a
poacher who gave evidence before the Committee of the House of
Commons in 1825 said that he had assisted to take four hundred
Salmon at one haul in close time in the Tweed.

Sir Walter Scott's vivid description of burning the water, which
occurs in "Guy Mannering," shows that he knew how to kill Salmon
in close time. In fact, his account, and that of Hogg (the Ettrick
Shepherd), show that both were regular black fishers.

There are various devices for killing the fish in close time: they
are speared, netted, and hooked on the spawning beds, and when the
rivers get low, gangs of idle fellows range up and down on the
banks, stoning and beating the water by poles, or, what is more
effective still, a large bone, or horse's skull, and by fastening
a cord to it, one end of which is passed to each side of the
river, they draw this skull up and down in the pools where they
know there are Salmon, and the fish are so foolish and timid, that
they thrust their heads under any stone or cover they can find,
and are taken without trouble; it being common enough in such
cases to slip a noose over the tail, then tightening it, and the
fish is hauled out immediately.

Then again, gentlemen who want to have the reputation of being
skilful anglers, employ their game-keepers to find the Kippers
(Scottice Kelts) or spawned fish in the pools, which is a very
easy matter in low water, and dropping a hook baited with a lob
worm before their noses, it is greedily taken, and the poor fish
(which are unfit for food) are caught. It is then trumpeted forth
to the angling world that Mr. A. B. has had splendid sport--he has
caught a dozen Salmon with the rod in a single day, meaning it to
be understood that these fish have been caught with the fly. I by
no means uphold these practices, neither do I think them very
deserving of censure in the present state of the law, for all the
good fish are taken near the mouths of the rivers.

This leads me to consider the defects of the present law, which is
by no means adapted to protect and increase the breed of Salmon.

In the first place, the close time is too short. It commences in
the Ribble nominally (for in reality the fish are openly killed
all the year through) on the 15th September, and ends on the 31st
of December; whereas it ought to extend to the end of April, for
the following reasons. A very large proportion of the fish are
spawning in January and February, and I have even seen a spawning