CHAPTER V 



OX LAKES 



Spring in the Highlands Lakes near the Sea and Lakes 

 Inland Is " Feeling Cold " an Illusion ? The Boatman's 

 Craft and Suhtlety What the Salmon may not See A 

 Remarkable Incident Do Salmon Dose ? Whence they 

 may See a Minnow Colours of Minnows Large 

 Lakes Possibilities of the Deeps Wind and Waves 

 What Fish are Rising? Salmon take Flies Un- 

 obtrusively The Beds of Lakes Submerged Rivers 

 A Lesson on Loch Nell. 



To go salmon fishing in the Highlands before Easter 

 calls for courage of a Spartan kind ; yet, especially 

 if it be on a loch you would seek your sport, that is 

 when you had better go. Loch fishing, which on 

 the earlier waters begins in the middle of January, 

 the depth of winter, is practically all what is called 

 "spring fishing. 1 ' On lochs not far from the sea, 

 of which Loch Shiel, in Argyllshire, is an example, 

 there is autumn fishing also ; but on the others, far 

 inland, such as Loch Tay, the first quarter of the 

 year is regarded as the only time. That, I imagine, 

 is because the autumn fish in inland lochs, instead of 

 resting there, are merely passing through to spawn- 



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