LOCH-FISHING. 61 



you are not so apt to stumble upon them : the waves also 

 prevent their seeing the fly so readily. 



When there is a fine even breeze, immediately repair 

 to the loch. Begin to fish those parts where the wind 

 blows fairest from the shore ; if you know the loch well, 

 you have a great advantage. The trout have many feed- 

 ing places, and shift from one to another with the slight- 

 est change of the wind. Near some one of these they 

 generally keep watching the breeze, which blows them 

 flies and insects. They are usually in companies ; so, 

 when the angler hooks one, he should endeavour to get 

 it away from the rest ; he will then most likely rise an- 

 other the next throw or two. He must keep a very sharp 

 look-out for these places, and may generally detect them 

 by the rising of the trout. They sometimes, but not so 

 often, feed singly. 



When a fish takes the fly, raise your arm with a sort 

 of indescribable turn of the wrist: if this is done with a, jerk, 

 the fly is whipped away from the trout, but, if omitted 

 altogether, it will often make its escape, after feeling the 

 hook. It is for want of knack in this particular, that so 

 many trout are lost after having risen to the fly. When 

 you hook a good fish that never shows above water, but 

 swims low with a dead heavy pull, be very cautious ; it 

 is most likely tenderly hooked, and, with the least strain 

 upon the line, will break away. 



The shore in many parts of the lochs is fringed 

 with weeds, beyond which you may cast by wading. 



