110 SALMON FISHING 



shores in every case that a lake is shallow. In many 

 cases it is shallow, or comparatively so, far out. 

 Where it is, as above the great bank in Loch 

 Lubnaig, salmon as well as trout habitually lie. 



Here and there we come upon a lake that is not 

 exactly as it used to be. Man, or some process of 

 Nature, has raised the level of the land over which 

 the water goes at the outflow. The depth of the 

 lake has been increased. The water has expanded 

 on all sides. In particular, it has pushed up at the 

 head of the lake. Part of the inflowing river, 

 perhaps a long part, has been submerged. Peer into 

 the lake as you drift down from where the river now 

 merges into the still water, and you will see the 

 channel. It is a distinct groove through what 

 bears traces of having been something in the nature 

 of a meadow. Even, it may be, there is still grass 

 on both sides of the channel. That is a good place 

 over which to fish. If there are any salmon in the 

 lake, some of them will be there. It is the path of 

 their ancestors from time immemorial. Hereditary 

 instinct as to locality is as strong in salmon as it 

 is in birds. 



Although some salmon certainly lie along by the 

 shore, it would be a mistake to suppose that any bit 

 of water near the land is as good as any other. A 

 few years ago, having set out on Loch Nell, in 

 Argyllshire, I wished to go to the south shore. 

 There, near the end of the lake, I saw a long ledge 

 of high rock. It looked, I thought, the very place 

 for the sea-trout I expected to catch, and for the 



