82 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



The water is guarded by John Aitken, who is at once 

 ferryman and keeper, and whose cottage has a " but" 

 with a couple of beds for the accommodation of the 

 lessee. Mr. Stoddart gives a list of the " casts " in 

 this and the other waters of the Tweed every separate 

 spot where salmon usually lie having a separate and 

 often quaint name, derived either from rock, stone, or 

 other feature in it, or from some angling event which 

 has occurred at it. These names, however, would only 

 occupy space without being of any benefit to the reader; 

 for, as we have fully explained, salmon-fishing is not 

 open to the public, and those who have the right have 

 always a local keeper to point out the casts and tell 

 their names. 



" The trouting on Rutherford- water," continues Mr. 

 Stoddart, " is superior to any in Tweed. I recollect 

 my friend, John Wilson, Esq.,* capturing with the 

 minnow a creelfull of fish, out of one or two of the 

 pools, among which at least a dozen and a half ex- 

 ceeded in weight one and a half pounds each, and as 

 many more were full pounders. I have more than 

 once taken trout there with the parr- tail that weighed 

 well on to three pounds. As an additional proof of its 

 superiority, as well as the esteem it is held in by the 

 anglers of Tweedside, I may mention that the majority 

 of the successful competitors belonging to the Teviot- 

 dale Fishing Club have achieved their triumphs within 

 its confines, and that the panniers produced on the 

 occasion of their club meetings, from this portion of 



* Mr. Wilson (now of Billholm in Eskdale) is a son of the 

 late Professor Wilson, and transcends even his father as an 

 angler. 



