MY FIRST TWEED SALMON
It may, I trust, be forgiven me if, when thinking of all the salmon I
have taken in half a century of attempts and hopes for that 70-pounder
which is ever lying expectant in the angler's imagination, I catch my
first Tweed salmon over again. A good deal of water must have run
through Kelso Bridge since, for I had better confess it was in the
month of October, 1889. In that year the autumn fishing in all
Scotland on the rivers that remained open during the month was
decidedly capricious. This was one of those expeditions when it is
wise to make the most of the tiniest opportunities of amusement, and I
began very fairly with a fellow-passenger in the train, one of the
class which, seeing your fishing things amongst the baggage, arrogates
to itself the right to open a volley of questions and remarks upon you
about fishing. This example at once showed the extent of his knowledge
upon the subject by the declaration: "I never have the patience to
fish; it's so long waiting for a bite." He also hinted agreement with
the saying attributed to Johnson. There is not so much ignorance in
these days on the subject, and the majority of people I fancy now know
the difference between sitting down before a painted float and the
downright hard work and incessant activity of a day with salmon or
trout rod.
Next morning, in clean, quiet Kelso, I mused over the intruded opinions
of the gentleman in the train (whom I had ticked off as a good-natured
bagman), and having been warned beforehand by a laconic postscript,
"Prospects not rosy," remembered that in angling there is something
needed besides endurance and energy, and that when you are waiting day
by day for the water to fall into condition there is a substantial
demand upon patience. However, the thought must not spoil breakfast,
nor did it. Then I read my letters, glanced down the columns of the
_Scotsman_, lighted the first tobacco (the best of the day verily!),
and issued forth from the yard of the Cross Keys, hallowed by the
periodical residence of eminent salmon fishers, such as Alfred Denison,
who, with so many of the familiar sportsmen of his day, has gone hence,
leaving pleasant memories behind.
The stony square of the town is in front of you; Forrest's shop is next
door as you stand in the gateway of the old inn, and after a glance at
the sky and at the weathercock on the top of the market house you look
in there. A local fisherman was coming out, and in reply to the
inevitable question as to the state of the river, he said, "Weel, she's
awa' again." Pithy and characteristic, and full of information was
this. It was a verdict--You may fish, but shall fish in vain this day.
The Tweed is away again.
Gloomily now you walk ahead, leaving your call at the tackle shop for a
more convenient season; at present, at any rate, time is of no account.
Past the interesting ruins of Kelso Abbey you proceed, and soon,
leaning over the parapet of Rennie's Bridge, on the right-hand side,
your eye straightaway seeks the Tweedometer fixed against the wall of
Mr. Drummond's Ednam House garden. The bold black figures on the
whitened post mark 2 1/2 ft. above orthodox level. Two days ago the 3
ft. point had been reached; then Tweed sank to 2 ft.; now "she" is up
again 6 in.
One does not care how high a river may rise, provided it gets over the
business once for all, and recedes steadily, to have done with change
for a reasonable time. The worst phase of all is that which is
represented by intermittent ups and downs on a small scale; for the
fish follow the example of the river most religiously in one
respect--when it is unsettled they are unsettled too. Such experience
as this, morning after morning, for many days, may be handsome exercise
in the finishing-off touches of your lessons in patience, and are
probably entertaining enough to your friends who are not anglers.
There is no amusement for you; only resignation. Make up your mind to
that, my brother.
There must have been a quantity of downpour away to the west up amongst
the hills; the skies are leaden with rain clouds even now; the air is
saturated with moisture. Up beyond the picturesque little island at
the junction of the two rivers the water thunders over the rocky ledge
which forms the dub at the bottom of Floors Castle lower water, and if
you observe closely you will soon conclude that Teviot is bringing down
an undue amount of Scottish soil. Cross the bridge and look over to
the heavy pool under the wooded slope, and note, where the light
strikes the eddy, the yellow hue; 18 in. above ordinary level is the
outside limit which the initiated on Tweed give you as a bare chance
for a fish, and it is evident that, even if those dark clouds do not
fulfil their threats, this chance will scarcely come to-morrow, or
perchance next day. Wherefore, once more, let patience have her
perfect work.
The bait fishers are busy, to be sure. Your extremity is their
opportunity. With the worm they make fair baskets of trout in this
dirty water. The public on Tweedside are indeed a privileged race.
Nearly the whole of the river is free to trout anglers, and there is an
abundance of trout in it. The inhabitants of Kelso ought to be full of
gratitude to the Duke of Roxburghe, for he gave them, as a generous
supplement to their free trouting, miles of the Teviot for salmon
fishing. They had only to enrol themselves members of a local
association and pay a nominal fee to obtain salmon fishing on the
Teviot for a certain number of days in every week. Mr. James Tait, the
clerk to the Tweed Commissioners (whom hundreds of anglers had to thank
for much kindness to strangers), informed me that when the water was
right plenty of salmon were taken in Teviot, especially at the back
end. I think, though some people of course are never satisfied, that
this great boon was duly appreciated by the inhabitants. You talk to
people by the riverside about the Duke, whose fine mansion crowns the
high ground ending the pretty landscape above bridge, and they
curiously harp upon one string. They say nothing about his Grace's
rank, or wealth, or good looks, or the historical associations of his
ancient house. They simply remark, "Eh! but the Duke's a kind mon."
The Duke walked down to the opposite side once and hailed me in my
boat, said he was glad to give "Red Spinner" a day on his beat, and
chatted for a quarter of an hour, the embodiment of man and sportsman.
The late Duke of Abercorn was just such another nature's nobleman, and
while upon the subject of dukes I may include the Duke of Teck as one
with whom I had many a friendly chat about fishing.
That, with the terrible worming the Tweed gets in these autumnal
floods, the trout fishing should be so good is marvellous. The
plentiful supply of suitable food is one reason why the Tweed has not
long been ruined for this summer sport. The hatch of March Browns in
the early portion of the season is a sight not to be imagined unless
seen. All the summer through insect life abounds, and I have seen in
the middle of October hatches of olive duns that would satisfy even a
Hampshire chalk streamer, while the trout were rising at them
beautifully on every hand. On one of the flood days I strolled up and
down Tweedside, and of the dozen or so of anglers I encountered
pottering about with the worm, the majority had something like a dozen
trout in their baskets. On a day when Teviot was cleared down to
porter colour I met a young gentleman who had been fishing down with
flies (the blue dun and Greenwell were on the cast), and had filled his
basket. There were some fish of three-quarters and half a pound, but
the bulk were smaller. These trout were not in good condition, for
they spawn early in these parts, but they were not so bad as one might
have supposed.
But let us return to our salmon. While you are trying to play your
game of patience like a philosopher, you will naturally make a
superficial acquaintance with such portions of the river as are
accessible to a wayfarer, and if you have not seen it before you will
speedily understand why "she" (on Tweedside you always hear the river
referred to in the feminine gender) has so many admirers, who pledge
her in a life-long devotion. It is indeed a winsome river, and the
scenery, never tame, is in many parts lovely. Where can there be a
more beautiful place than Sir Richard Waldie-Griffith's park at
Hendersyde, as it shows from the other bank of the river? The autumnal
tints are in advance of those farther south, and the beeches glow ruddy
from afar. This borderland is admirably wooded, and the Tweed valley
is pre-eminent in that respect. The historical associations are so
numerous and so interesting that the mind, if you allow it to run riot,
will become overburdened with them. For myself, to assist in the
development of the ripe fruit of patience, I kept mostly to musings
that had Abbotsford for its centre, and re-read Lockhart on the spot
with which that ponderous volume is so closely concerned. Thanks to
Mr. David Tait, I secured one of the early editions, where are to be
found all the references to fishing and other sports which are not
included in other editions.
The Wizard of the North lived awhile at Rosebank, a short distance
below Kelso, and the old tree, I believe, was still flourishing in
which he used to sit and take pot shots at herons as they flew over the
Tweed, which rolled beneath his leafy perch. Driving down to Carham,
"Tweedside," who was my companion, showed me Rosebank across the broad
stream, and, while I was reminding him of Walter Scott's gunnery, we
saw in an adjacent ploughed field three herons standing close together,
apparently in doleful contemplation. On this drive also we crossed a
burn which divides English from Scottish soil, and it was tumbling down
in angry mood. Scores of other rivulets on either side were pouring
their off-scourings into the vexed river, each precisely as gracefully
described in the lines:
Now murmuring hoarse, and frequent seen,
Through bush and briar no longer green,
An angry brook, it sweeps the glade,
Brawls over rock and wild cascade.
And, foaming brown with double speed,
Hurries its waters to the Tweed.
The morning, however, comes at last when John, who has been to the
station with the early train, meets you as you descend to the
coffee-room with "She'll fush the day." But you will not forget that
Tweed has been out of order for twelve days, rising and falling, never
settled. Still, though the chance is very much an off one, it has to
be taken. A day on any water, from Galashiels down to the last pool
below Coldstream, is exceeding precious at this time of the year.
Every boat is apportioned for the riparian owners and their friends to
the very end of the season. If, therefore, you have had kindly leave
to fish any of these celebrated waters, and have been unable through
bad weather to live up to the opportunities, I could almost weep with
or for you; or, if you think strong language more manly, I would make
an effort for once to meet you on that ground. I speak, alas, from the
book. The wounds inflicted by jade Fortune in these regards are yet
unhealed. Take, then, your very off-chance and be thankful.
The truth is that you never quite know what will happen in salmon
fishing. On that drenching Saturday, when you were working like a
galley slave without raising or seeing a fish on the Lower Floors water
(where Lord Randolph Churchill subsequently slew his four fish), did
not Mr. Gilbey take five at Carham and Mr. Arkwright four at Birgham?
On the Monday, when the water was a little better, did you not find
that the salmon had moved right away from the beat for which you were
that day booked? It was surely so; and the only sport obtained was by
a young gentleman who had handled a rod for the first time on the
previous Friday, and who now happened upon a 25-lb. fish, the only one
killed that day, with the exception of a pound yellow trout, which took
your own fly--a Silver Doctor 1 1/2 in. long. This, and a couple of
false rises from salmon, constituted your only luck. Yet there were
salmon and grilse in all the streams, splashing in the slow oily sweep
that crept under the wood yonder.
It was consolation that night to discover that not much had been done
anywhere. A gossip in Mr. Forrest's shop had heard that the Duke of
Roxburghe had killed a couple, and the Duchess, who fishes fair with a
good salmon rod and casts the fly in a masterly style, also a brace.
Mr. Drummond, up at the meeting point of Teviot and Tweed, had done
something also. That night, too, the gallant General arrived from
Tayside, to make your mouth water as he, being cross-examined as to
sport, elaborated the record which had appeared in Saturday's _Field_.
If there is any wrinkle in salmon fishing that the General does not
know, you would like to hear of it, would you not? Mark his artful
little plan of using the common safety-pin of commerce for stringing
his flies upon, threading them upon the pin by the loop before the
affair is closed up.
If you are wise, upon a river like the Tweed, where all the fishermen
are men of experience and skill, you will not only ask their advice,
but take it in the main--say, when it suits you. You were pretty
hopeful at the beginning of this final day, though Jamie and his
colleague were cautious in expressing an opinion. No doubt Scotchmen
are nothing if not cautious, and the trifle of doubt they adventured
when they surveyed the sky and studied the water might be merely
national caution asserting itself in the very nature of things. Time
passed, and when at noon or thereabouts you sat down upon that very
comfortable platform near the stern of the boat, and wondered whether
your back were as broken as it felt to be, a cold shiver went through
you as the horrible thought flashed into your mind. "Good heavens!
surely this is not going to be another blank?" The sun, at any rate,
after shining brightly for a couple of hours, retired behind the clouds
now rolling up from south-west; wind, in meagre catspaws, skirmished
across the dub below, reserved for the afternoon, and you prayed that
it would strengthen to half a gale.
That grand water above--all streams of a model character--was fished
fairly, perseveringly; Wilkinson, Jock Scott, Silver Grey, Greenwell,
and Stephenson were tried in succession, large and medium. The
afternoon wore on apace without a sign. Down under the high rocks,
wooded to the water's edge, you repeated the work of the forenoon,
trying, in addition to the flies already named, a harlequin-looking
pattern which you had seen amongst Forrest's tempting collection, a
novelty named Tommy Adkins. It did no effective service, however.
With a levity pardonable at that time you hummed, "Tommy, make room for
your uncle," and put up a large Wilkinson, one of the Kelso-tied double
hooks, than which you cannot get better. Down to the weir and back
again to the same old tune--nothing. An angler from below came up for
a chat and told you that he had taken a grilse, and you envied him the
possession of that measly little kipper.
By and by there was a pluck beneath the water, and you struck.
Whatever else it was, it was no fish; but you carefully winched up and
brought in a black kitten not long drowned. Fortune was not content
with smiting you, it derided. As you blushingly remarked to the
laughing but unappreciative Jamie, this was nothing short of
_cat_astrophe. Jamie beguiled the next drift by reminiscences of Sir
George Griffith (the angling father of an angling son), Alfred Denison,
Liddell, John Bright, George Rooper, and other anglers whom he had
piloted to victory--a charming method of rubbing the salt into your
smarts.
The dogcart was to be at the head of the dub at five, and the rumble of
its wheels had been heard while we were yet about fifty yards from the
landing place on the upward course, fishing deep, and letting the long
line work slowly round to its farthest limit in the wake. There were
no more puns now; I freely admit that I was silent--ay, depressed.
Jamie, too, was disappointed; a couple of spectators on the bank were
also practising the silence of sympathy. The game was up, and nothing
need be said.
Ah! what a magnificent swirl. Deep down went the fish, as up went the
rod, and, backache and despondency vanishing, I held him hard. The
first dash of the fish told me an unexpected and alarming bit of news.
The confounded winch would not run out with the salmon, and I had to
ease out line with the left hand and keep the big rod raised with the
right. Luckily the winch worked after a fashion when reeled in, and if
the single gut at the end of the twisted cast would hold all might be
well. And behold it did hold. The fish was heavy, as everyone saw
from the first, and it behaved fairly well. One ugly rush, which was
the critical point of the battle, passed without accident, and the
salmon was revealed--a silvery beauty that was more than ever your
heart's desire. Easy and firm was the motto now. The fish was at last
safe in Jamie's net, and if it was beaten so was I, thanks to the
treacherous reel. The prize was a baggit of 22 lb., as bright as a
spring fish, and perfectly shaped.