io6 THE SALMON 



current of a rapid river through these straits, they 

 would rise to bigger flies and give an eighteen-foot rod 

 as much exercise as on any fresh waters that I know of. 

 Unluckily our sport was limited by the shortness of 

 the time before the loch had emptied itself and the 

 current became slack. I may add that the fresh water 

 of the Fleet was a mere driblet in this torrent of 

 ebbing salt. Some years the fish did not frequent 

 this channel at all, but fixed themselves further up the 

 bay, where, with the exception of one short place 

 behind a rock called the " Stone," there was no current 

 in which a fly could work.' 



The more ordinary type of small Highland river is 

 very interesting to fish, and of course far more beauti- 

 ful in its surroundings than the sluggish streams above 

 described ; but an account of fishing in such waters 

 would present few exceptional features. The sportsman 

 should ' gang warily,' as there are often dangerous 

 places and slippery rocks from which the pools and 

 casts can alone be reached, and an attendant may be 

 very useful, not only to supply the necessary local 

 knowledge, which is more constant than in streams 

 with a soft and shifting bottom, or to land the fish in 

 difficult places, bu 4 sometimes to rescue the fisherman 

 himself from ^an awkward predicament. Many of 

 these rivers unfortunately afford examples of anglers 



