98 SALMON FISHING 



directions, the fish that are well below the surface will 

 see the boat long before it comes within the range ot 

 vision of the fish that are poised higii. Thus it 

 would appear that, though not uncommon, the rising 

 of a salmon at a trout fly is an exceptional incident. 

 Bringing fierce joy and much alarm, it happens only 

 when the fly chances to fall over a salmon that is at 

 once looking away from the boat and is in a humour 

 to snap at the lure. 



It seems probable, then, that the professional 

 attendants are right in believing that a minnow 

 trolled behind a boat is the best lure on a loch. 

 Is it equally probable that they are right in believing 

 that the boat, instead of being rowed straight for- 

 ward, should go forward in a series of curves ? I am 

 not sure that they are. The reason for the usage is 

 obvious. If the boat goes straight forward, the lure, 

 trolled behind, will always be in water that has been 

 disturbed by the craft and the oars; it seems 

 reasonable to suppose, indeed, that, if the water 

 is not very deep, every fish that lay in what has 

 become the track of the boat must be scared off. 

 On the other hand, if the boat goes forward in 

 curves, the lure, at the end of forty or fifty yards of 

 line, instead of following the curves, touches your 

 track at intervals only, and for the rest is spinning 

 through water that has not been disturbed. The 

 gillie has implicit faith in this procedure. " It's aye 

 at the turn ye hook a fish," he assures you, meaning 

 that it is only when the minnow has come into one 

 of the undisturbed bits of water that you have a 



