306 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



The result, so far as the capture of the vendace was concerned, 

 made up amply for my disappointment on the occasion of my 

 first visit to this celebrated lake. The long-net was laid on 

 early in the forenoon, close to the ancient little burgh which 

 bears the name of the parish or district. At the start, the 

 results certainly were not promising, the first four or five hauls 

 embracing merely a few bream and roach of insignificant size. 

 On approaching the Castle the takes were heavier, and included 

 some fair specimens of pike, the largest, however, not exceeding 

 in weight seven pounds, several perch, and a rudd or red-eye, 

 which Sir William remarked was a rare fish in the Castle Loch, 

 and in our Scottish waters generally, although common to many 

 of the slow-running rivers in the south of England. An eel, 

 also, of attractive beauty, as regarded colour and shape, was 

 taken, and a fine trout of two or three pounds' weight made its 

 escape when on the point of being landed. It was not, however, 

 until more than half the circuit of the loch had been completed, 

 and the net brought to bear upon that portion of it which is over- 

 looked by the Castle ruins, that specimens of the vendace 

 dawned in upon us, first by twos and threes, and afterwards, 

 about luncheon-time, and during a pelt of rain, in considerable 

 numbers, the whole proceeds amounting to four or five dozens. 

 In the opinion of Sir William, they were the largest and finest 

 specimens of the Coregonus Willughbii which had been taken 

 for a number of years, several of them exceeding eight inches in 

 length. One of their characteristics, that of bearing on the top 

 of the head the well-defined shape of a heart, glazed over, as it 

 were, with a thin transparent substance, exposing to view the 

 brain of the fish, was particularly noticeable in the newly-caught 

 specimens. A small collection of the different fishes belonging 

 to the Castle Loch was made on this occasion by Professor 

 Archer, who was present at the meeting. Prepared under his 

 careful superintendence, this souvenir now occupies a case 



