170 FLY FISHING 



be independent, and may have very good sport, 

 though the advantage of covering a large extent 

 of water turns the scale in favour of a double- 

 handed rod. Except on very rough days, fine 

 tackle is important in loch fishing, and as in 

 angling from the bank one cannot make sure of 

 being able to follow the fish, it is necessary, not 

 to have a heavier line, but to have more of it. I 

 once hooked a grilse of nearly five pounds on 

 trout tackle, and a single-handed rod, when I 

 had only thirty yards of line on the reel, and 

 when I was fishing from the bank of a loch on 

 which there was no boat. Twice the grilse ran 

 dangerously near to the limit of the line ; twice 

 as a last resource I slacked the line as much as 

 I could, in the hope of making the fish think it 

 was free and cease its efforts, and each time it 

 seemed puzzled, and let me very quietly and 

 cautiously recover some line. Whether a catas- 

 trophe was really saved by these tactics I cannot 

 be sure, but they are worth trying in an emergency. 

 That grilse, at any rate, was landed. 



In lochs the fish are even more capricious 

 in their moods than they are in rivers. One 

 generally attributes these moods to the weather ; 



