CH. VI.] " LOOK OUT FOR SQUALLS." 91 



change from dark to light, or the reverse, yet, 

 if he have once been touched, he will but rarely 

 come again the same day. I suspect they must 

 be fairly taken by surprise, and so puzzled by the 

 power thus mysteriously brought to bear on them, 

 as to be at first unable to make out what is the 

 matter, and what they had better do under the 

 circumstances. 



It must be admitted, however, that when they 

 have once made up their minds as to a course of 

 action, they do not lose much time in carrying 

 it out ; and then is the time when the fisherman 

 must "look out for squalls." For this reason, 

 however passive and tractable a fish may appear, 

 he should remain well on his guard, and ready on 

 the instant to adapt himself to the vagaries of the 

 fish, who, if a good one, will soon show him that 

 there is plenty of " life in the old dog yet." 



Though fully aware of this peculiarity in 

 Salmon, yet I very nearly lost one last season, 

 (1859), owing to it, under rather peculiar circum- 

 stances ; it being certainly more attributable to 

 luck than my own cunning that I ultimately suc- 

 ceeded in landing him. 



I was fishing from a boat a loch in Ross-shire, 

 on a very stormy day, so rough indeed that it was 



