JUNE 141 



LIV 



Albeit ferox can only be found in great and deep 

 lakes, there are often good thumping trout to be 

 caught in very insignificant tarns. There is, A Mo0 riand 

 moreover, a notable charm in casting angle Tarn 

 where few have ever done so before. Mystery is the 

 dominant attraction in fishing, and in remote hill lochs 

 one never knows what may populate the dark waters 

 sprats or sockdologers. One such lakelet I had heard 

 of as a boy, but never had fished or heard of anybody 

 else fishing. It lies in the middle of a dreary tract of 

 peat moss, which once, no doubt, was a wide mere, of 

 which this tarn is the last remaining driblet, extending 

 barely to a couple of acres, one-third of it reed-beds. 

 Shooting grouse along its margin one day, I noticed a 

 fish rise, and made a mental note to put a fly over it 

 on the first opportunity. This did not occur till the 

 following year, when, on a day in early June, I had 

 been fishing in vain with a friend an excellent loch 

 near the sea. It was no use ; we could not persuade 

 the trout to do business any way; so in despair I 

 proposed an excursion to the moorland tarn. The way 

 to it was rough, over several miles of moss and moor, 

 but we were young and tough, and by four in the 

 afternoon were standing on its solitary marge. A 

 dismal scene it was, and unpromising for our craft. 

 Three sides of the pool were surrounded by quaking 

 bog, fringed with reeds ; on the fourth side, the only 

 part where it might be possible to cast a fly, the wind 



