THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



summer and beginning of autumn. At that season all the 

 finest salmon take possession of their pools for the winter, 

 and are called " potted fish." Of course they are always at 

 home may be easily raised but are far more shy of taking 

 hold than fresh-run fish. If they do fasten, they often hook 

 slightly. An indifferent angler may move them day after 

 day, and scarcely fix one. There is fine scope, however, for a 

 scientific craftsman, who, by judiciously tying or selecting flies 

 to suit the varying moods of the water, and choosing the most 

 propitious weather and time of day for fishing, generally 

 secures a fair proportion of these, the largest salmon in the 

 river. It is most tantalising to see an autumnal leviathan 

 flounder up, tumble over the fly, and never even touch it. 



At the end of August, when the Dee was dwindled to a 

 thread, and the salmon fairly " set up " for some time, I rose 

 an old fish about dusk, with a sombre small fly. After wait- 

 ing till nearly dark, I fastened the same fly to the thinnest 

 trout-gut, and soon fixed him. Instead of turning down 

 stream, as he would most likely have done if fresh-run, he 

 bored up against a confined rapid current, the weight of which 

 was too much for my slender tackle, and snapped it. Early 

 next morning I was at my friend again, armed with the purest 

 salmon-gut. The sky was cloudless ; and while deliberating 

 whether to run the risk of disgusting him with the stronger 

 tackle, he flapped his head and shoulder above water. This, 

 with the bright sun and clear river, decided me. Discarding 

 the salmon-gut, I whipped on a gossamer cast again hooked 

 and lost him in the same way ! I never saw this fish again ; 

 and as he had two hooks and gut-lengths attached to his jaw, 

 no doubt he was frightened out of the pool. 



When the water was in much better trim, I fixed another 

 of these old fish in the middle of the day. Being but ten- 

 derly hooked, he soon slipped off. I tried him at five o'clock 

 next morning hooked him firmly and after some very 

 spirited play, his hold broke when I was leading him unre- 



