40 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



Having now sent these tiresome little creatures to 

 sea, it remains to me to trace their progress till they 

 become Salmon. 



A few, but a very few of these Smolts, return from 

 the sea to the Tweed as early as the month of May ; 

 that is, during the same month in which the general 

 emigration takes place : they then weigh from a 

 pound to two pounds each, and are long and thin, 

 and very forked in the tail. They keep on ascending 

 the river during the summer months, the new- 

 comers increasing afterwards about a pound and a 

 half a month on an average, but much less in their 

 very young state. The most plentiful season in the 

 Tweed, if there is a flood, is about St. Boswell's 

 Fair, namely, the iSth of July, at which period they 

 weigh from four to six pounds ; and those which 

 leave the salt for the fresh water at the end of 

 September, and during the month of October, some- 

 times come up the river of the weight of ten and 

 eleven pounds, and even more. All these fish are 

 known in the North by the name of Gilses, but by 

 the London fishmongers are generally, I believe, 

 called Salmon Peel. Some of them are much larger 

 than small Salmon ; but by the term Gilse I mean 

 young Salmon that have only been once to sea. 

 They are easily distinguished from Salmon by their 

 countenance and less plump appearance, and par- 

 ticularly by the diminished size of the part of the 

 body next to the tail, which also is more forked than 

 that of the Salmon. They remain in fresh water all 

 the autumn and winter, and spawn at the same 

 time with the Salmon, and in the manner which I 



