142 FLY FISHING 



half-pound trout in these rivers are not very 

 commonly hooked by fly fishers. Apart from 

 this, the Coquet may be taken as typical of what 

 an angler might wish a north country trout river 

 to be. What then should be the average weight 

 of trout caught with a wet fly ? and how much 

 should a good basket weigh ? Probably answers 

 to these questions will differ. In my own 

 opinion, any north country river of size corre- 

 sponding with the Coquet, in which the trout 

 averaged three to the pound, would be first-rate 

 trout water, and as in dry fly fishing ten pounds' 

 weight of trout landed by fly fishing would be a 

 good day; whilst fifteen pounds would be a 

 very good day, and twenty pounds or upwards 

 exceptionally good. It has been my fortune 

 to fish such rivers occasionally, but I am not 

 sure that I have ever attained on a river to 

 fifteen pounds' weight of trout in one day 

 with a wet fly. It will perhaps be interest- 

 ing to compare this estimate of what may be 

 expected or hoped for in a day's fishing with 

 that given by Stewart in his " Practical Angler." 

 Stewart probably knew the rivers of the Tweed 

 district as well as any one, and there was ne 



