164 FLY FISHING 



into the river, and if there are fairly deep pools 

 and long stretches of deep still water. The fish 

 collect in these places when the water is low, and 

 if there is a breeze, which blows fairly up or 

 down the stream and so makes a good ripple, 

 a very good basket may be made. Even when 

 there is no breeze and a bright sun, it is possible 

 to have some sport with the small class of sea 

 trout known as " herling " and by various other 

 names. These smaller fish run later than most 

 of the large ones, and are often met with in 

 shoals. They average only between half a pound 

 and three-quarters of a pound, but they fight 

 with extraordinary activity and strength, and they 

 sometimes rise when no other fish thinks of 

 doing so. I was once by a small sea trout river 

 on one very hot bright day in August. The 

 streams were shrunken and weak, the still places 

 were smooth as glass, and the water, as is the 

 case in bare rocky parts of the Western Islands, 

 was very little tinged with peat and excep- 

 tionally clear. The fish were in the river, but 

 there was only depth enough for them in quite 

 still water, and to fish in that seemed hopeless. 

 I sat down and opened my box of flies. 



