OCTOBER ON THE STINCHAR. 367 



ing the practice of many of the fishermen, it did not surprise 

 me to hear of such mishaps. They make use of double or 

 even triple gut, " rugging " the salmon after the manner of 

 a schoolboy hauling in perch. 



To conclude this notice of our sport on the Stinchar, I will 

 give a short sketch of the most exciting run with a salmon I 

 ever watched. When it is certified that the top fish of that 

 season was hooked by the lack-fin and killed with single gut, 

 the time taken to land him will appear wonderfully short. 

 Indeed, when clipped at the shallow he was not nearly 

 done up. 



His weight was upwards of 30 lb., and I was assured by 

 the residents on its banks that they never saw " a bigger fish 

 ta'en oot o' the Stinchar." It was certainly the largest landed 

 during the time we were there. It came twice to the gled's 

 wing, being fixed at the second rise. I have it preserved in a 

 case with the fly through the fin exactly as when hooked. 



I had tied a fly for each of the rods, with a wing of our 

 favourite gled's tail. The next morning we had breakfast by 

 candle-light, in order to be at the pools by break of day. The 

 pools are only four in number, so my eldest son and I took 

 the top and middle ones, leaving the lowest, called the Duckat 

 Wheel, to the youngest fisher. Before long a hasty messenger 

 brought tidings that the latter had hooked a heavy salmon. 

 Leaving our rods, we ran down the bank to the Duckat, and 

 saw that the angler had his work cut out for him for several 

 hours. I never saw a fish played in better style, and the 

 monster fighting for bare life made noble efforts to break his 

 tiny chain of single gut. He bored, spurted, sulked, and, 

 when rested, dashed up-stream at railway speed, springing clear 

 of the water, and coming down on it again with a tremendous 

 crash. 



From eight o'clock till one he showed no symptoms of 

 yielding, and it was nearly two o'clock before he allowed 

 himself to be taken down-stream. My eldest son and our 



