THE GRIMERSTA 315 



next week. So fish enough to stock 20 miles of lochs were crammed 

 into one loch not 3 miles in circumference. 



" Now as to my experiences on the days on which I fished the loch. 

 The rules of the fishing were laid down with great preciseness, and, 

 as there were only three rods instead of the usual five, it was ordained 

 that only one rod should fish this first lake, though in an ordinary 

 way it made two beats. As things turned out, we made a great mistake 

 in not overriding this law, and all three could well have fished in the 

 one loch, where I really believe we should have killed 500 in the week. 

 Instead of which, by the rule, we only got the lake two days each in 

 the week, and on the other four days got practically nothing, there 

 being only a stray fish in the river and in No. 2 loch. The first of 

 these days was, I have often thought, the one on which I should have 

 caught the most fish. But I had asked a lady who was staying at 

 Moorsgale to come over and fish, she never having caught a salmon. 

 She came at about ten, and stayed till five in the afternoon. Just 

 as in the sea, the fish kept in shoals, and whenever we caught sight 

 of them we rowed hard towards them, and as soon as the fly went 

 over it was quite a certainty to rise one. But the fly would not go 

 straight, and striking was very difficult. Over and over again I saw 

 a fish rise open-mouthed at the fly, seize it unmolested, and spit it 

 out of his mouth. Then a panic strike, too late to hook the fish, and, 

 as the fly was dragged away, another mad fish would go for it, all this 

 only a few feet from the boat. After many troubles the lady caught 

 quite by herself 9 fish. At intervals in the day I caught some 

 half dozen, and, after the lady had gone home at five o'clock, I caught 

 12 more fish by seven o'clock, when I stopped fishing. 



" The second day on which I had this lake was Saturday, September 1 , 

 the last day of our month. A. M. Naylor had broken all likely 

 records by killing on Tuesday 54 fish and on Friday 45, so I had no 

 great hopes of anything to approach his scores. I began well at 9.15. 

 The day was a perfect fishing day, cloudy, enough wind, and slight 

 showers, but the mist was low on the hills, which, we had always been 

 told, was a bad sign. Since September 1 , 1 888, I have always treated 

 that particular omen with little heed. From 9.15 till one o'clock I 

 was hard at work killing fish as quickly as I could ; but then, for some 

 strange reason, not a fish would move, and for two hours I literally 

 flogged without rising, or, if I remember rightly, seeing a fish. I 

 thought the game was up ; but then the fun recommenced, and, working 

 hard till seven o'clock, I killed 46 fish, just beating Naylor's second best. 



" It was a grand day's slaughter, but, as far as fishing went, most 

 demoralising. As soon as a fish was hooked there was no nonsense 

 about playing him scientifically, down went the point of the rod, and 

 pull hard was the order of the day. If the fish broke away, as often 

 happened, it did not matter, as another was soon on again. George 

 Probyn's experience of being for an hour and a half towed about the 

 lake by a foul-hooked 27 Ib. fish showed me that no wasting time must 

 be indulged in. Break or come in quick was the rule. 



