82 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



those three fish lost on that unlucky day. All I 

 will say is that they were phenomenally heavy trout. 

 The only reward that we did get, in the end, was 

 one fish of rather over a pound, which my brother 

 caught. After that you can no longer wonder that 

 an angler should look upon the apparently harmless 

 snipe as a bird of ill-omen. 



It is assuredly not the weight of the baskets 

 with which one returns from Loch Wee that makes 

 the place so fascinating, but rather the size of the 

 fish one might catch. If you get a west, or south- 

 west wind, not to mention the other conditions 

 being favourable, you are almost sure of getting 

 one or two heavy fish ; but with the wind blowing 

 from any other direction, it is more than likely that 

 you will have no luck at all. 



Certainly the beauty of the fish of this loch, when 

 you are fortunate enough to catch them, is un- 

 deniable. There is surely a great deal of nonsense 

 talked about the superiority of sea trout over yellow 

 trout, both as to their appearance and their fighting 

 powers. I have caught many sea trout on the fly, 

 in lochs, rivers, and even in the sea itself, and have 

 never found them equal in strength to the trout 

 of Loch Wee, nor to those of a certain very fine 



