I 9 4 DRY-FLY FISHING 



close the old, red gown." Still we suppose that the 

 thermometer would have declared the temperature 

 to be a degree or two higher there than some miles 

 inland. Also it is true that in spring the land is 

 colder than the sea, but in summer we imagine that 

 it is the warmer of the two. If the East wind were 

 good on Loch Leven only in spring, we might accept 

 the explanation, but as it is good throughout the 

 season, we conclude that the observed effects cannot 

 be wholly due to the cause suggested. 



There is one point on which we should expect to 

 find universal agreement, viz. that the trout in Loch 

 Leven rise and take with very much greater freedom, 

 when the sky is overcast, than they do under bright 

 sunshine. Whenever a cloud passes over the sun, 

 the boatmen are almost sure to tell the angler to 

 work hard, for during the " dull blink/' as their 

 curious expression is, there is a good chance of 

 capturing a trout. Wonderfully often the advice, if 

 acted upon, produces the desired result. Why the 

 fish of that loch should differ so much from others, 

 which seem to rejoice exceedingly in sunshine, we 

 really do not know, though we might hazard an 

 opinion ; but that it is one of their chief character- 

 istics to be most active on a dull day, or when the 

 sun is obscured, there can be no question. 



A cloudy sky is very often the accompaniment of 

 an East wind on or near the East coast. Meteoro- 

 logical records prove that on that coast of Scotland 

 the greater part of the annual rainfall comes with 

 easterly winds. So often do the always welcome 

 cloud and the East wind occur together that a steady 

 breeze from that quarter has become the favourite 

 condition with Loch Leven anglers, but we think 



