THE WATER IN TRIM 151 



I was awakened by loud cries of " I have him, I 

 have him!" "Hold him fast then," said I, for 

 I thought he had collared a thief; but in truth he 

 had not : he had only got hold of the bell-rope, 

 and was fishing away with it in his dreams, with a 

 salmon, of course, at the end of it. Luckily he 

 did not arouse the Maritornes of the inn : no bell 

 having ever been attached to the pull, which was 

 a mere matter of ornament. 



The first thing to be considered in rod fishing 

 is the state of the water proper for the sport ; and 

 I beg that it may all along be borne in mind that 

 my observations relate to the river Tweed only : for 

 it must be obvious that as rivers vary in their depth 

 and volume of water, no general rule for their 

 being in proper order for the fly can be laid down. 



The waxing, as it is called, and the progress of 

 a flood, has been already explained in a former 

 part of these pages. 



When the Tweed is not clear, but, as it is 

 termed, drumly, salmon that have been some time 

 in the river never take well ; in such case, when 

 there were no clean fish in the water, I have some- 

 times had fourteen or fifteen offers without taking 

 above one or two fish. They do not see the fly 

 distinctly, and therefore come at it slowly and 

 with hesitation. One would think they had some 

 particular method of holding it a while by way of 

 experiment, just within the point of their noses ; 

 for I have often struck a salmon sharply, and felt 

 as if my hook was firmly fixed in him, when in a 

 moment afterwards it has come away quite easily ; 

 and this has happened two or three time in sue- 



