LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 181 



end of October they are absolutely untakeable by any 

 lure whatsoever ; matters are changed only when the 

 first August floods come down the Feshie and the 

 Tromie, inducing them to quit Loch Insh in search of 

 spawning places in these two streams, when they will 

 dash fearlessly at a small phantom minnow. 



On October 7 th I arrived at Aiken way, by Craigel- 

 lachie, on a visit to Willie Menzies of Culdares ; Charles 

 Pelham Burn from Pitcroy was also there, our fourth 

 rod being our hostess, the best lady fisher I ever 

 saw, and an excellent exponent moreover of the Spey 

 cast. In seven days of hard work we took but fifteen 

 fish between us, none of which were large ones, a truly 

 disappointing result for the last week of the Spey 

 season. The remarks in my diary are : " Hardly a fish 

 to be seen in the whole water ; each season the river 

 gets worse and worse, and the poor old Spey has gone 

 to pot." 



On the 5th and 6th of November came two nice 

 days at Tillingbourne, where I met Henry Perkins, 

 the late Secretary of Lord's, Charles Baily, Sir Trevor 



