
 expensive form, and imattainable by the general public. 
 
 THE LITERARY HISTORY OF GLASGOW. By 
 W. J. Duncan. Qaarto. Price 12s. 6(1. net. Printed 
 for Subscribers amd Private Ciri/ulatioi.. 
 
 This voVwme forms one of the volumes issued by the MaiHamd 
 Club, and was originally publisJied in 18S1. This edition is a 
 verbatim et literatim reprint, and is limited to S50 copies, with 
 an appendix additional containing extra matter of considerable 
 importance, not in tlie original work. 
 
 The booh is chiefly devoted to giving an a^xount of the greatest 
 of Scottish printers, namely, the Foidises, and furnishes a list 
 of the books they printed, as likewise "f the sculptures and 
 paintings which they so largely produced. 
 
 GOLFIA NA MISCELLANEA. Being a Collection oj 
 Interesting Monographs on the Royal and Ancient 
 Game of Golf. Edited by James Lindsay Stewart. 
 Post 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 A collection of interesting productions, prose and verse, on or 
 relating to, the game of golf, by various authors both old and 
 recent. Nothing has been allowed into the collection ezcepl 
 works of merit and real interest. Ma/ny of the works are now 
 extremely scarce and, in a separate form, command very high 
 prices. It contains twenty-three sepa/rate productions of a great 
 variety of character — historical,, dee<:riptive, practical, poetical, 
 humorous, biographical, etc. 
 
 THE BARDS OF THE BIBLE. By George Gilfillan. 
 Seventh Edition. Post 8vo. Price 5s. 
 
 The most popular of the writings of the late Rev. Dr. 
 OUfllan, The author, injiis preface, states that the object of 
 the book was dliiefy a prose voem or hymn in honour of the 
 poetry amd the poets of the Bible. It deals with tite poetical 
 side of the inspired word, amd takes up the separate portions 
 in chronological order. 
 
8 NEW BQ0K8 
 
 « 
 
 ONE HUNDRED ROMANCES OF REAL LIFE. By 
 Leigh Hunt. Post 8vo. Price 3b. 6d. 
 A handsome edition of Leigh Hunt's famous coUeotion of 
 romances of reed life, now scarce in a complete form. The 
 present issue is complete, containing as it does the entire hundred 
 as issued by the a/athor. All being incidents from real life, the 
 interest attaching to the volume is not of an ordinary character. 
 The romances relate to all grades of society, and are entirely 
 various in circumsta/nce, each one being separate and distinct in 
 itself. 
 
 UNIQUE TRADITIONS CHIEFLY OF TEE WEST 
 
 AND SOUTH OF SCOTLAND, By John Gordon 
 
 Baebour. Post 8vo. Price 4a. 6d. 
 
 A collection of interesting local and popular traditions 
 
 gathered orally by the author in his wanderings over the 
 
 West and South of Scotland. The author narrates in this 
 
 volume, thirty-five separate incidental traditions in narrative 
 
 form, connected with places or individuals, all of a natu/re to 
 
 interest the general Scottish reader, such as " The Red Comyn's 
 
 Castle," " The Coves of Ba/rholm," " The Bafters of Kirk 
 
 AUoway," "Oumstone Castle," " The Origin of Loch Catrine," 
 
 etc., etc. 
 
 MODERN ANECDOTES: A Treaswy of Wise and 
 
 Witty Sayings of the last Hundred Tears. Edited, 
 
 with Notes, by W. Davenport Adams. Crown 8vo. 
 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 The Anecdotes are all authenticated and are classed into 
 
 Sections — /. Men of Society. II. Lawyers and the Law. III. 
 
 Men of Letters. 1 V. Plays and- Players. V. Statesmen and 
 
 Politicians. VI. The Church and Clergy. VII. People in 
 
 General. 
 
 In compiling a work like this, Mr. Adams has steadily kept 
 m view the necessity of ministering to the requirements of those 
 who will not read, anecdotes unless they have reason to know 
 that they are really good. On this jtrinciple the entire editorial 
 work has been executed. The book is also a particularly 
 handsome one as regards printing, paper, and binding. 
 
 THE LITURGY OF JOHN KNOX: As received hy 
 the Church of Scotland in \5Qi. Crown 8 vo. Price 5s. 
 A beautifully printed edition of tlie Book of Common Order, 
 more popularly known as the Liturgy of John Knox. This is 
 the only modem edition in which tlie original quaint spelling is 
 retained. In this and other respects the old style is strictly 
 reproduced, so that the work remains exactly as used by our 
 forefathers three hundred years ago. 
 
AND NEW EDITIONS. 9 
 
 THE QABERLUNZIE'S WALLET. By Jambs 
 Ballantine. Third edition. Cr. 8vo. Price 2a. 6d. 
 A most interesting historical tale of the period of the Pre- 
 tenders, and containing a very la/rge number of favourite eongt 
 and ballads, illustrative of the tastes and life of the people at 
 that time. Also containing numerous facetious illustrations by 
 Alexander A. Ritchie. 
 
 THE WOLFE OF BADENOCH. A Historical Romance 
 of the Fourteenth Century. By Sib Thomas Diok 
 Lauder. Complete imabridged edition. Thick Crown 
 8vo. Price 6s. 
 
 This most interesting romance has been frequently described as 
 equal in interest to any of Sir Walter Scott's historical tales. This 
 is a complete unabridged edition, and is uniform with " Highland 
 Legends " and " Tales of the Highlamds," by the same author. As 
 several abridged editions of the work hwiie been published, especial 
 attention is drawn to the fact thai the above edition is complete. 
 
 THE LIVES OF THE PLATERS. By John Galt, Esq. 
 Post 8vo, Price Ss. 
 
 Interesting accounts of the lives of distinguished actors, such as 
 Batertom,, Gibber, Farguhar, Oarrick, Foate, Macklin, Murphy, 
 Kerrible, &iddons, die., die. After the style of Johnsons " Idves <4 
 the Poets." 
 
 KAT'S EDINBUROH PORTRAITS. A Series of Aneo- 
 dotal Biographies, chiefly of Scotchmen. Mostly written 
 by James Paterson. And edited by James Maidment, 
 Esq. Popular Edition. 2 Vols. , Post 8vo. Price 12s. 
 
 A popular edition of this famous work, which, from its exceedingly 
 high price, has hitherto been out of the reach of the general public. 
 This edition contains all the reading matter that is of general imterest; 
 it also contains eighty iUustrations. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS ANECDOTES OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 Edited by William Adamson, D.D. Thick Post 8vo. 
 
 Price 5s. 
 A voluminous collection of purely religious anecdotes relating to 
 Scotland and Scotchmen, and illustrative of the more serious side of 
 the life of the people. The anecdotes are chiefly in connection with 
 distinguished Scottish clergymen amd layman, such as Rutherford, 
 Macleod, Guthrie, Shirra, Leighton, the Erskines, Knox, Beattie, 
 M'Orie, Eadie, Brown, Irving, Chalmers,Lawson,Milr^M'Oheyne, 
 dec, Jcc. The anecdotes are serious and religious purely, and not 
 at all of the ordinary witty description. 
 
10 NEW BOOKS 
 
 DATS OF DEER STALKINO in the Scottish High- 
 lands, including an account of the Nature and Habits 
 of the Eed Deer, a description of the Scottish Forests, 
 and Historical Notes on the earlier Field Sports of 
 Scotland. With Highland Legends, Superstitions, 
 Folk-Lore, and Tales of Poachers and Freebooters. 
 By William Scrope. Illustrated by Sir Edwin and 
 Charles Landseer. Demy 8vo. Price 12s. 6d. 
 " The best book of sporting adventures with which we are 
 acquainted. " — Athenaeum. 
 
 " Of this noble diversion we owe the /irst satisfactory descrip- 
 tion to the pen of an English gentleman of high birth and exten- 
 sive fortune, whose many amiable and degOnt -Personal qualities 
 have been commemorated in the diary of Sir Walter Scott," — 
 London Qitaetbelt Review. 
 
 DATS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING in 
 the River Tweed. By William Scrope. Illustrated 
 by Sir David Wilkie, Sir Edwin Landseer, Charles 
 Landseer, William Simson, and Edward Cooke. 
 Demy 8vo. Price 12s. 6d. 
 " Mr. Scrope' s book has done for salmon fishing what its pre- 
 decessor performed for deer stalking." — London Qtjartee'.y 
 Review. 
 
 " Mr. Scrope conveys to us in an agreeable and livdy manner 
 the results of his more than twenty years' experience in our gresu 
 Border river, . , , The work is enlivened by the narration oj 
 numerous angling adventures, which bring out with force arid 
 spirit the essential character of the sport in question, , , . Mr, 
 Scrope is a skilful author as weV is an experience,^ angler. It 
 does not faU to the lot of all men to handle with equal dexterity, 
 the brush, the pen, and the rod, to say nothing of the rifle, still 
 less of the leister under cloud of night," — Blackwood's Maga- 
 zine. 
 
 THF FIELD SPOUTS OF THE NORTH OF EUROPE, 
 
 A Narrative of Angling, Hunting, and Shooting in 
 
 Sweden and Norway. By Captain L. Llotd. New 
 
 edition. Enlarged and revised. Demy 8vo. Price 93. 
 
 " The chase seems for year's to have been his ruling passion, 
 
 and to have made Jam a perfect model of perpetual motion. We 
 
 admire Mr, Lloyd. He is a sportsman far above the common 
 
 run." — Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 " This is a very entertaining work and vnitten, moreover, in 
 an agreeable and modest spirit. We strongly recommend it as 
 containing much instruction and more cmiusement. — Athenjsum. 
 
AND NEW EDITIONS. 11 
 
 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBRARIES OF GLAS- 
 GOW. A Bibliographical Study. By Thomas Mason. 
 Demy 8vo. Price 12s. 6d. net. 
 
 A strictly Bibliographical worh dealing with the subject of rare 
 and interesting works, and in thai respect describing three of the 
 public and thirteen of the private Ubra/ries of Glasgow. All of 
 especial interest. 
 
 THE LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. Bt 
 John D. Careick. Fourth and cheaper edition. 
 Eoyal 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 The best life of the great Scottish hero. Contains much valu- 
 able and interesting matter regarding the history of that histori- 
 cally important period. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF TEE PROVINCE OF MORAT. 
 By Lachlan Shaw. New and Enlarged Edition, 
 3 Vols., Demy 8vo. Price 30a. Net. 
 
 The Standard History of the old geograpi' ^ccd division termed 
 the Province of Moray, comprising the Counties of Elgin and 
 Nairn, the greater part of the Cownty of Inverness, and a por- 
 tion of the Goimty of Banff. Cosmo Innes pronoimced this to 
 be the best local history of any part of Scotland. 
 
 HIGHLAND LEGENDS. By Sib Thomas Dick 
 Lauder. Crown Svo. Price 6s. 
 
 Historical Legends descriptive of Clan and Highland Lift 
 and Incident inj^A-m^r times. 
 
 TALES OF THE HIGHLANDS. By Sib Thomas 
 Dick Lauder. Crown Svo. Price 6s. 
 
 Uniform wUh ami similar in cha/mcter to the preceding, 
 (hough eitiirely different tales. The tie" are companion volwme*. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT MORAT FLOODS 
 
 IN 1829. By Sir Thomas Dick Latjdee.. Demy 
 
 8vo., with 64 Plates and Portrait. Eourth Edition. 
 
 Price 8s. 6d. 
 
 A most interesting work, containing numerous etchings by the 
 
 Author. In addition to the mainfeature of the book, it contains 
 
 much historical and legendary matter relating to the district'' 
 
 through which the Biver Spey runs. 
 
12 NEW BOOKS 
 
 OLD SCOTTISH CUSTOMS: Local and General. By E. 
 J. GtTTHRiB. Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 Oives an interesting account of old local and general Scottish 
 eiutoms, now rapidly being lost sight of. 
 
 A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE BELIEF IN 
 WITCHCRAFT IN SCOTLAND. By Cham,bs 
 KiREPATRicE Sharps. Crown 8vo. Price 4s. 6d. 
 
 Oives a chronological account of Witchcraft incidents in Scot- 
 land from the earliest period, in a racy, attractive style. And 
 lihevnse contains an interesting Bibliography of Scottish boohs on 
 Witchcraft. 
 
 "Sharpe was well qualified to gossip about these topics." — 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 "Mr. Sharpe has arranged aU tlie striking and important 
 phenomena associated with the belief in Apparitions and Witch- 
 craft. An extensive appendix, with a list of boohs on Witchcraft 
 in Scotland, and a useful index, render this edition of Mr. 
 Sharpe' s work all the more valuaMe." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 TALES OF THE SCOTTISH PEASANTRY. By 
 
 Alexander and John Bethunb. With Biography 
 
 of the Authors by John Inorau, r.S.A.Scot. Post 
 
 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 "Itis the perfect propriety of taste, no less than the thorough 
 
 intimctcy with the subjects he treats of, that gives Mr. Bethime's 
 
 book a great charm in our eyes." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " The pictures of rural life and character appear to us re- 
 markably true, as weU as pleasing." — Chambers's Journal. 
 
 The Tales are quite out of the ordinary routine of such litera- 
 ture, a/nd are universally held in peculiarly high esteem. The 
 following may be given as a specimen of the Contents: — " The 
 Deformed," "The Fate of the Fairest," "The Stranger," "The 
 Drunkard," "The Illegitimate," "The Cousins," dec, dc. 
 
 A JOURNEY TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF 
 
 SCOTLAND IN 1773. By Samuel Johnson, LL.D. 
 
 Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 
 
 Written by Johnson himself, and not to be confounded with 
 
 BosweU's account oftJte same tour. Johnson said that some of 
 
 kit best writing is in this work. 
 
AND NEW EDITIONS. 13 
 
 THE HISTORY OF BURKE AND HARE AND OF 
 THE RES URRECTIONIST TIMES. A Tragment 
 from the Criminal Annals of Scotland. By Gborok 
 Mac Greoob, F.S.A.Scot. "With Seven Illustrations, 
 Demy 8vo. Price 7s. 6d. 
 "Mr. MacOregor has produced a booh which w eminently 
 readable." — JotraNAL ov Jukispeitdbnck. 
 
 " The book contains a great deal of curious information," — 
 Scotsman. 
 
 ' He who takes up this book of an evening must be prepared 
 to sup full of horrors, yet the banquet is served viith much of 
 literary gracCj and garnished with a deftness and taste wJuch 
 render it palatable to a degree." — Glasgow Hebald. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF GLASGOW : From the Earliest 
 Period to the Present Time. By George Mac Grb- 
 GOR, P.S.A.Scot. Containing 36 Illustrations. Demy 
 8vo. Price 12s. 6d. 
 An entirely new as well as the fullest tmd most complete his- 
 tory of this prosperous city. In addition it is the first written 
 iti chronological order. Comprising a large handsome volume 
 in Sixty Clw/pters, and extensive Appendix and Index, and 
 illustrated throughout viith mtmy interesting engravings and 
 d/rawings. 
 
 THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF DOUGAL 
 GRAHAM, "Skellat," Bellman of Glasgow. Edited 
 with Notes, together with a Biographical and Biblio- 
 graphical Introduction, and a Sketch of the Chap 
 Literature of Scotland, by George Mac Gregor, 
 P. S.A.Scot. Impression limited to 250 copies. 
 2 Vols., Demy 8vo. Price 21s. net. 
 With very trifling exceptions Qraha/m was the only viriter of 
 purely Scottish chap-hooks of a secular description, almost aU 
 the others circulated being reprints of English productions. His 
 writings are exceedingly facetious and highly illustroitive of the 
 social life of the period. 
 
 SCOTTISH PROVERBS. By Andrew Henderson. 
 Crown 8vo. Cheaper edition. Price 2s. 6d. 
 A cheap edition of a book that has long held a high place in 
 Scottish Literature. 
 
14 HEW BOOKS 
 
 THE BOOK OF SCOTTISH ANECDOTE: Humor- 
 ous, Social, Legendary; and Historical Edited by 
 Alexaudbr Hislop. Crown 8vo., pp. 768. Cheaper 
 edition. Price 5s. 
 The most comprenensive collection of Scottish Anecdotes, eon- 
 
 taining about 3,000 in rmniber. 
 
 THE BOOK OF SCOTTISH STORY: Historical, 
 Traditional, Legendary, Imaginative, and Humorous. 
 Crown Svo., pp. 768. Cheaper edition. Price 5s. 
 A most interesting and varied collecdon by Leading Scottish 
 
 Authors, 
 
 THE BOOK OF SCOTTISH POEMS: Ancient and 
 
 Modem. Edited by J. Eoss. Crown 8vo., pp. 768. 
 
 Cheaper edition. Price 5s. 
 
 Comprising a History of Scottish Poetry and Poets from the 
 
 earliest times. With lives of the Poets and Selections from their 
 
 Writings. 
 
 ** These three works are uniform. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WESTERN ISLES OF 
 SCOTLAND, CALLED HTBRIDES. With the 
 Genealogies of the Chief Clans of the Isles. By Sir 
 DoKALD Monro, High Dean of the Isles, who 
 travelled through most of "them in the year 1549. 
 Impressioi^ jmited to 250 copies. Demy Svo. Price 5s. 
 This is the earliest written description; of the Western Islands, 
 
 amd is exceedingly quaint and interesting. In this edition aU the 
 
 old ewrious spellings are strictly retained. 
 
 A DESCRIPTION OF THE WESTERN ISLANDS 
 
 OF SCOTLAND CIRCA 1695. By Martin Martin. 
 
 Impression Umited to 250 copies. Demy 8vo. Price 
 
 12s. 6d. 
 
 With the exception of Dean Monro's smaller work 150 years 
 
 previous, it is the earliest description of the Western Islands we 
 
 have, arid is the only lengthy work on the subject before the era 
 
 of modem innovations. Martin very interestingly describes tht 
 
 people amd their ways as hefovmd them about 200 years ago. 
 
AND NEW EDITIONS. 1.6 
 
 THE SCOTTISH POETS, RECENT AND LIVING. 
 
 By Alexander G. Murdoch. With Portraits, Post 
 
 8vo. Price 6s. 
 A moat interesting reaumi of Scottish Poetry in recent times. 
 Contains a biographical sketch, choice pieces, and portraits of 
 the recent and living Scottish Poets. 
 
 THE HUMOROUS CHAP-BOOKS OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 By John FRASkR. 2 Vols., Thin Crown 8vo (all 
 
 published). Price Ss. net. 
 An interesting and racy description of the chap-book literature 
 of Scotland, and biographical sketches of the writers. 
 
 THE HISTOR T OF STIRLINGSHIRE. By William 
 NiMMO. 2 Vols., Demy 8vo. 3rd Edition. Price 25s. 
 
 A new edition of this 'tandard county history, handsomely 
 printed, and with dtMled map giving the parish boundaries 
 and other matters of interest. 
 
 This cov/ttty has been termed the battlefield of Scotland, and 
 in addition to tlie many and important milita/ry engagement* 
 that have taken place in this district, ofaU which a full account 
 is given, — this part ^f Scotland is of especial moment in mamy 
 other notable respt^^, — among which particular reference may 
 be made to the Soman Wall, the greater part of this most 
 interesting object beit^^' situated toithin the boundaries of <A« 
 cownty. 
 
 A POPULAR SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF 
 
 GLASGO W: iFrom the Earliest Period to the Present 
 
 Time. By Andrew Wallace. Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 The only attempt to unite a History of Glasgow suitable for 
 
 popular use. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS 
 AND ISLES OF SCOTLAND, from a.d. 1493 to 
 A.D. 1625. With a brief introductory sketch from 
 a.d. 80 to A.D. 1463. By Ronald Gregory. Demy 
 8vo. Price 12s. 6d. 
 Incomparably the best history of the Scottish Highlamds, and 
 written pwreby from original investigation. A Iso contains parti- 
 cularly fuU and lengthened Contents and Index, respectively at 
 beginning and end of the volume. 
 
16 NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS. 
 
 THE EISTOR T OF A TRSHIRE. By James Paterson. 
 5 Vols., Crown 8vo. Price 28s. net. 
 The most recent and the fullest history of this exceedingly 
 interesting county. The work is particularly rich in the de- 
 pariment ofEamily Sistory. 
 
 MARTTRLANB: a Historical Tale of the Covenanters. 
 By the Eev. Robert Simpson, D.D. Crown Bvo. 
 Cheaper Edition. Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 A tale UlustrMive of the history of the Covenanters in the 
 South of Scotland. 
 
 TALES OF TEE COVENANTERS. By E. J. 
 
 GtTTHRiE. Crown Svo. Cheaper Edition. Price 2s. 
 
 6d. 
 A numher of tales iUustrative of leading incidents wad cha/r- 
 acters connected with the Covenanters. 
 
 PERSONAL AND FAMILY NAMES. A Popular 
 Monograph on the Origin and History of the Nomen- 
 clature of the Present and Former Times. By Habrt 
 AliFKBD LoNa. Demy Svo. Price 5s. 
 Interesting investigations as to the origin, history, and meaning 
 
 ((fabovi 9,000 personal andfamUy names. 
 
 TEE SCOTTISH OALLOVIDIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA 
 of the Original, Antiquated, and Natural Curiosities 
 of the South of Scotland. Bv John Mactaggart. 
 Demy Svo. Price raised to 25s. net. Impression 
 limited to 250 copies. 
 Contains a large amount of extremely interesting and curious 
 
 matter relating to 'the South of Scotland, 
 
 THE COMPLETE TALES OF TEE ETTRICK 
 SHEPHERD (Jambs Hogg). 2 vols., Demy Svo. 
 An entirely new and complete edition of the tales of this 
 popular Scottish writer. 
 
 GLASGOW ■ THOMAS D. MORISON. 
 
 LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, 
 
 KENT & CO.