INTRODUCTION. xv ii 



dance of exciting recreation for a whole host of salmon 

 slayers. 



But while such are the general features of Tweed as 

 an angling river, its individual superiority in this respect 

 will be more clearly exemplified, when I limit my ob- 

 servations to the particular portion of its course, which, 

 extending five or six miles upwards, and as many in an 

 opposite direction from Kelso, may be said to lie in the 

 vicinity of that town. In this stretch of water are 

 embraced, unquestionably, some of the finest salmon 

 casts, as far as rod-fishing is concerned, in Great Britain. 

 Spring, summer, autumn, and winter all furnish their 

 fresh-run supply of the scaly tribe. The clean, firm- 

 set, eye-delighting fish of March and April is succeeded, 

 during June and July, by the whitlings and early grilses; 

 these again, throughout the remainder of the season, 

 are followed by others of older growth intermingled 

 with breeders of every description, while to crown all, 

 the " grey-schule," cleaving undauntedly the December 

 torrent, brings up the rear ; nor is it until they have 

 escaped the perils of the net and coble, and found their 

 way through the arches of Coldstream-bridge, that 

 these the migratory fish of Tweed, discover much 

 appetite for the baits of the angler, or seem inclined to 

 come, right venturesomely, towards his tinselled lures. 

 Here it is, in the stretch of water alluded to, that they 

 most freely exercise their capricious tastes, and here 

 they are found in more abundance and perfection than 

 in the upper portions of the river. 



