WHITEADDER AND LAUDERDALE 



reasonable supply was coming down and the wind in 

 another quarter. I had grown so accustomed to 

 having the river to myself that I was quite startled, 

 while reeling up a nice third-of-a-pounder, to see the 

 point of a rod emerging from the bushes at foot of the 

 pool. It proved to be one of the long wobbly ones 

 still extant on Border trout streams. Its owner, how- 

 ever, who was soon at my side, was unmistakably a 

 gentleman. This was about noon, and he had fourteen 

 or fifteen very nice fish in his basket. As an habitue 

 of the river, though quite obviously preserved waters 

 would have been readily accessible to him, he felt 

 bound to say something consolatory on the subject of 

 my meagre basket. This was done by way of a poHte 

 suggestion that fishing up stream in this particular 

 water was the most profitable method, the ' particular 

 water ' being no doubt inserted to let me down gently 

 and nicely, since it was perfectly obvious that fishing 

 down stream on such a day proclaimed the neophyte 

 upon the housetop. I lamely endeavoured to mitigate 

 the situation by explaining my rather detached motives ; 

 but as the fish had suddenly taken it into their heads 

 that morning to rise pretty well, this was not so easy. 

 My gentle, but I am sure unconvinced, critic told me 

 that on a good day in April or May he always looked 

 for eight to ten pounds weight of fish in this water, 

 and furthermore that the size of the fish had increased 

 of late on the Leader, and that a great many pounders 

 and over had been killed on the fly in the course of 

 the past year. 



My other encounter on the Leader was much more 

 entertaining. The day was rather more promising of 



373 



