MOUNTAIN TARNS 147 



cock, dark snipe, and dark partridge are all 

 good patterns ; while black gnat, corncrake, 

 and coch-y-bundu will be found useful for a 

 change. 



As already stated, the illegal lath or " otter " is 

 not infrequently used, almost invariably with suc- 

 cess, and the chances of molestation are small. 

 Those who practise this killing method of fishing 

 are wily enough to leave their lath (secreting it 

 among the heather or stones) where it is used, not 

 carrying it about with them. 



One of the most killing methods of tarn fishing 

 is with the natural bracken-clock. This is one 

 of the best baits for either mountain stream or 

 tarn. In the former it is simply dibbled into each 

 pool walking up stream. On a tarn it is more 

 difficult to manipulate. Still, the clock is a fairly 

 tough customer, and with a little practice a reason- 

 able amount of line can be got out without flicking 

 the fly off. If the weather is seasonable, the 

 bracken-clock comes on about the last week in 

 May and lasts until the middle of June. 



When at their best the tarn trout run four or five 

 in the pound, and many of them are richly marked. 

 Those of Small Water, for instance, are said to be 

 brilliantly spotted with vermilion, but with thirty 

 trout taken from this tarn before me I cannot say 

 that this beauty of marking is particularly striking. 

 The trout from Hayeswater are an exception as to 

 size, averaging half a pound ; and they are pink- 

 fleshed. At the other extremity are the Blea 

 Water trout, which are not only small but 

 poor. 



Before enumerating the mountain tarns it may 

 be well to add a few general observations. From 



L 2 



