46 FISHING. 



his creel in a Hooded stream. I heartily concur 

 with Stoddait and Stewart, those accomplished 

 Anglers and brilliant writers on the subject, when 

 they assert that fishing in clear water is the 

 only branch of the art that ought to be dignified 

 by the name of sport. 



Angling and butchering fish I consider two 

 totally different occupations. For my own part, 

 I would rather capture eight or nine pounds of 

 well fed, plump trout, than twenty pounds of 

 lank, lean, big-headed fish, such as are to be met 

 with in the Tarset. 



And as a contrast to the above-named rivulet, 

 I may mention the far famed Coquet, which is un- 

 . questionably one of the finest trouting streams oil 

 the Borders ; and of all the streams that I am 

 acquainted with, is, moreover, the most amply 

 stocked with trout. The Coquet trout externally 

 is a beautiful fish : the back is finely curved, the 

 head small and of a fine golden-olive tint, the stars 

 011 each side being of a purple hue. And I may 

 observe that there is a marked resemblance ex- 

 isting between the trout of the Coquet, Liddel, 

 and Whiteadder. 



As regards the sister streams Reed and North 

 Tyne, the trout frequently to be met with in them 

 unite the characteristics belonging to the fish of 

 each river, and are deeply shaped, small headed 



