290 FISHING GOSSIP. 
the tide-lice on them at that distance from the sea, 
that was out of the question ; but although slightly 
browned outside, they betrayed no great develop- 
.toent of milt or roe, and showed at table red and 
eurdy ; nor as to their richness and fine flavour could 
there be any dispute. Of the superiority of the sport 
occasionally met with by the trout-fisher on the 
Bemersyde and Old Melrose waters, some idea may be 
formed, when I mention that on one occasion (June 
4, 1855) I captured in the course of three hours, 
out of the Gate-heugh streams, eighteen trout, which 
weighed upwards of 19 lbs. The toppers were nine 
in number, and turned the scale at 144 Ibs, which 
speaks to their being on the average a pound and a 
half apiece. They were all taken with the worm, in 
‘very rapid clear water, with a fine single-gut line, well 
shotted. Out of the lower trouting-casts, about a 
month after, I took thirty-four trout weighing five- 
and-twenty pounds, also with the worm, but chiefly 
from the shallow margins and with tackle very lightly 
weighted. A difference in temperature of about ten 
degrees occurred on these two occasions—a scorching 
heat, which affected largely both air and water, pre- 
vailing in the latter instance. 
T. T. 8. 
