124 ANGLING. 



In lake fishing a good boatman is not only halt', but 

 two-thirds of the battle. If the lake be of the usual 

 character, with shallow shores and a deep centre, you drift 

 along, with an occasional paddle from the man, in a mode- 

 rate breeze, casting shorewards as you go. If the breeze 

 be heavy, you either row head to it, or, drifting, you find 

 it useful to have a rope or chain with a big stone, which, 

 throwing over and dragging along the bottom, checks the 

 too rapid pace of the boat. 



In lakes where there are shallow bays, like Loch Awe, 

 and where the water all over them is not more than from 

 six to eight or ten feet deep, you may make two or three 

 drifts or courses at different depths. As a rule, the water 

 from six to twelve feet deep is the best place for the fish, 

 though I have caught fish more than once with the fly in 

 lakes where there was, perhaps, a hundred feet of water 

 beneath them, but this is not done every day. In lakes 

 like Loch Leven, where there are very large shallow 

 portions of the lake, you can make very long drifts 

 without much trouble. If there is not wind enough for 

 the fly by casting, you will often get a few fish by trailing 

 your flies with thirty or forty yards of line out, and a 

 spinning minnow at such times gives a better chance than 

 the fly. Bow slowly, so as to keep your minnow or flies 

 deep in the water. In some of the big Irish lakes they 

 use cross lines for the trout. I cannot approve of it. You 

 scratch and scare no end of fish ; and as for sport, half the 

 sport consists in disentangling your flies. I tried it once 

 for curiosity, but didn't like it. 



The one great ingredient in successful fly fishing, as in 

 most other fishing, is patience. The man whose fly is 

 always on the water has the best chance. I am a great 

 sticker myself, and never like to give it up. There is 



