24 Rod-Fishing in the Nith, 



position, surrounded by a fog thick with influenza, asthma, and 

 rheumatic g"out, is the same man who cannot be induced to go to 

 church because the pews are uncomfortable." 



But rod-fishing is an art. Why should we deny to it that 

 which we grant to all other arts ? The poet, the painter, the 

 architect, can never rise to eminence unless he be highly gifted 

 with the faculty of imagination. Why, then, if I, an angler, tell 

 you how I caught twenty salmon in the Nith in one hour with a 

 trout rod, should you suggest mendacity ? Put it down to 

 exuberant imagination. Anglers are hurt when they ai-e denied 

 the exercise of that faculty which, believe me, they possess 

 in quite as lai-ge a measure as poets or painters. 



But my subject is Rod-fishmg in Nithsdale. The Nith rises 

 in Micklehill, and flows as a burn to New Cumnock ; there it is 

 joined by the Glen Allan water ; increased in volume it rests in 

 long, quiet lanes, and ripples over gravelly shallows, till, having 

 received the waters of Kelloe, Crawick, and Euchan, it becomes a 

 river, and having made a great bend round the old grey ruins of 

 Sanquhar Castle, plunges into the rocky gorge from Eliock to 

 Drumlanrig. Below Thornhill bridge the river is less rocky, 

 and by many gravelly streams it flows with willing sport to the 

 wild ocean. 



Now, rod-fishing is supposed to be the contemplative man's 

 recreation. Recreation it is, and one of the most seductive ; but 

 " contemplative ? " Did you ever see a man wading deep in some 

 rocky stream, waving his rod frantically, and straining every 

 nerve and muscle in his endeavour to reach the distant salmon, or 

 the trout rising by that big rock on the far side ? Did you ever 

 see him when he had got out every inch of line that he could cast, 

 hook th3 top of a fir tree behind him, or the thorn bush opposite 

 to him ? Did you ever hear what he said on such an occasion ? 

 Did he look contemplative ? 



The truth is that rod-fishing on such a river as the Nith is 

 very hard work, and he who would rise to eminence in the art 

 must possess muscular strength, a good temper, patience, keen 

 powers of observation, and, as I said before, imagination in a high 

 degree. You would not, I fancy, care to listen to a long disquisi- 

 tion on the various kinds of rods which are at present in use, nor 

 the vast variety of tackle, and the innumerable species of flies 

 which are turned out by the tackle makers. All I would say is, 



