JUNE. 







SCOTCH LOCH FISHING. 



BY J. W. FOGG-ELLIOTT. 



LOCH fishing is not now what once it was. In some of the 

 well-known Lochs there are not half the trout there were ten years 

 ago. Then, any duffer could kill them ; but now the bad fisherman 

 has a very poor chance of sport. The trout have been educated, 

 and it is the duffer who has educated them. He rises fish after 

 fish when there is enough wind to help him to get his flies out 

 pricks half of them, and perhaps catches one fish in a dozen rises. 

 In a few out-of-the-way places, however, there still are Lochs where 

 the trout have scarcely ever seen an artificial fly. I came across 

 one of these last summer when climbing over a shoulder of Ben 

 More, in Sutherland, on my way to the Gorm Loch. My gillie 

 contemptuously called it a " peat hole," for in extent it was not 

 more than an acre. It was connected with the large Loch by a 

 small stream. The little pool was full of weed, but I thought I 

 would try it ; so putting on a single fly a " Zulu " I cast into one 

 of the openings in the weed. Immediately a trout took the fly, 

 and before 1 left I had taken five, weighing from four and a half 

 ounces to two pounds each. 



The " Zulu," used as a "top-dropper," is unquestionably the 



