334 TWEED AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 



and well flavoured, in point of taste. Ale is a good 

 angling stream, and so naturally are the other tribu- 

 taries of Teviot; but of late years they have all been 

 much harassed by net-fishers, whose practices the Earl 

 of Minto's act, is, I am glad to state, in the fair way 

 of putting a stop to. The best portion of Teviot for 

 angling in lies undoubtedly betwixt Ormiston and 

 Sunlaws mills. I have killed, upon the whole, larger 

 and finer trout in that stretch of water than anywhere 

 else, and on a favourable day, with minnow or worm, it 

 is of common occurrence to take several upwards of a 

 pound weight each. 



The rod-fishings for salmon on this river are very 

 precarious, but with perseverance, one may manage to 

 capture a good many fish in the course of a season, 

 using the duller varieties of Tweed flies, and making 

 himself well acquainted with the several casts. Here, 

 as on the main river, more salmon are slaughtered by 

 means of the leister than the rod. I do not allude to 

 the practices of poachers in close time, which as respects 

 the killing of salmon are often ridiculously magnified, 

 but, the open vaunted of, destruction which takes place 

 throughout the rest of the year, whenever the low state 

 of the river will admit of its being resorted to. At 

 Kirkbank, for instance, as many fish are sometimes 

 killed in this way in a single night as would suffice to 

 exercise the ingenuity and encourage the perseverance 

 of twenty honest anglers throughout the season. A 

 fishing-club was lately organised in the lower districts 

 of Teviot-dale, under the name of the Teviot-dale 

 angling club. It comprises about sixty members, and 

 four medals are competed for during the course of the 

 season. To these, which are purely honorary prizes, it 

 is proposed to add a fishing-rod, as an encouragement 



