IRISH LOACH-TROLLING. 27 



calm or stormy, overcast or even moderately bright, 

 this kind of fishing can he practised with success. 

 There is no variation of weather within the period 

 stated, in which I have not seen it successful. But 

 anglers who were not mere poachers seldom resorted 

 to it except when fly-fishing was impracticable. 

 Amongst the former there was an impression, and 

 one I know to be well founded, that the large and 

 breeding trout of any lake may be injuriously 

 diminished by the practice ; and the fly-fishing pro- 

 perties of the water thereby considerably reduced. 

 It was then in fact considered not reputable, and 

 a proof of ignorance of the art, for any respectable 

 angler to put out a loach when trout were to be 

 caught by flies. It was therefore only in the 

 intervals, when flies could not be employed, that the 

 legitimate angler had recourse to the loach. And 

 these intervals were not only the best, but the most 

 agreeable, for the practice. A fine calm summer or 

 autumn evening from three or four o'clock to nine or 

 ten, may be assumed as the appropriate time for 

 loach-trolling. From the mode of mounting the bait 

 on the hook, it will doubtless have been inferred that 

 its vitality was neither likely nor essential. It will 

 also have been understood, though but incidentally 

 stated in the preceding remarks, that this kind of 

 fishing was exclusively conducted through the 

 medium of a boat. Wading, casting, spinning, or 



