100 THE WEEDY LOCH. 



but a dull, windy, showery day was indispensable, so none 

 would look at mine. 



I gave them an hour's rest, and during this interval 

 had an account of a Loch Fine herring-fisher's life, from 

 Angus, a frank athletic young man, the skipper and part 

 owner of a boat. The fleet of scows, which are always 

 hauled up, high and dry, to refit after the season is over, 

 were all launching at present, and Angus meant to set 

 sail in ten days. When shooting their nets, they had 

 their choice of the best herrings to eat ; for when they 

 sold them " by the dizen,* the warst made up the coont, 

 and fetched the same price as the best." In the creeks 

 and lochs where they anchored, they could always get 

 milk from the shepherds' sheelings and bothies scattered 

 along the banks, which milk from the little Highland 

 cattle, grazed in the sheltered straths and glens, was " as 

 rich as cream every drap o't." Some of the fishermen, he 

 said, "indulged in dirt;" which luxury, however, he 

 strictly prohibited in his boat. 



It was now time to take to my rod again, and go over 

 all the open places with the fly. Another trout actually 

 rose and hooked at the same spot as the former one ; but 

 in straining to prevent his entanglement in the weeds, 

 his hold broke. The " weedy loch " is a novelty to most 

 anglers, and well worth a visit on that account. 



* Various sizes of herring frequent different lochs. They are called 

 ' skulls ; " and the Loch Fine skull is so much larger than the others 

 that five hundred go to a cran, while seven hundred from Loch Long 

 are required to make it. 



