18 FLY-FISHING. 



a place to be caught in in a gale of wind, in an open 

 boat, we thought it prudent to make for home. It is 

 almost too far out at sea for an open boat, added to 

 which, such a fearfully dangerous and wild-looking 

 place I never beheld ; it would not do to be there with 

 much wind from the south-west, as the whole force of 

 the Atlantic would then break upon these rocks : and 

 it being in the month of October, and the weather 

 beginning to be unsettled, I did not think it prudent 

 to venture there again. A steam yacht would be an 

 excellent thing on these expeditions, for should the 

 wind and tide be unfavourable when you wished to 

 return, you could then do so with ease, when it would 

 be impossible in a sailing boat. Scarcely a winter 

 passes without our hearing of fishing-boats being dri- 

 ven out to sea, and never again heard of. 



After this I went to the Isle of Mweenish. It 

 was on the 19th of October; and I had not fished 

 many minutes, when I hooked a fine fellow with one 

 of my largest flies. He was so strong, and run out 

 the line at such a rate, that although the man at the 

 helm luffed, the fish broke away, and I found the point 

 of the hook bent, as if it had come in contact with a 

 stone. A few minutes after this, I hooked a monster, 



