158 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



Later on I began casting, more for amusement 

 and to keep myself warm, and hooked another 

 fish, but my reel having lost the catch, I could 

 not hold him, and although the keeper took him 

 in hand, the fish very quickly made "ducks and 

 drakes" of the casting-line on the sharp rocks. 



Below the Troughs the river broadens some- 

 what, and the water runs about twelve to 

 eighteen inches deep over a rocky and stony 

 bed. In summer you can easily wade all this 

 part of the river, and trouts of a quarter-pound 

 weight or more are fairly plentiful. Passing the 

 Old Castle, we come to a wide and deep pool, 

 surrounded on both sides with a belt of trees. 

 Here there are some very heavy trout, but they 

 can only be got by wading down stream as far 

 as possible into the pool and then casting. It 

 is very easy to go far here, and more than 

 once I have gone until my waders were full of 

 water. One thing in the angler's favour is that 

 there is a good bottom. It requires very fine 

 casting to rise fish in the smooth water here, 



