162 CREEPER FISHING. 



and airy, and in this way they may be kept living for 

 some days. A number of anglers gather what serves 

 them when fishing, but we prefer having a goodly 

 number to begin with ; and we use only the largest- 

 sized when we have them to pick and choose from. 

 In a wet spring, sad to relate, when the rivers keep 

 swollen, the sport from creeper-fishing proves a dead 

 letter ; and at the end of such a season the discon- 

 solate angler may sorrowfully exclaim : 



They lived unknown, and few could know 



When creepers ceased to be : 

 But they are in their grave, and oh, 



The difference to me ! 



Mostly all the streaming rivers running over loose 

 gravel beds are adapted for creeper-fishing ; such as 

 the Tweed, the Leithen, the Grala, the Leader, the 

 Rule, and the Teviot, the latter being better for this 

 kind of fishing above Roxburgh than below. Trout 

 taken with creeper in the Gala and the Leader are of 

 a heavier average than those taken in the same rivers 

 by worm or fly when the water is clear, and we have 

 found the same result in the Tweed. To give an idea 

 of the size of trout taken in the Tweed with creeper, 

 we way mention the weights of some we captured in 

 1859 in that river. Out of twenty-seven trout 



