134 SCOTLAND FOR TROUT. [CHAP. iv. 



of course dependent on the quality and abundance of its food; 

 those are best which exist on ground -feeding, living upon 

 worms and such fresh-water crustaceans as are within reach. 

 Fly-taking fish those that indulge in the feed of ephemerae 

 that takes place a few times every day are comparatively 

 poor in flesh and weak in flavour. As to where fishers should 

 resort, must be left to themselves. I was once beguiled out to 

 the Dipple, but it was a hungry sort of river, where the trout 

 were on the average about three ounces and scarce enough ; 

 although I must say that for a few minutes, when " the feed " 

 was on the water, there was an enormous display of fish, but 

 they preferred to remain in their native stream, a tributary 

 of the Clyde I think. The mountain streams and lochs of 

 Scotland, or the placid and picturesque lakes of Cumberland 

 and Westmorland, are the paradise of anglers. 



For trout-fishing we would name Scotland as being before 

 all other countries. "What," it has been asked, "is a Scottish 

 stream without its trout ? " Doubtless, if a river has no trout 

 it is without one of its greatest charms, and it is pleasant to 

 record that, except in the neighbourhood of very large seats of 

 population, trout are still plentiful in Scotland. It is true the 

 railway, and other modes of conveyance, have carried of late 

 years a perfect army of anglers into its most picturesque nooks 

 and corners, and therefore fish are not quite so plentiful as they 

 were thirty years ago, in the old coaching days, when it was 

 possible to fill a washing -tub in the space of half an hour 

 with lovely half-pound trout from a few pools on a burn 

 near Moffat. But there are still plenty of trout ; indeed 

 there is a noted fisher who can fill his basket even in streams 

 that, being near the large cities, have been too often fished ; 

 but then it is given to him to be a man of great skill in his 

 vocation, and moreover capable of instructing others, for he 

 has written a work that in some degree has revolutionised the 

 art of angling. 



