134 LOCH TROUT-FISHING 



is hooked, as the angler is more or less a fixed point. 

 No one who has not experienced it can realise what a 

 splendid fight is made by a three-pound trout, hooked 

 on moderately fine tackle by one wading to mid-thigh. 

 He spins off a score of yards of line at the first rush, 

 throws himself aloft, bores into the deep till the point 

 of the little ' Dunkeld ' is buried in the water, sweeps 

 round in a semicircle, the line cutting the waves like 

 the prow of a racing cutter, and not till he settles to 

 quieter tactics dares the fisher begin to make his way 

 ashore. Half, at least, of the exquisite anxiety of the 

 struggle is sacrificed if oars may be plied in whatever 

 direction the fish is heading. 



The advantage of shore fishing over fishing from a 

 boat is chiefly apparent in May and June, when most 

 feeding trout lie along the line where the water deepens 

 to more than three feet. Later on, when summer heat 

 has raised the temperature of the whole lake, roving 

 trout may be seen rising all over it, and a boat must be 

 had to reach them. But even in July and August good 

 fish sport may be enjoyed off the shore, especially off 

 points and capes, which are better at that season than 

 earlier in the year, when most execution is done in 

 sheltered bays. 



In lakes where trout are large but few, it is weary 

 work to thrash the waste of water on the chance of the 

 flies falling within view of one of them. In such places 

 a flood comes in very usefully to save labour. The 

 fish then congregate round the mouths of hill burns, 

 keenly on the look-out for what the swollen waters 



