44 THE VALE OF GALA. 



your hook by a needle and whitey brown thread 

 out of your fly book. It is to be angled with, 

 in the same places as you would use the min- 

 now, and in the same way, but, with this differ- 

 ence, it must be always kept spinning well in 

 the water, your tackle lightly leaded, and gener- 

 ally two swivels ; as in sheep-washing time, I have 

 seen bits of wool interfere, and two I always 

 found best, two hooks, one placed above the 

 other. But, where you have a strong and a 

 large stream, and you know there are big chaps 

 to be got, you may add a devil, as it is called, 

 Three hooks back to back beyond the other two. 

 But this gear prevents its spinning in an ordinary 

 stream. Now, before you begin this most excit- 

 ing of all trout fishing, put on a small fly hook, 

 and, in shallow places, catch, at least, three 

 smoults or par, and put them in a small case or 

 in your basket. There is little said against 

 this in the New Tweed Bill of 1859, on other 

 rivers, I never saw it noticed by any body. 

 March and April are the best months for this 

 kind of fishing. When you get into May, you 

 can generally get the creeper and stone fly in 

 any of the tributaries of the Tweed, and on its 

 banks in thousands, where the river shelves 



