156 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



collecting the natural surface-food of the trout, which are led by 

 instinct to lurk under them. To know this, and to act upon the 

 knowledge, is one of the secrets of the fly-fisher's success in loch- 

 fishing. 



Loch Luichart, it is said, contains trout of large dimensions. 

 It may be so, but I never, in the course of my visits to it, came 

 across any of these monsters, the largest trout taken by me not 

 exceeding a pound and a half. The length of this sheet of water 

 is nearly six miles ; that of Loch Fannich, which superintends 

 it, being upwards of twelve. The trout of Loch Fannich are 

 small, scarcely herring- sized, a circumstance worthy of notice, 

 seeing that the trout of Strath-Bran, those inhabiting Lochs 

 Achnanault and Ledgowan, attain large dimensions ; as also do 

 those of Loch Garve, through which the Blackwater takes its 

 course. Pike, however, I may mention, are established in these 

 lochs a fact which may account in part for the superior size, as 

 it certainly does for the comparative paucity, of their spotted 

 contents. I find mentioned in my diary, as the result of a day's 

 fishing (17th July 1835) on Loch Luichart and its outlet, forty- 

 six trout. My average take, in the course of ten or twelve visits, 

 ranged from a dozen and a half up to three dozens. Although I 

 had full permission to do so, I was not tempted in 1835, for 

 reasons already stated, to trouble the salmon-casts on the Conon 

 much further than by inquiry. In the spring of 1836 I gave more 

 attention to them, but cannot say that I was greatly impressed 

 in their favour. They are very limited, both in number and 

 extent, considering the size of the river. A substantial-looking 

 cruive-dyke, not far from the confluence of the Orrin, effectually 

 intercepts the progress of the salmon on week-days, and it is 

 only through the Sunday's slap, on the occasion of a spate, that 

 seasonable fish of any magnitude can gain access to the upper 

 streams. I recollect being told by the late Sir G. Mackenzie, 

 that the peopling of the Blackwater depended solely upon the 



