A FISH FOUL HOOKED 149 



get at him wi' the gaff, I was baith hungry an' 

 tyrt ; an' after a' he was firm heuckit, in the 

 teughest part o' the body, at the outside o' the 

 edge o' the wick bane. He was a clean sawmon, 

 an' three an' twenty meal pounds." 



No creature is more capricious than a salmon. 

 One of the lairds of Makerstoun, many years ago, 

 had a fisherman named Robin Hope, who, like 

 many of his brethren on the Tweed, was an original. 

 Attending his master on a day that was considered 

 quite a killing one, not a fish would stir. " What 

 is the meaning of this, Robin ? " said the laird. 

 " Deed, sir, I dinna ken," said Robin ; " for some- 

 times they will tak' the thoom o' yere mitten, if ye 

 would throw it in, and at ithers they wad na look 

 at the Lady o' Makerstoun and a' her braws." 



Salmon never take well when the weather is 

 about to change ; it is therefore useless to go out 

 when the mercury remains at this point. When it 

 first sets in for a continuance of dry weather the 

 fish will rise about your hook, and only break the 

 surface of the water ; but before a flood they will 

 spring clean out of it, for the purpose, perhaps, of 

 filling their air-bladder before travelling. 



These sportive fellows, however, sometimes get 

 into a scrape by being hooked outside. A salmon 

 of ten pounds was caught in the Skurry- wheel, at 

 Sprouston, in the following curious manner. The 

 fish were rising wantonly, but not taking the fly ; 

 in striking at one of them the line looped over its 

 tail, and the hook catching the line on the upper 

 side the fish was fairly snared, and at length killed, 

 after showing extraordinary sport. 



