328 TWEED AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 



the Teviot. This is the favourite resort or refuge-place of 

 kelts while undergoing the process of mending, and dur- 

 ing their descent from the upper parts of the river. The 

 execution done among these fish with the rod, through- 

 out the Rutherford water, is sometimes enormous, but 

 no more partakes of the character of sport than does 

 the running of as many logs of wood. In 1846, a 

 short time after the expiring of the fence-season, no 

 fewer than thirty-seven of them were captured in a 

 single day by two gentlemen in this stretch of the 

 river. Below the Cauld-pool lie the Mill-stream, the 

 Damfoot, the CorbieVnest, and the Clippers, all ex- 

 cellent salmon casts. 



The trouting on the Rutherford water is superior to 

 any in Tweed. I recollect my friend, John Wilson, Esq., 

 capturing with the minnow, a creelful of fish, out of 

 one or two of the pools, among which at least a dozen 

 and a half exceeded in weight one and a half pounds 

 each, and as many more were full pounders. I have 

 more than once taken trout there with the parr-tail 

 that weighed well on to three pounds. 



Below the Clippers of Rutherford-water, commences 

 the Makerston range. The salmon fishings here belong 

 to two proprietors, those on the North side of Tweed 

 to Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, Bart., and those 

 on the South, to his Grace the Duke of Roxburghe. 

 They are rented for a small sum by Robert Kerss, or 

 as he is familiarly termed Rob of Trows. There is not 

 a finer specimen of his class on Tweedside than our old 

 friend Rob one that never had an enemy of his own 

 making nor cringed to form his friendships the same in 

 his courtesy to anglers of all ranks and degrees, to a 

 beggar as to a duke. As a rod-fisher for salmon, Rob 

 Kerss has few equals, and in all matters regarding 



