HARLING 231 



acknowledged, that this style of angling is seldom 

 practised, except, indeed, in fishing for kelts in very 

 full waters, when no one can throw completely over 

 the casts without the use of a boat. In this state 

 of the river the flies are drawn down the stream ; 

 but when the water subsides, they are trailed up it. 

 It is practised also a day or two before close time, 

 when the loss of fish off the hook is immaterial, as 

 far as regards future sport. 



In the Tay, and some other large rivers, there is 

 another method of fishing with a fly in full water, 

 which is called harling. Two rods are laid in the 

 bottom of a boat, and hang over the stern, with a 

 large fly attached to each line. The boatman then 

 rows against the stream to the right and left of the 

 river in a zigzag direction, but still letting the boat 

 fall gradually down the river, so that he passes over 

 no fish that have not previously seen the flies. The 

 rower judges his pace by the objects on the banks. 

 When fish rise they hook themselves. Those who 

 practise this method are generally fishermen who 

 have been working the previous night, and like it 

 because they have not the fatigue of holding or 

 throwing the rod. They fancy, also, that having 

 two flies, they have a double advantage ; but this 

 is a deception, because both flies follow each other 

 in the same direction. Without much fear of con- 

 tradiction, I pronounce this same harling to be a 

 most prodigiously stupid method of proceeding, and 

 little superior to setting night lines. I tried it 

 once in the Tay, but no more harling for me. To 

 do the Tweed folk justice, I never saw it practised 

 there ; and I can only recommend it to those 



