A TWEEDSIDE SKETCH 135 



landing a fish. Perhaps I held him too tight : at 

 all events, after a furious plunge, back came the 

 line ; the casting line had snapped at the top 

 link. 



There was no more to be said or done, except 

 to hunt for another fly in the trout fly-book. 

 Here there was no such thing, but a local spec- 

 tator offered me a huge fly, more like a gaff, and 

 equipped with a large iron eye for attaching the 

 gut to. Withal I suspect this weapon was meant, 

 not for fair fishing, but for ' sniggling.' Now 

 ' sniggling ' is a form of cold-blooded poaching. 

 In the open water, on the Ettrick, you may see 

 half a dozen snigglers busy. They all wear high 

 wading trousers ; they are all armed with stiff 

 salmon-rods and huge flies. They push the line 

 and the top joints of the rod deep into the water, 

 drag it along, and then bring the hook out with a 

 jerk. Often it sticks in the side of a salmon, and 

 in this most unfair and unsportsmanlike way the 

 free sport of honest people is ruined, and fish are 

 diminished in number. Now, the big fly may 

 have been an honest character, but he was sadly 



