380 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



and in calling it so, I am quite prepared for the surprise which 

 this opinion will create among trout-fishers, ignorant of the pecu- 

 liar position of Tweed in its lower stretches during the autumnal 

 months. That the salmon-roe is, in a certain sense, a poacher's 

 bait, I freely admit. That great injury may be done by the use 

 of it on trouting rivers, at a season when the fish are quite out of 

 condition, there can be no denial. A considerable amount of injury 

 also may be inflicted, and is inflicted, by worm-fishing under 

 similar circumstances. To obviate this, I would recommend the 

 institution of a separate fence-time for river-trout, on streams 

 where their preservation is desirable, on all streams, indeed, not 

 made use of as spawning ground by the true salmon. 



That section in the General Salmon Fisheries Act for Scot- 

 land, which interdicts the employment of salmon-roe as a bait, 

 and makes unlawful the possession of it for fishing purposes, 

 owes its origin, I believe, to the report of the Commissioners 

 appointed to inquire into the condition of our British Salmon 

 Fisheries six or seven years ago. Sir William Jardine, the emi- 

 nent naturalist, and Mr. Ffennell, in his position as one of the 

 General Commissioners, if I mistake not, took a leading part in 

 this inquiry. The extensive use of salmon-roe as an angling 

 bait was made, I recollect, a subject of investigation before these 

 gentlemen, and although in the course of the inquiry nothing 

 was elicited which could lead to the conviction that, when used 

 seasonably, and under proper restrictions, this lure was one whit 

 more inviting or deadly than a nicely cleansed worm, a large 

 amount of testimony was brought forward to aid in its condem- 

 nation as an angling bait in the breeding season. It was not, 

 however, ostensibly at least, for the mere advantage of the trout- 

 ing community, that this inquiry was set on foot. To recommend 

 to the Legislature the introduction into a Salmon Fisheries Act, 

 of a clause prohibiting the use of salmon-roe, simply because it 

 was offensive as a lure in the eye of a certain school of trout- 



