FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 I was staying with two friends at that excellent hostelry the Gordon 

 Arms, Fochabers, waiting for a five -foot spate to subside, and waiting 

 in vain from Monday till midday on Saturday. Then, although the water 

 still stood at 46 on the " pinny," and was a bad colour besides, we decided 

 to wet our lines after luncheon, though with a very faint hope of doing so 

 to any purpose. My lot was cast for beloved Alltdearg, but that grand 

 pool was a tossing sea, so I went beyond to the Otter's Cave, a cast which 

 nowadays is of no use except in a very high water. Certainly it bore no 

 semblance to a salmon pool; it was a broad swift race of " drumly " water, 

 and I fiung the "Black Dog " upon its expanse with no expectation of raising 

 a fish. It was now half -past two; at 5 o'clock it was dark; yet in that 

 brief space of time I had the extraordinary luck to land four clean salmon 

 weighing 25, 9, 7 and 71b. respectively. As usual, under similar condi- 

 tions of flood, these fish were all lying very near the bank. It was not the 

 first lesson I had learnt about the merit of setting adverse circumstances 

 at defiance, but it was the most surprising, because muddy water is 

 believed, and generally proves, to be prohibitive to fly-fishing. 



4. " The Green Highlander." Tag, silver wire and gold floss; 

 tail, a topping and sprigs of teal; butt, black chenille; body, one- 

 fourth yellow pig's wool, remainder myrtle green pig's wool with 

 green hackle over, ribbed with silver tinsel; shoulder hackle blue- 

 dyed gallina; wing, strips of mottled brown turkey, bustard, red, 

 yellow and blue-dyed swan, jungle-fowl at cheeks, topping over, blue 

 macaw wings. 



This is a prime favourite on the Brora; indeed, on the only day when 

 I have fished that wonderful little river, my gillie v/ould not allow me to 

 exhibit any other fiy. I killed eight fish on it, fighting against one of the 

 heaviest gales it has ever been my lot to encounter in the month of April. 



5. •' The Red Ranger." Tag, silver wire and sky-blue or yellow 

 fioss; tail, a topping with sprigs of ibis and teal; butt, black chenille; 

 body, scarlet mohair, ribbed with broad silver tinsel and silver 

 twist; sky-blue hackle at shoulder; wing, two long jungle-fowls, 

 doubled tippet feathers over them, blue chatterer cheeks, topping over 

 all, blue macaw horns. 



This fly is a variant of the better-known "Durham Ranger," which, 



I have read somewhere, had its origin in two gentlemen from Durham 



going into a tackle -maker's shop on Tweedside (whether Forrest of Kelso 



or Wright of Sprouston I quite forget), and demanding a fly that would 



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