g/Uo? 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE very limited number, if not total want, of disserta- 

 tions upon the subject of Angling in Scotland, and the 

 necessity for having something like an index to our lochs 

 and streams, have induced us to throw together the fol- 

 lowing chapters. In character and produce, our waters 

 differ very essentially from those of England ; we have 

 clear and rapid rivers torrents black with mosses, or pel- 

 lucid as diamond lakes large, and gleaming tarns deep, 

 still, and terrible, and of these, some are stored with prime, 

 subtle trout, and others are frequented by the active salmon, 

 " the monarch of the flood." 



On the other hand, the English waters are generally 

 flat and muddy, affording few fish, except those which de- 

 light in dead, calm places, such as pike, carp, roach, bream, 

 and perch. The trout they may happen to contain are also 

 very unlike those in Scotland, becoming large and lazy, 

 dainty in their tastes, and capricious as to their feeding 

 hours. Accordingly, a very different and more ingeniously 

 varied method of capturing them, is employed by the south- 

 ern angler from that practised by us. The fancy is ex- 

 ercised to compound tackles and artifices, which appeal- 

 altogether superfluous to the eyes of Scotsmen. Insects 

 also are constructed, which, however closely they resemble 

 nature, are seldom if ever preferred by our countrymen to 

 their own. simple undazzling materials. 



