ROUND THE BRITISH AND IRISH COASTS 37 



off from all the winds that blow ; nor are there any upheavings 

 of their placid bosoms by reason of the Atlantic swell outside. 

 Squalls come down from these mountains in winter-time, of 

 course, but a sudden squall makes no movement of the water 

 which would trouble a bad sailor, and there is always the land 

 near at hand for those who wish to get ashore. Land-locked 

 on all sides, these lochs have the appearance, save for the sea- 

 weed round their margins, of freshwater lakes. In the intro- 

 ductory chapter I referred to one of them, which I fished some 

 years ago Loch Inchard. There is, or was, an Englishman 

 who regularly visited this loch every summer and autumn for 

 sea fishing, only occasionally taking a rod on the salmon river 

 when it was in good ply. 



A difficulty which often crops up in remote places is to find 

 boatmen who have that particular local knowledge useful to 

 sportsmen. They understand your drift nets for herrings ; but 

 when it comes to whiffing or railing close round rocky points 

 and other haunts of pollack, they are apt to be very much at 

 sea, in every sense of the word. Nor do they appear to know 

 the best ground for whiting or flat fish. The angler, therefore, 

 has often to find out a good deal for himself, and, as I have 

 already advised, will do well to carefully note the marks of any 

 good fishing grounds he may discover. 



The first thing to be thought of are the habits of the fish. 

 Whiting like one kind of bottom ; pollack another ; and you 

 must not go fishing for southern fish, such as bass, in northern 

 waters. Bass, by the way, are not absolutely unknown in 

 Scotland ; but they are so rare as not to be worth fishing for. 



Loch Inver, on that coast, is a very civilised spot from which 

 a great deal of first-rate sea fishing is carried on, and the same 

 may be said of Kylesku, Little Loch Broom, Rhiconich, and 

 many more places in that part of the world. A pleasant way 

 of spending the summer would be to take one of MacBrayne's 



