228 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



getting into the carriage, he begged the mail-coach- 

 man not to drive fast, or to whip his horses. 



I felt a blank at his departure ; for he was a most 

 agreeable and clever gentleman, and not the less 

 entertaining for his eccentricities, which appeared 

 only from time to time, and interfered with no one's 

 humour. 



TROLLING 



In the Tweed, and indeed in some other rivers, they 

 have a method of fishing which is called Trolling in 

 Scotland, but Cross Angling in England, where it is 

 practised with the natural May-fly for catching 

 trout. In trolling for salmon, two men stand oppo- 

 site to one another on either side of the stream, 

 each with a rod in hand ; their lines are joined 

 together, and from the bow which this junction 

 creates about half-a-dozen flies are suspended verti- 

 cally. Of course there can be no casting of the 

 line ; but the flies are hung in the stream, and passed 

 over it, the fishermen trailing them, and acting in 

 concert ; thus, by means of the number of flies, and 

 the saving of time by not having the line to throw, 

 a great quantity of water is gone over in a short 

 space of time. But this sweeping method has its 

 drawbacks, and very serious ones they are. Out of 

 the number of fish that offer, very few are taken ; 

 many get only a touch of the hook, and escape, and 

 are thus entirely lost to the proprietor of the part 

 of the river where this occurs ; for, generally speak- 

 ing, fish so alarmed quit the water the same night, 

 and travel upwards. I remember a singular instance 

 of this occurred to me in the Pavilion- water. 



