110 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



In fact, I take to myself the merit of being the first 

 who ever drew trout out of this one, and I had fail- 

 ed doing so, were it not for a fit of perseverance 

 which came upon me at the time, for I cannot affirm 

 that the fish are exceedingly numerous or inclined 

 to bite well, yet they are large, and so singularly 

 beautiful and well-formed, that I defy any loch in 

 the kingdom to produce therr equal. I caught only 

 three of them, with the red professor, upon a Lime- 

 rick hook. The biggest of these weighed seven 

 pounds, and measured somewhat about twenty-two 

 inches. Its girth, when compared with its propor- 

 tions, was enormous, and its head no bigger than a 

 walnut. On the breast, it had the colour, and to 

 my fancy the fragrance also, of a water-lily, only 

 that there was a tinge of the rose in its nature. Far- 

 ther up, the body became of a light olive colour, 

 gloriously starred over with orange spots. He 

 fought with great spirit, and sprang out of water 

 like a new-run grilse at the end of his first heat, 

 and when obliged to succumb, did so with all the 

 unwillingness of an expiring Ministry ! At table, I 

 never saw even a salmon redder in the flesh, which 

 was interlayered with curd of marrowy flavour and 

 unequalled whiteness. The other two fish were of 

 the same description, only much smaller, not weigh- 

 ing above a pound and a half each. 



Reverting to the Strath-Bran lochs, the angler, a 

 short way from the bridge at Grugie, where there is 

 a public-house, comes, pursuing his way up the 



