Rod-Fishing in the Nith. 29 



little run from a good spriug, where they would be safe from 

 floods. Of course the percentage of fish reared would not be 

 nearly so large as if the eggs were placed in a regular hatchery 

 under cover, but it would be much larger than that of eggs laid 

 by the trout on beds which might be left high and dry one day 

 and the next torn up by some sudden flood. 



My special love for the Nith may, I think, be traced to the fact 

 that more than fifty years ago I caught my first trout with rod and 

 line in it, just where Mennock burn pours its crystal clear water 

 into the river, Probably the little trout was not more than a few 

 ounces in weight, but to me it was a monster, and though since 

 that day I have killed salmon in the Nith and monsters in Norway, 

 I have never felt such a thrill of triumphant joy as the capture of 

 that little trout gave me ; and though I am growing somewhat 

 old, and the trout-fishing is poor, I enjoy a day on the Nith more 

 than any other river that I know. The stretch of water from a 

 little below Sanquhar to Thornhill bridge is charming to the eye 

 of the artist and the angler, and brings to me old memories, some 

 joyous and some sad. In that stream I once made a good basket — 

 behind that rock long years ago I caught that big trout, here I 

 fell into the water and had a hard fight to get out, there I parted 

 from an old friend whose cheery voice I shall never hear again, 

 and though the wading of rough streams is no longer a delight to 

 me, and the sudden and unexpected sitting down on a hard rock 

 (it seems to me that rocks have got much harder of late years) is 

 a positive pain, I still love the rocky streams and wooded banks 

 of Nith, and would gladly see the fishing restored to something 

 like what it was long years ago. 



I have just come across an article in one of the papers which 

 reminds me that Frank Buckland, when appointed one of the com- 

 missioners of fisheries, expressed a hope that by wise legislation 

 salmon might become so much more abundant that it might be 

 sold at sixpence a pound, and really become food for the people. 

 Had he been invested with sufficient power to carry out his 

 schemes, it is probable that our supply of salmon would have been 

 much increased. But popular prejudice and vested interests 

 wei'e too strong for him, and I know that he was sorely dis- 

 appointed at the failure of his efforts, for the good of both ujjper 

 proprietors and net-fishers. 



