256 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
rod ; besides which, the frequent casting required becomes 
excessively fatiguing. 
No fish exceeds the salmon-trout in silvery lustre when 
fresh from the sea, but they soon lose it in fresh water and 
become dark and discoloured. Fig. 2, Plate X., shows a 
salmon-trout weighing 18Ib., taken from the Stanley water on 
the Tay in June, 1902. : 
As a rule good sport is only to be expected when the river 
is subsiding after a flood; but there are many lakes in Scotland 
and Ireland where salmon-trout collect in great numbers and 
give splendid sport. Even in rivers, when the water is dead 
low, heavy baskets may be filled by fly-fishing at night. The 
weather must be warm for this sport, and the daylight must 
be quite gone, or as nearly gone as it ever is in the northern 
counties in July and August. There are generally certain 
pools just above the tide into which salmon-trout struggle 
by scores in times of drought. Taking your stand at the 
foot of one of these about ten o’clock, you may hear the 
fish rattling the shingle as they scurry through the shallows. 
Then cast a single fly—it matters not whether white or black, 
red or green—up-stream into the pool ; you will see nothing, 
for the pool itself is one expanse of blackness, or at most you 
will discern but a sparkle of reflection from the stars, but 
presently you hear a sound between a suck and a splash, or 
maybe a spanking clatter in the water—strike home, and you 
are in him! but keep a light finger on the line, for the slightest 
check to one of his lightning rushes will smash the tackle, and 
it is a grievous task to repair damages in the dark. At such 
times even the best disciplined lips have been known to emit 
deplorable ejaculations. 
To the novice in this mode of fishing it is exceedingly 
fascinating. The mere fact of being abroad in the fragrant 
night at an unfamiliar hour; the silence, broken only by 
the river tinkling over the shallows, by the distant throb 
of the tide, or the cry of some passing night bird ; the 
