98 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



frequent her streams. We have seen salmon caught in 

 the Tweed, the Esk, and Clyde, with the rudest possible 

 imitations of flies, shining in all the colours of the rainbow. 

 Indeed, we have witnessed this fact so repeatedly, as to 

 found upon it the opinion that salmon are caught in 

 Scotland with much ruder implements, and with far less 

 skill and dexterity than in any other country with which 

 we are acquainted. This may seem fanciful; but never- 

 theless circumstances have fixed upon us the belief. We 

 once saw a shepherd-boy, in Peebles-shire, kill a prime 

 salmon of twelve pounds weight with a common hazel 

 rod, and an ordinary hair line, without a reel or winch 

 of any kind, and with a fly exactly like a humble bee. 

 He hooked the fish in the deep part of a strong stream, 

 and had the sagacity and promptitude to throw his rod 

 immediately into the water after the rushing fish. The 

 force of the current took it down to the calmer end of 

 the stream, where the stripling caught hold of it again, 

 and instantly succeeded in running the salmon into the 

 next stream, and so on, until he had artfully exhausted 

 the fish and forced him into a shallow part of the water; 

 here he got him stranded with admirable dexterity, and 

 eventually captured him in capital style. 



Instances of this kind are common all over the moun- 

 tainous part of the country, where the greater portion of 

 the native anglers never use either reel or winch, or any 

 analogous contrivance whatever for their common hair 

 lines. Whenever a large fish is hooked, they dash after 

 him, or throw the rod into the water, after the fashion of 

 our shepherd-boy, and endeavour to regain it when the 

 strength and spirit of the fish are comparatively ex- 

 hausted. 



This mode of salmon-fishing gave rise to the famous 



