20 
TJIE FlSllINCI GAZim^E 
[Januaiiy 11, 189;J 
beds, which he digs not with his tail but with his 
snout. What he says ho is prepared to demon¬ 
strate to anyone who will arrange to visit him 
during the spawning time of the salmon. He 
says he will point out the fish working with his 
head, and then net him to afford conclusive proof 
that he is the male. All right, Archie—go at it 1 
A Reay Fokester writes: “The spawning 
season is now about over in the array of rivers of 
the west coast of Sutherland and Ross ; and the 
salmon, grilse, and sea-trout, with the exception 
of a very few pairs, have all gone into deep water. 
The severe frost prevailing for the last ten or 
twelve days has very much reduced the volume of 
water, and may, I fear, have proved injurious. 
It will so prove, that is certain, should it last 
must longer, as ova deposited close to the banks 
and in the shallowest water will get dry and bo 
nipped.” _ 
The angling season on the Tay and Loch Tay, 
dated to open on January 1.5, will not practically 
have a beginning this year until the following 
day, owing to the 15th being Sunday. 
Ox Wednesday of this week the open season for 
rods commenced on the early far north salmon 
rivers, Naver, Thurso, and Borgie. We very 
much fear there will be but very little sport go”t 
on these fisheries for some time to come, as the 
prevailing nature of the weather since the present 
year came in must have tended very greatly to 
discourage fish from leaving the sea. 
Mr. Harper writes anent the dipper as follows : 
“ Last spawning season I, as usual, watched 
the movements of that persecuted little bird, the 
dipper, and I must again bear testimony to its 
comparative harmlessness as a fry and ova cater. 
I shot one in a small burn, where many salmon 
were, at that time, spawning, and the dipper was 
diving in the vicinity of the redds. The result 
of my examination of the contents of the stomach 
has satisfied me, .so that 1 shall not shoot any 
more of them. 
“ Indeed, I am of opinion that the dipper is in 
reality a benefit in streams where salmon or trout 
deposit their spawn ; for this reason, they feed 
mostly on insects, such as water beetles and their 
larva, which, we are told on good authority (Mr. 
Andrews’) arc most destructive to fry. 'Fhc fish, 
in their spawning operations, disturb these 
insects, they are carried down by the current, and 
are greedily devoured by the dipper. 
“ ‘ Tru e,’ says someone, ‘ but the bird eats ova as 
well.’ My frequent examinations of the stomach 
docs not go to corroborate this assertion. 1 never 
found ova, but the stomach was generally well 
filled with water beetles. I submit that in the 
spawning season the dipper may swallow an occa¬ 
sional egg that is carried past the redds; but is 
the bird thus doing an ininry P Most assuredly 
not. Eggs that are carried past the redds are 
lost in any case. For one reason—they arc not 
impregnated, and they only go to fill the stomachs 
of trout, that keep watching for them at the tail 
of the redds. 
“ All the ova that are safely deposited in the 
redds are quite out of reach'of the dipper, while 
the beetles on which it feeds can reach the ova, 
however carefully they are hidden. 
“lx the Fishinfj Gazette, Dec. J, 18ft2, is an 
article entitled, “ How to Breed and Rear Trout,” 
in which the author gives an illustration of the 
Dijtiscus (water beetle), and which he describes as a 
‘ terrible enemy to young trout.’ Seeing that 
the dipper eats those insects in large quantities, 1 
should say it would be unwise to kill it. I knew 
owners of fisheries who paid 6d. per head for 
every dipper their keepers killed. I never knew 
any benefit come by the destruction of these, 
but 1 noticed a decided falling off in some rivers. 
I know' one river where the birds were left alone, 
and is the best river in the north.” 
The Dee in the middle and upper reaches is 
almost closed over with ice, and daily the silver 
streak is getting smaller and smaller. The close 
time bids fair to be a close time indeed—with 
frosts. 
THE llEV. MR. DRYEX8’ LETTER, 
“POACHING ON THE TWEED.” 
By E. M. Tod. 
1 consider the youths, yes, and the adults of 
Innerleithen, on the Tweed, most fortunate in 
their (’ongregational minister—a bold and true 
man, who does not mince matters. 
Such teachers are none too common in this 
time-serving age, where so many men study how 
to be popular; and they should be all the more 
appreciated by all thinking men, and anglers are 
thinking men. Now, in speaking of the pecuniary 
gains arising from salmon poaching, Mr. Dryens 
asks, “ How do they sjiend itP In getting better 
clothes, food, or education for self or children” 
and leaves the questions to answer themselves. 
The true answer is, that drink and unthrift are 
the poacher’s curse, and as a rule his companions- 
in-arms ; should ho save his ill-gotten gains, they 
bring no blessing to him or to his family, and I 
honour the pastor who, instead of preaching 
platitudes from his pulpit, steps down amongst 
his “ young men,” and hits out right and left, 
striking where the fault lies. Manly is the tone 
in which he writes, reminding me of Dr Arnold, 
of Rugby fame, amongst his “ boys.” 
“ No man can sniggle (?) or net, with the fear of 
the bailiffs pouncing upon him, without being, 
morally, a worse man. 
“It is this little degrading,” he adds forcibly, 
“ that leads to the damning of our young men. 
My life is spent in their behalf, and (I write it 
with the deepest regret) this poaching business 
is the curse of a large number of our young men, 
follows with many good qualities, who could 
easily become noble and true, if they were bold 
enough to leave the salmon alone.” 
This is to the point with a vengeance, but it is 
infinitely kind in its uncomprcniising fidelity 
toward those whose best interests he has at 
heart. 
1 commend the letter in the Fishing Gazette of 
Dec. dl, 1802, to the whole angling community— 
to salmon fishermen in particular. 
I do not say that 1 agree with all its sugges¬ 
tions, and I shall criticise, but iu the friendliest 
spirit, this excellent letter, which I think may bo 
written by one who is jirobably not very well 
acquainted with some of the jimcficaf problems he 
seeks so earnestly to find a solution for. 
1 will, for instance, quote this from his pen : 
“In conclusion,” he says, “there are certain 
things I w'ould like to say. (1) If it is detri¬ 
mental to the supply of salmon, that the nets be 
allowed to fish after September, there should be 
no rod fishing for salmon after that date. 
“ If it is right for rod fishing to go on until 
December, it ought to be right for net fish¬ 
ing.” 
Now, at the first glance, there is much here 
that is hard to answer according to the laws of 
morality, and the laws which govern the fish 
supply of the nation. This, however, is my 
interpretation as one who knows the Tw'eed 
pretty well, and who looks on matters like these 
from a sportsman's standpoint. The Tweed is 
essentially the sportsman's river, and in favour¬ 
able seasons affords undeniable sport. And w'ho 
that is worthy the name can disregard the fame 
of such men as old “ Rob Kerss of the Trows,” 
the Purdies, the Kersses, and other piscatorial 
heroes of ancient (and modern) Tweedside fame. 
Let it be understood that the rod fishings let for 
enormous sums. Where w'ould they be if netting 
were permitted to the end of November? 
Does Mr. Dryens know, as a matter of fact, 
that there is very little rod fishing worth having 
until the nets are taken off, in the middle portions 
of the Tweed, say, from Galashiels down to Floors 
Oastle—save when a good flood and favouring 
tides allow salmon a fair chance of escaping into 
the angling portions of the river—during Sunday 
when the Berwick netters are at rest—their value 
becoming doubled at least, the moment they are 
in sporting waters ? 
If money is to be circulated to do good to the 
country at large, let us see that the interests of 
the sportsman who pays, one way and another, 
from £'4 to £6 sterling, and sometimes more, for 
every fish he or his guests land with the fly, 
are protected. 
Besides this, if the nets were at work all the 
time— i.e., to end of November—they would be 
killing so many mqrc fish that, between netting 
and rodfishing, the supply of Tweed salmon would 
soon give out. 
The river is often full of salmon, and every 
“ sportsman ” knows that sometimes for days he 
can hardly get a fish, from atmospheric conditions, 
or because of unsettled states of the rivei', which 
keep the fish travelling upwards. 
All these conditions are altered in net fi.shing, 
which (as carried out at Tweedmouth), hardly 
gives the fish a chance of ascending the river at 
all. 
1 will now .show Mr. Dryens how easy it is to 
be led into error by conclusions which do not take 
a practical andcomjirehensive view of the question 
by writing these words down (they are my own) : 
If it is fair to net the fish at Berwick, it is cijually 
fair to net the few that escape their meshwork of 
nets, when they manage to get up to the upper 
regions, where the sjiortsman pays so highly for 
rent. And yet this is an argument that cannot 
be allowed for one moment. The right way to 
look at it is to abide by the laws, and if they arc 
unsatisfactory try to get them amended by fair 
means. 
It is abundantly clear to me that true sportsmen 
will always carefullyreturn heavy baggits and kelts 
to the river, and it is to their interest so to act, 
for they do not sell their fish, and are guided by 
higher ideas, I trust, than to kill unseasonable 
fish, ready to spawn. The few hen fish that arc 
killed, and which are not yet heavy with spawn, 
though this is to be deplored, cannot make an 
appreciable difference to the “ sujiply ” of salmon, 
whereas your poaching monster, in the free waters 
(and elsewhere), simply destroys the fish wholesale, 
even when so absolutely unfit for human food 
that the carcass is pitched back into the river 
after the roe alone has been kept. 
The money circulated by fish jtoaching can d ) 
no good to the community at largo. On the 
contrary, it does positive harm. 
If I dare express a wish at all it woukl be that 
the nets were taken off a fortnight sooner, and 
that rod fUhing should cease on Nov. 1-5, as in 
this way, at least, gravid fish would not be so 
frequently hooked and run, a jirocess which can¬ 
not but be injurious to them, even when they are 
carefully returned to the river. 
The great point in Mr. Dryens’ paper scorns 
to be to educate his jmutig men, and to make 
them shun poaching as a vice. 
This is far better than the system of punishing 
them by law, when a conviction has been 
obtained! 
But whilst Radicals preach the doctrine of 
“ Free fishing for a free people,” throughout 
Scotland, the Rev. Mr. Dryens will find his work 
cut out. For all that, all good anglers will heartily 
wish him and his mission God speed. 
P.S.—Since writing the above I have read the 
Rev. IMr. Dryens’ letter in Fishing Gazette of 
Jan. 7. lie draws a sad picture enough. I quite 
feel w'ith him, however, that it is ridiculous to 
allow the w'ater bailiffs unlimited power, and to 
allow two of them to swear away the character 
of an honest angler is, of course, unjust; but are 
such cases at all common, Mr. Dryens? I should 
think not. 
I have heard of cases where the water bailiff 
has apprehended gentlemen of high character for 
killing smolts, and when tested they could not 
pick out salmon and sea trout smolts from .a 
basket of clcar-bellied trout, such as are found on 
bright, sandy, and pebbly bottoms—but the oasc.s 
are not jiarallol. 
It is ridiculous to have as water bailiff.s men 
who know nothing of angling—perhaps of poac-h- 
ing ! 
Fancy setting a townsman, or anyone un¬ 
acquainted with his work, to watch a man fishing, 
and to decide whether he is fishing fairly or no. 
Without malicious intent such a man is apt to 
do an act of injustice (once in a way) through 
gross ignorance. 
I observe that Mr. Dryens (not Mr. Dryerre) is 
a fisher of fish as well as of men. I apologise for 
my mistake, and trust that he will take my 
criticisms as they are meant—kindly. 
I cordially re-echo his wish, that Government 
may yet pass a Salmon Act for Scotland, and 
that soon.—E. M. T. 
