Before Acid Rain PDF Print E-mail
Written by Hilda McAdam   
Saturday, 09 January 2010 17:35
Before Acid Rain
Contributed by Willie McNally

Word came to the school that the Garple Burn was very low, so a few of us got together for a day at the guddling, or as my friends south of the border call it, tickling.  We arranged to meet on a Sunday.  We each had a stick with a grin or girn made with double snare wire, and off we set for the Garple bridge on the high road at 10am.  The trout were in all the pools.  We settled to the job, about 3 pools at a time, and when we moved we skipped to pool that was bring guddled.  We were there all day.  We went right up the burn beyond the Holy Linn to where the Regland burn joins the main stream.

The bags were getting heavier by then, with trout up to 3/4lb.  Small fish weren’t taken as there were plenty of fish over 1/4lb. to make up.  The sun shone all day, but we were pretty wet with being in the water.  The food was all eaten, and the night air began to get chilly, so we started walking home.  We met nobody on the road till we reached Beggers Knowe at the top of the village, where we met a man and his wife, out for an evening stroll.  We stopped there and counted the bag.  The catch was 52 trout, a really glorious end to a perfect day.  It is sad to say that of the six youths there, only three of us are still alive.  I wonder if we had the best of the countryside.  The sun was behind the Kells range and the corncrakes were calling in the hay meadow.  I don’t think that my grandchildren will see the likes again.
Last Updated on Saturday, 09 January 2010 17:51