68 LOCH-FISHING. 



Trolling with minnow is often successful, 

 although we do not advise its use, unless the fish 

 cannot be taken with fly. The rod should be 14 

 or 15 feet in length, and built entirely of green- 

 heart. The best line is waterproofed silk, and it 

 should be at least 100 yards long. It is advisable 

 to have it marked off at various lengths with a 

 few turns of different coloured threads varnished 

 over; for instance, red at 30 yards, white at 40 

 yards, blue at 50 yards. 



It is necessary to find out at what depth the fish 

 are feeding, and this can only be done by letting out 

 various lengths of line from 30 to 50 yards. Thus, 

 if a fish is taken when the line is out to the extent 

 of the white thread (40 yards), let the line again 

 out to the same length, and so on. In trolling 

 with minnow the boat should be rowed zig-zag 

 and rather faster than when trolling with fly. 

 The artificial minnows most deadly are the 

 phantom and angel, the former if the loch is 

 shallow, and the latter if deep. Eegarding size 

 and colour we prefer the blue and silver or brown 

 and gold phantom of about 1 J inches in length ; 

 the best angel is one entirely white, or brown and 

 white, and of the same size as the former. Natural 

 minnow is sometimes very deadly, and should be 

 used on a two-hook tackle, as described in the 

 chapter on minnow-fishing. There are numerous 

 kinds of minnow tackles, but the above will be 



