96 Fly Fishmg for Sea Trout, 



way get. within forty yards or so, when all three 

 birds slowly rise. Too late for two of them — one 

 falls dead to the first barrel, and another, mortally 

 wounded, flies away, and dies in the wood. We 

 pick up the dead one, the old mother, and row 

 gently on to the furthest point for the chance of a 

 duck in the reeds. I am landed ; creep quietly up 

 to the edge of the rock, whilst W. in the boat 

 rounds the point. The moment the head of the boat 

 clears the rock up get five ducks. I get one, and 

 W. another as he wheels round, forty yards over- 

 head, a splendid shot. In going to pick mine up 

 I flush and bag a snipe, and a little further on we 

 get two flappers out of the reeds. Now the breeze 

 has freshened, the guns are covered up, and we 

 commence fishing. Drifting down the loch, the 

 wind at our backs, fish are still on the rise, and 

 we take some fine fresh fellows. Suddenly, as is 

 often the case, the wind dies quite away, and 

 the lake is as smooth as a mill pond. Not a fish is 

 stirring, where a few minutes before every cast 

 brought up a trout, so we land and weigh our fish. 

 One six pounds, one over three pounds, eight from 

 two to three pounds, and the rest from three-quarters 

 to a pound and a half As we walk down the river 

 we have a cast in the Big Pool. The salmon are 

 jumping in all directions — but it is no go — so we 

 wind up, jump into the dog-cart, and return home, 



