WHEN I WAS YOUNG 25 



and one day hooked a monster which, despite 

 Johnny's efforts to overtake him, ran me right 

 out, jumped and broke. He leaped three times 

 altogether, so we had a very clear view of his 

 proportions, which I placed at about 15 Ibs. 



;c Did you ever see a bigger trout in the lake than 

 that? " I remarked regretfully to Johnny. 



" Yes," he replied, " I set night-lines with worms 

 in March, and have caught two fish of twenty 

 pounds." 



Johnny was a reliable boy and not given to 

 exaggeration, so I said to him that if he ever caught 

 another twenty-pounder in March he must send it 

 addressed to me at Malloch's in Perth. Several 

 years went by, and then one day a box arrived at 

 Malloch's consigned to me. On being opened it 

 contained a monster yellow trout, the largest ever 

 captured in the British Islands. It weighed on 

 receipt 29| Ibs., and had been caught by Johnny 

 Lyon on a night-line. 



The stuffed fish I presented to a hotel-keeper in 

 Stromness, who wished to have it as a lure for 

 possible anglers. 



Another great sport at Stenness was stalking 

 Grey Mullet with a long trammel net. Some people 

 might think this a mere poaching dodge, but as a 

 matter of fact it was high-class sport. At a distance 

 of two hundred yards it was not safe to get nearer, 

 as these shy fish both see and hear wonderfully 

 John Oman and I would spot a shoal of big Grey 

 Mullet feeding in the shallows. We then anchored 

 the boat and slipped overboard up to our armpits. 

 John took one end of the net and I the other, and 

 we proceeded to get outside the fish and intercept 



