LOCHS AND RESERVOIRS 183 



that can be done with it. The beginner always 

 wants to know how long he should keep his fly 

 floating ; we cannot tell him. We fish the dry-fly 

 on the loch during a rise ; if there is none, we fish 

 the wet-fly ; if it brings nothing we sometimes try 

 the floating fly ; if that does not produce a fish in a 

 very short time the awful weariness of it sends us 

 back to the wet-fly or to the shore for lunch. It is 

 all very different on the river, a fish or at least a 

 rise being certain to come even on an inauspicious 

 day with a frequency that keeps weariness away. 



On summer evenings, calm and peaceful, the 

 surface of the loch is often plentifully spread with 

 minute midges and the smallest duns. The trout 

 are accustomed to swim about scooping them up in 

 great glee. Generally the sinking of the sun is the 

 signal that awakes the fish to activity. The 

 beginner, on seeing the surface seething, need not 

 conclude that at last his great day has come, and 

 that his creel is about to be filled to overflowing, nor 

 need the experienced angler be consumed with 

 despair. It is neither a hopeful nor a hopeless 

 condition of things. Every single capture con- 

 stitutes a veritable triumph, productive of more 

 satisfaction than a dozen trout taken under other 

 conditions. To attempt the luring of such trout 

 from a boat is to invite failure ; the campaign 

 should be conducted from the bank and the flies 

 that will make it succeed are the Blue Hen Spider 

 and the Badger Hackle. These are the indispensable 

 flies for the reservoir and lowland loch in the evenings 

 of June and July. 



The angler who fishes a loch with the floating fly 

 during a rise has both a pleasant and a valuable 



