BAIT FISHING. 56 



At Peebles, in the neighbourhood of Hawick, and 

 many others of our southern districts, parties of twenty 

 are not unfrequently engaged on the same part of the 

 river at a time, angling with the salmon roe ; the indivi- 

 dual who is foremost, after having finished the stream, 

 taking his place again behind the others ; for it is one 

 of the singularities of roe fishing, that the longer a cer- 

 tain confined space of water is gone over, and the more 

 numerous those employed, the better to each angler the 

 sport becomes. Trout, it may be observed, when tak- 

 ing roe, feed in the manner of carp, and suck in the 

 bait without biting it. This is not their method with 

 the worm or minnow, which they always attempt to 

 kill before swallowing ; accordingly, in roe fishing, as 

 the bait is seized, the strain upon the line is scarcely felt, 

 unless by an experienced hand, and when the weather 

 is calm. A gentle run, rather than a violent tug, is 

 generally perceptible, and it may be held as a rule to 

 strike with the current when the line stops. 



In the north of Scotland, roe fishing, if at all, is very 

 unfrequently practised ; and what is singular, we have 

 remarked that fish, of the salmon kind especially, refuse 

 many baits they are known to snatch at greedily on the 

 Tweed. Among these are the par-minnow and par- 

 tail, along with the roe. Sea trout and herlings we 

 allow will at times be tempted to seize them, but the 

 larger fish, unless kelts, always regard them with in- 

 difference, and prefer flies instead. It is to us a mat- 

 ter of surprise, that the salmon-curers in the north are 

 so totally ignorant of the high prices obtained in Eng- 

 land and the lower districts of Scotland for the roe of 

 the fish ; since it is a notable fact, that this commodity, 

 so valuable to the southern angler, is by many fishing- 

 holders regarded as useless, and absolutely thrown away, 

 along with the entrails of the salmon before boiling. 



