CHAPTER I 

 THE TWEED 



ANGLING SEASON : February 1st to November 30th. 



After 14th September fly is the only lure allowed, and this lure must alone be used 

 at the beginning of the season till 15th February. 



NETTING SEASON: February 15th to September 14th. 



This District is under the management of the Tweed Commissioners, whose 

 Executive body meet at Kelso. D. W. B. Tait, Esq., W.S., Kelso, acts as 

 Clerk. 



Romance of Border feud, poetry, and legend seem to fill the 

 air when Tweed is thought of, and many have written, and 

 sung, and painted its many charms. To deal with its salmon 

 fisheries may be a less extensive work than to write of the 

 complex history of the district, yet it is sufficiently difficult. 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell has filled a large and beautiful book with 

 the history and romance of Tweed, and I am glad of it, for 

 were it necessary for me to deal chiefly with this aspect, I 

 should be tempted at once to lay down my pen. 



Yet the Tweed is a wonderful river when we view it solely 

 from its salmon fishery standpoint. No other river in Scotland 

 is asked to maintain a salmon fishery, and at the same time 

 to support so many industrial centres largely acting adversely 

 to the interests of the salmon. The Clyde gave up the attempt 

 long ago. But for the magnificent natural spawning grounds 

 in the upper river and its tributaries, and the absence of serious 

 obstructions, the Tweed long ere this would have followed suit, 

 or would have deteriorated to a second class fishery. 



As a Border river, for long the scene of hot feuds, where, 

 when folk were not busy cracking one another's crowns, Scots- 

 men and Englishmen alike were not disposed to conserve 

 fisheries for the benefit of their opposite enemies, the salmon 

 ran but a poor chance of attention. The very intensity of 



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