AND ANGLING SONGS. 8 1 



9 



when brought to bear upon rivers, properly so called, where the 

 bank shelter is amissing, and where a short one-handed rod 

 would be found powerless either to propel the worm forward to 

 the required distance, or to act as a lever in recovering it, or in 

 striking the fish. Professor Gillespie, on the occasion of his 

 visit to the feeders of Loch Turret, was not fortunate ; but he 

 over-rated their capabilities, and expected too much from them 

 as the nurseries of a well-reputed lake. 



I never again, although in the course of our walk back to 

 Crieff we mutually anticipated and planned several fishing ex- 

 cursions together, had the pleasure of conversing face to face 

 with the Professor, a domestic affliction having called him away 

 suddenly to St. Andrews next morning ; but our accidental 

 meeting on the shoulder of Ben Chonzie led to correspondence 

 betwixt us on angling matters, which was kept up for several 

 years, in fact until the date of his decease. My journal recounts 

 other successes met with on this truly Highland loch. The 24th 

 and 27th of June are so marked, also the 3d and 20th of July, 

 and the 5th of August. The last date carries with it the recol- 

 lection of a day's sport not much inferior to that above narrated. 



I sometimes, during the summer of 1833, and again in 1839,' 

 proved the stilly parts of the Earn, and of a sluggish water called 

 the Pow Burn, which forms one of its feeders, for pike. The 

 Earn pike are better conditioned, and attain a larger size, than 

 those of the Tay. They are also more capricious. Sultry 

 weather foreboding thunder-storms, the most discouraging for 

 trout-fishing, I have always found the most appetizing for pike, 

 especially when accompanied with a light wind. With such 

 experiences what took place on the Earn was at one ; but there 

 are occasions, in the breeding-season for instance, when the state 

 of the atmosphere does not appear to affect them, and they will 

 rush at any reasonable bait that you may choose to offer. 



From Crieff I once or twice made an excursion to Glen- 



