CLEAR WATERS 



thousand men met in the fiercest combat ever waged 

 on English soil, when twenty thousand fell in about 

 three hours, we are soon at Twizel bridge within a 

 short mile of Tweed. 



Here, for some distance above and again below the 

 broad stone arch over which the advanced right wing 

 of Surrey's army crossed to double back on Flodden, 

 the Till, abandoning her gentle habit, moves more 

 briskly through woody gorges. And, as might be 

 expected, the trout again assert themselves not only 

 in numbers but in size, probably reinforced from the 

 neighbouring Tweed. A local friend of mine not so 

 very long ago had a wonderful day here in the castle 

 water, including a dozen or more fish of a pound 

 weight and upwards. Mr. Henderson tells of a day 

 affording a succession of much heavier trout even 

 than this seventy years ago. The roach nuisance, too, 

 is being felt in the Till, which is not surprising, seeing 

 that it has become a very serious matter in the Tweed, 

 much worse indeed than the grayling, whose increas- 

 ing prominence in the great Border river is deplored 

 by many. The roach is supposed to have been 

 introduced by pike fishermen using it as live bait. 

 Their fecundity is phenomenal, and is a cause, I believe, 

 of real anxiety to the Fishery Board, who institute 

 vigorous campaigns against them. The objection to 

 grayling is, of course, relative and qualified. But 

 that the fish food of bright Border rivers should be 

 laid under heavy tribute by roach is an almost un- 

 thinkable outrage. The Till, as I have said, makes 

 a great effort in its last rush through Twizel woods 

 into Tweed to redeem its character for sloth. But 



