174 HIGHLAND SPORT 



self. As he learnt the art quickly, from that time forth we 

 both did nearly equally well, and far better than any other 

 anglers either up or down the river. 



This, I believe, was the very first time the natural minnow 

 was used on the Spey, but even with this lure our sport 

 remained of the poorest, while since those days, sad to relate, 

 each succeeding year has seen a further deterioration, until 

 this spring of 1894 has been the very worst ever known on 

 Speyside, for many anglers have not taken more than two 

 or three fish in a month ! and one good man actually records 

 it in print that he has had 25,000 casts for one fish! 



Of course we were abused for employing this lure, and 

 called poachers, etc., by other anglers who persisted in using 

 the fly only ; but as we had already given every possible 

 chance to every sort of fly that Shanks and old Cruikshank 

 could produce, and all without success, we were glad to get 

 a few fish the best way we could. 



The wading of the Spey is often very bad, and each of 

 us anxiously looked forward to seeing the other take a 

 header. This, however, did not happen, but we witnessed 

 a gentleman fishing opposite us take three very neat dives 

 in rapid succession. We had always kept an eye on him, 

 for our gillies had told us " he was no verra sure of himself 

 in the watter," and they were correct, for one day we saw 

 him stumble and take a regular souser ; up he came, minus 

 his rod, but only to disappear again headlong with a mighty 

 splash. Up again, but down once more, till matters began 

 to look serious, until, as he re-appeared above water, his 

 gillie ran in and caught hold of him. "All's well that ends 

 well," said I, as we watched the unfortunate one come dripping 

 out of the river ; to which Onions gently replied, " I never 

 saw anything so funny. How I wish he'd do it again ! " 

 No chance of this, however, for from that moment our 

 opposite neighbour swore off wading the Spey. 



For some days there had been a wicked feeling of 



