SEA-TROUT FISHING 

 with seven salmon weighing from 12 lb. downwards and 207 sea-trout from 

 5 lb. downwards. It was a tantalizing sight to one who reflected what 

 sport these lovely fish might have afforded had there but been a spate at 

 the right time. We had to find consolation in the satisfaction of many 

 humble householders when these excellent fish were distributed in the 

 clachan near my friend's shooting lodge. 



Even in a stream dead low, with a mere trickle connecting the pools, 

 sea-trout may be taken with the fly at night, which is certainly more in 

 accord with the spirit of sport than netting them out; but which, as 

 Izaak Walton truly wrote of night -fishing, " is void of the pleasures that 

 such days as these, that we two now enjoy, afford the angler." It certainly 

 lacks much of the charm of daylight -fishing, chiefly because of the dif- 

 ficulty of seeing the rise. That is also the cause why, in night-fishing, so 

 many fish are pricked and missed. The flashing rise of a sea -trout differs 

 entirely from the slower movement and poise of a salmon. If you strike on 

 the rise of a salmon, you are certain to miss him; whereas you are nearly 

 as sure to miss a sea-trout if you don't strike on the rise. Stronger tackle is 

 required in night-fishing than is advisable by day, for a fish so hooked 

 runs very wild and must be held tighter in the dark than when its move- 

 ments can be anticipated and controlled in daylight. It is a common, but 

 groundless, belief that white flies are more attractive than others in the 

 dark. Dark ones are just as visible as light ones under the stars. It is no 

 use attempting night-fishing in low water until fully an hour after sun- 

 set; twilight will not do; the last radiance should have left the sky before 

 the water is disturbed. 



It is remarkable, seeing how readily sea -trout take the fly after dark, 

 that salmon will not be induced to do so also. Although I have often fished, 

 and known others to fish, by night in pools where numbers of salmon 

 were lying, only one instance has come to my knowledge of a salmon 

 having been hooked and landed after dark. 



Many, perhaps most, of the streams most prolific in sea-trout run 

 out of a loch, where these game fish give fine sport with the fly. But such 

 lochs might be turned to advantage in a manner that has been very seldom 

 adopted hitherto, whereby sea -trout Ashing might be developed to almost 

 any extent at a very moderate expense, namely, by storing the water and 

 regulating the flow so as to have the stream in fishing order whenever 

 it is desired. Many of us must have realized the burden of the plaint 

 uttered by the late Mr Bidder, K.C., who, after encountering repeated 



91 



