SPRING FISHING IN LOCH ARD. 237 



The size of fly in most successful use is remark- 

 ably large for a loch so much fished, and where the 

 fish do not run large what is known as the full- 

 sized Loch Leven fly, or even, when the surface is 

 rough, the still larger size in use on Loch TummeL 

 The colours in favour, at least in the early season, are 

 reds and purples for body, and "white tops" and 

 drakes for the wings. Trolling with minnow, either 

 natural or artificial, is not much in use till the fly- 

 fishing season begins to wane it seems, indeed, a 

 fixed idea of the boatmen that there is no use in try- 

 ing minnow till May ; but that that rule may be too 

 much relied upon we have had evidence and even 

 in the earliest part of the season a phantom minnow 

 sometimes beats the fly. 



The best portions of the loch in the early season 

 are towards the upper end, which " lies better to the 

 sun," and is shallower, and with a warmer and richer 

 bottom than the lower end, which, however, gives 

 good fishing in June. The best winds are those be- 

 tween south and west ; the nearer south the better, as 

 a straight west wind is apt to be rather hard in both 

 senses ; an east wind is bad if dry, but good if moist ; 

 and the north is, as almost everywhere else, the worst 

 of all What is ordinarily called " a coarse day" is 

 generally the most productive. The prevailing winds 

 are those from the west and the south of west ; and 

 on a day when the wind has set in from that direction, 



