222 DRY-FLY FISHING 



way we may sometimes regret having left the plain, 

 but it is wonderfully easy to forget the toils after 

 the goal is reached. In the evening we return con- 

 tented, but feeling the effects of the heavy air of the 

 hill. We are happy after our day on the little 

 loch, every creek and corner, every headland and 

 islet of which we have visited, and the creel holds 

 a goodly number of trout, small perhaps, but 

 plucky beyond description. We have seen the 

 nesting-isle of the seagulls, have startled the moun- 

 tain hare from its form, and plucked the ruddy 

 cloudberry from among the heather. 



Possibly the dry-fly will be declared unnecessary 

 on these distant mountain tarns ; it is pronounced 

 a super-refinement. There is no doubt that the 

 wet-fly will take trout from these lochs, plenty of 

 them, but if the floating fly will capture more and 

 better fish, it is surely sensible to employ it. As 

 a matter of fact, the dry-fly is almost a useless lure 

 on some hill-lochs. The behaviour of the trout 

 in any particular loch will depend on the type of 

 food that they are in the habit of receiving, and the 

 angler's lure should be a representation of that form. 

 If in any loch trout are seen rising to take flies from 

 the surface, then at that time the angler, who 

 desires to obtain the maximum of sport, will lay a 

 floating artificial on the rise, even though he is 

 convinced that a wet -fly, as carefully and accurately 

 cast, would be probably accepted. 



As long as there are burns and lochs of the hill 

 to fish by day, and rivers to seek at eventide and 

 early morn, July will continue to yield many a 

 good trout to the floating fly. 



