SALMON-ANGLING. 325 



the fish came up greedily and fastened. He would never have 

 wasted so much time had he not known that, from the low 

 state of the river, there was little chance of another rise all 

 day. On the other hand, a shepherd lad was looking dreamily 

 over the Brig of Turk, upon the large deep hole below, over- 

 hanging which the martins had formed a colony in the sand- 

 bank, when one of the young martins fell out of the nest into 

 the river, and was immediately gulped down by a large salmon. 

 The shepherd procured a bait-hook and the coarsest tackle, 

 took another young bird out of the nest, and baited ; the fish 

 at once came up again, was hooked, and landed. 



Salmon are certainly far scarcer now than formerly, and 

 the average weight of those taken is much decreased. Six- 

 teen-pound fish are now as rare as twenty-pounders used to 

 be many years ago. Several reasons are suggested for this 

 falling off, but the most rational I have heard is the dexterity 

 of the sea-netters close to the mouths of all our good salmon 

 rivers and streams, and latterly the rage for thorough draining, 

 which makes the rise and fall of the rivers both sudden and 

 extreme. In consequence, the winter spawning-beds are often 

 left so shallow as to be chilled and rotted by frost. 



When living in the neighbourhood of the Border river a 

 good many years ago, the proprietor of an estate on its banks 

 once remarked to me, that salmon-fishing was " too slow work 

 for him." He was a keen trouter, and in the constant habit 

 of whipping the Ale, the Eule, the Leader, and the Gala. It 

 is still more common to hear these fast trout gentlemen com- 

 plain that trolling for the Salmo fewx is " tiresome work." A 

 first-class fisher (for no one deserves the name who has not 

 been thoroughly indoctrinated into the mysteries of the salmon, 

 as well as the various scientific methods of trolling for large 

 fish) will quietly smile, perhaps seem to agree, and let it pass. 



of the water is to be preferred. It is easy to bait with, and bears very rough 

 usage on the hooks. The head and shoulders are cut off in a slanting way, and 

 you bait in the same manner as with the minnow or parr. 



