THE GALA — STOW — LARGE TROUT. 129 



The next stretch of water, between Foiintainhall 

 and Stow, is more rapid, having indeed a constant trot 

 about it that adapts it beautifully for worm-fishing, 

 but rather unfits it for the early fly-fishing. Trout 

 flock into it in the summer months, and in June and 

 July it is well worth a visit. Huge basketsful have been 

 taken from it, however, with fly, as well as May-fly 

 and creeper, for the latter of which it is capitally 

 suited. Creepei-s and May-fly are usually plentiful 

 throughout the whole course of the Gala and its tribu- 

 taries, although in some years they are more abundant 

 than in othei^s. Stow is a considerable village, with an 

 inn, and is resorted to sometimes by anglers who want 

 lodgings in summer-time within easy distance of Edin- 

 burgh. Cockum-water enters the Gala above Stow. 



Between Stow and Bowl and Bridge (the station 

 below Stow) the water runs more into pools, and 

 contains larger trout than any other part of the Gala. 

 *' We once took with the minnow, between Bowland 

 and Stow," says Mr. Stewart, " twenty trout, the whole 

 we got that day, which weighed fifteen pounds, and 

 we never got such a large average size of trout in any 

 of the tributaries of the Tweed, or even in Tweed it- 

 self." A basketful of twenty trout, averaging three- 

 quarters of a pound, is certainly remarkable for the 

 Gala, but it has been frequently surpassed in the 

 Tweed, in the Till, the Leet, and the Blackadder. 

 Mr. Stoddart mentions having caught in the Leet 

 twenty-six trout weighing upwards of twenty-nine 

 pounds ; and we have seen an average of a pound at- 

 tained in the Whitadder with the *' lying minnow" 

 — that is, a minnow thrown into an eddy, the line 



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