58 FISH AND FISHING IN SCOTLAND. 



We had two guides with us ; not that you absolutely require 

 any guides to reach the banks of the lake, but you cannot well 

 fish it but from a boat, at least with any chance of success. 

 From them we derived a good deal of information ; and first, of 

 course, they allowed me to use my own flies, at the same time 

 assuring me that we should catch no fish; and this happened, 

 although I used the best, large and small, and those especially 

 I had found so successful in rivers. They next recommended 

 me to try some of their dressing : large gaudy flies, dressed in 

 gay colours, with silver finishings. I had never seen such an 

 artificial fly before ; nevertheless, we succeeded perfectly, and in 

 a short time caught a good basket of trout. 



These were of two kinds apparently ; none were large ; a few 

 are found in the lake, although I do not remember taking any ; 

 and char, " which rise not at a fly," exist also in Loch Doone. 

 Of these we, of course, saw nothing. A large salmon rose at 

 the fly, but did not bite. The char and salmon no doubt breed 

 in the lanes which connect Loch Enoch just under the Eagles' 

 Crag with Loch Doone. This Loch Enoch must be the wildest 

 spot in Scotland. I regret not having visited it. 



We saw no large trout, neither do I think that such are 

 common ; nevertheless, I speak from a brief experience. It 

 should be tried with parr-tail and minnow, and with salmon 

 flies of various kinds. The shores are rocky, barren, and 

 desolate beyond imagination. A savage country, without a road 

 or hope of civilization. 



Should any angler, fond of nature, visit the ground I have 

 just described, I venture to recommend him first to visit Loch 

 Enoch, and, returning to Dalmellington, journey from thence by 

 the Loch of Ken to Kirkcudbright, and from that ancient and 

 primitive burgh, he may explore with success the wilds of 

 Galloway. Small lakes scattered over that desolate region are 

 said to contain pink-coloured trout of exquisite flavour. I 

 visited by this route Kirkcudbright, but did not fish the Dee, a 

 good salmon river, whose chief source is Loch Ken. My object 

 was different. I desired to see the birthplace of most of my 

 family; to gaze on St. Mary's Isle, of which I had heard so 

 much in my youth ; and on " Selkirk Hall," plundered by Paul 

 Jones, of which said invasion my friends were eye-witnesses : 



