22 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



" a more unfavourable season for the angler had not 

 occurred for a number of years/' According to the 

 same journal, the number of fish killed during the last 

 fourteen days allowed for angling, between Coldstream 

 and Peebles, did not exceed 150. 



Angling for salmon is also practised with worm and 

 with psftr-tail, and even clean fish are sometimes killed 

 with minnow. Under peculiar circumstances worm- 

 fishing for salmon is often very successful. It was 

 first, we believe, described by Mr. John Younger of 

 St. Boswell's, and the method he recommends is this : 

 Two large round-bend hooks are tied upon the strongest 

 gut, the one a little above the other; two or three large 

 lob-worms (well scoured) are run upon these hooks ; 

 if three, the two first must be drawn over both hooks 

 while the third covers only the lower pains being 

 taken to cover all the wire, and the gut between, and 

 an inch or so of gut above the upper hook. Only one 

 hook may, however, be employed, and in this case the 

 point ought to be brought through and reentered several 

 times, making folds in the worms. The line ought to 

 have a swivel, and to be very heavily leaded, as the 

 places suitable for this kind of fishing are the strong 

 streams, and it is necessary to search the bottom with 

 the bait. The water must be low and clear, but even 

 in these states it is not always that this kind of fishing 

 can be successfully practised. Perhaps the best time 

 is a frosty morning towards the end of the season, 

 when the mist is rising from the river, when the 

 pocket-pistol is often in requisition, and when an ac- 

 cidental "jaw " of water over the tops of his wading- 

 boots makes the angler shudder. The most important 



