41 



attiT ;ill, and, what was more, we spent a very pleasant ten 

 d;iys at (iweedoie. Of course, salmon fishing was out of 

 the (question, and although we did waste one w^hole day in 

 vain attempts to get a " fish" by trolling on the Lough, we 

 devoted ourselves mainly to the sea trout pool at the mouth 

 of the Clady river. This pool is tidal, but the sea trout 

 crowd into it, waiting for a flush of fresh water to enable 

 tliem to run up the river. 



Should you ever journey to this " ultima thule " of the 

 wandering fisherman, the village of Bunbeg, you will there 

 find this ideal sea-trout pool. And, " by the same token," 

 you are ver}' likely to find there — at least we did— a very 

 charming and skilful lady angler, in possession of the 

 '" rock " cast. We had been told by the courteous agent for 

 the lessee, that the " rule of the river" was to give up a cast 

 after fishing it fifteen minutes, if any one else claimed it. 

 We had the " rock " cast — which was the best — and the 

 ])ool being tidal it teemed with sea-trout. They literally 

 jumped over each other's backs after the fly — a small Alex- 

 andra — and the fun w^as fast and furious. How lim^:^ this 

 fun had lasted is doubtful — probably more than an hour, 

 for there were four lovely brace of sea-trout upon the 

 sward — when we suddenly became aware that a lady 

 angler, with her attendant, were sitting on the rocks above 

 us, M-aiting for her reversion in the " rock cast." Gathering 

 up our catch, we retired with as good a grace as could be 

 expected of men leaving a pool full of sea-trout tiiat rose 

 with a bany; and fouo-ht like demons. But we made our 

 way to a cast above — in a deep gorge — and there brought 

 u]) our score to ten brace, weighing 251b. The lady at the 

 rock ])()ol did equally well; in fact, she beat us, in >]iite of 

 our starting with four brace to the good. But she fished with 

 a light double-handed rod, and used three flies, whilst we 

 had been using a ten-foot 7oz. split cane, with onlv one 



The fair sex are swelling the already overcrowded ranks 

 of fly-fishers, to the great annoyance of the ''old sciiool " 

 of anglers, who fuss and fume at the sight of a petticoat by 

 the riverside, and declare that " a woman's place is at home, 



