30 FRESH-WATER TROUT. 



by the rod in some districts are often few compared 

 with those taken by the net. It is not by the 

 dozen, nor yet by the basketful, that net-fishers 

 count their spoils, but by the hundredweight, and 

 this, of course, must speedily thin the trout in any 

 stream, however prolific it may be. 



Fair rod-fishing will never seriously injure a 

 stream. Of this Gala Water affords an excellent 

 illustration. The favourite resort of anglers from 

 Edinburgh, it is, or used to be, fished during the 

 angling season by about thirty anglers daily, and 

 supposing they only average two pounds each, it 

 implies the capture of an immense quantity of trout. 

 It also suffers as much from nets as any tributary of 

 the Tweed, and yet in those parts where nets cannot 

 be successfully wrought trout are still numerous. 

 Nor are they by any means contemptible in size ; in 

 this respect they will bear comparison with any of 

 the other tributaries of Tweed open to the public. 

 We once took with the minnow, between Bowland 

 and Stow, twenty trout, the whole we got that day, 

 which weighed fifteen pounds, and we never got 

 such a large average size of trout in any of the 

 other tributaries of the Tweed, or even in Tweed 

 itself. 



There are not by any means too many anglers ; 

 on the contrary, our Scottish waters would accom- 

 modate, if properly distributed, twenty times as 

 many as there now are. Tweed and its tributaries 

 alone would, giving each plenty of water to him- 



