THE TEYIOT AND KALE. 131 



CHAPTER X. 



THE TEVIOT AND THE KALE. 



THE angler may fish the Teviot at many points, but a few 

 miles above Kelso, from Kalemouth downwards, he will find to 

 be as good as any. It is an admirable trouting stream ; in it he 

 will find in abundance the common red spotted trout, the parr 

 trout parr most plentiful and, in due season, sea trout and 

 salmon, smolts of both kinds. Early in May, in fine weather, 

 I have seen the pools of the Teviot alive with salmon, descending 

 with the smolts to the ocean. The kelts, or spawn-grown fish, 

 generally refuse all bait. Large fish may be found dead amongst 

 the rocks, seemingly exhausted by their winter residence 

 without food in the fresh water ; weakened also by the act of 

 spawning. Those which get to the ocean soon recover their 

 strength and flesh ; the insect which attacks their gills in fresh 

 water dies and falls off; and they return again and again to their 

 natal streams. 



To fish Teviot you require to wade, and that sometimes deeply. 

 Minnow is your best bait, but the artificial fly answers well 

 enough. Change them frequently, until you hit on the taking 

 fly. Breakfast in Kelso, and, provided with a short salmon-rod, 

 you will reach the Teviot time enough to have a good day's 

 sport. What does the poet say ? 



"The huntsman loves the early morn, 

 The angler seeks at noon 

 The river side and shady bank," &c. 



THE KALE. 



High in a lone vale of the Cheviot, on the path that but 

 lately was nightly trodden by the contrabandists, and in former 

 times by Scotch and English border robbers in search of prey, 

 springs the Kale, a fine fishing stream, but inferior to the 



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