LOCH SALMON -FISHING. 71 



shooter who have to work and think for their 

 sport, acquire a self-command and nerve only to 

 be obtained in this school. 



Although loch and river fishing seem distinct 

 departments of the craft, yet the more closely they 

 are studied the nearer do they approximate to 

 each other. When white trout and salmon enter 

 a fresh loch, if there is no stream large enough to 

 ascend, they press to the mouths of the feeding 

 burns ; or should the loch itself be small, they 

 first choose (as in rivers) the feeding-grounds 

 farthest from the sea, those nearer gradually fill- 

 ing with " back fish." They have favourite rocks 

 and banks all over the loch, exactly as they have 

 favoured pools and streams in rivers. Lochs, as 

 well as rivers, are most successfully fished when 

 they fall after a heavy flood. In some places of a 

 loch, like some pools of a river, fish never rise well 

 at the fly, although the part of the loch and the 

 pool of the river may look very tempting to the 

 angler. 



White trout and salmon creep down nearer the 

 outlet of a loch as autumn advances, preparatory 

 to choosing their spawning -beds. The top of a 



