AXOLING WITH WORM FOR TROUT. 143 



In the Teviot, and all the streams between that 

 and the Cheviot range of hills, particularly in the 

 pastoral districts, where the Oxnam, the Kale, and 

 Coquet waters glide through amongst sheep farms, 

 great execution is done with a red and bright yellow 

 freckled worm, called the Brandling, or Bramble 

 Worm.* This worm is found in very old dung heaps 

 find when taken out emits a strong smell, felt at a 

 considerable distance. I have heard it affirmed that 

 my grandfather, in the olden time, killed thirty-six 

 dozen of trout in one day, in the Kale water, with 

 that worm. I believe this the more readily, as I 

 know that a nephew of mine killed half that number 

 in one day with the fly, in that small stream. And 

 a Jedburgh amateur angler assured me to-day, that 



* The Brandling is still held in great repute, but not so much by 

 clear-water anglers, as by those who angle when the water is subsid- 

 ing after a flood. In pools the trout seem to gather about the sides 

 wherein this worm is being angled with in the manner they do when 

 roe is used. We met an angler of cur acquaintance some years ago 

 with a large number of trouts taken with the Brandling, all from 

 one large pool, which was slightly muddy. On a bit of string he had 

 twelve trouts that weighed 12 Ibs. On another string he had nearly 

 as much weight, though the trouts were rather smaller, arid he had 

 also a small gamebag full of the smallest he had taken, probably in 

 weight about 8 Ibs. The Jed was the river in which the lake was made, 

 and the angler's remark to us was that he believed he hadn't left a 

 decent sized trout in the pool. His rod and tackle were of the 

 coarsest description. He at one time fished so much with this bait, 

 that he kept his supply of seasoning worms in a pretty large barrel. 

 When a boy we on one or two occasions had a peep at the ' * 

 <V worms." [EDR. J 



