106 WRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



fish — presuming- you have got him — that same night. 

 Leave second-day salmon to city-dwellers and other 

 unfortunates who know nothing better. 



On one such summer's evening at Blindburn, Capt. 

 A. G. Allgood hooked a bat on the dropper, while run- 

 ning a bull-trout on the tail-fly. 



A droughty July means, of course, nothing less than 

 the loss of all these joys. A few persistent " bullies" will 

 force their way up, dry-back, through rapids and shallows ; 

 yet angling is impossible by reason of the slimy green 

 waterweed {Conferva rivularis) that clogs the flies and 

 cumbers every knot on the cast. A rainless July is the 

 angler's purgatory — worst month of all. Here is an 

 example : From June 29th (when, on a slight spate, 

 I got a salmon of 17-V lbs.) never another drop of rain 

 fell for five weeks ; nor is there in the fishing-book, all 

 through July, a single entry of sea-fish — not until August 

 5th, when, after a thre^days' flood, the score reopens 

 with a grilse of si lbs., three bull-trout of 3-} lbs., 3 lbs., 

 and 2 lbs. respectively, besides sundry dace that took 

 large flies in the darkening. 



The same flood brought up several salmon, but not 

 from sea ; those seen were all tinged with red, indicating 

 that they had been some time in fresh water. 



But should July bring rain, and with it the bull-trouts, 

 the opportunity should not be neglected. The following 

 suggestions, having been revised for me by two of the 

 most successful anglers on North Tyne, may then prove 

 useful : — Do not disturb the water till the sun is well 

 off it, and never before 6 p.m. Provide beforehand, 

 soaked and ready for instant use, three casts of graded 

 sizes, so as to be able quickly to change the smallest 

 flies for larger as darkness deepens. The third cast 



