126 SALMOXIA. [fifth day. 



HAL. — I fear I shall tire you by attempting any 

 details on this subject, for they are so many, that I 

 ought to take a map in my hands ; but I will say a 

 few words on those in which I have had good sport. 

 First, the Tweed: — of this, as you will understand 

 from what I mentioned before, I fear I must now say 

 "fuit" Yet still, for spring salmon fishing, it must 

 be a good river. The last great sport I had in that 

 river was in 1817, in the beginning of April. I 

 caught, in two or three hours, at Merton, four or five 

 large salmon, and as many in the evening at Kelso — 

 and one of them weighed 251bs. But this kind of 

 fishing cannot be compared to the summer fishing : 

 the fish play with much less energy, and in general are 

 in bad season ; and the fly used for fishing is almost 

 like a bird — four or five times larger than the summer 

 fly, and the coarsest tackle may be employed. I have 

 heard, that Lord Home has sometimes taken thirty 

 fish in a day, in spring fishing. About, and above 

 Melrose, I have taken, in a morning in July, two or 

 three grilses; and in September the same number. 

 I have known eighteen taken earlier, by an excellent 

 salmon fisher, at Merton ; and the late Lord 

 Somerville often took six or seven fish in a clay's 

 angling. The same "fuit " I must apply to most of 

 the Scotch rivers. Of the Tay I have already spoken. 

 In the Dee I have never caught salmon, though I 



