374 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



dash in among the shoal unawares. It is always best to en- 

 on the safe side, and "begin to throw before you expect a rise, 

 drawing in to the point where you think salmon really are 

 by slow degrees. 



Should the morning be favourable for fly, a little attention 

 to the rising of the fish will save both time and trouble ; but 

 when the weather is not so propitious, and, in consequence, 

 few rises to be seen, care and caution, far from wasting the 

 day, are the chief means of insuring success at its close. 



There was a long promontory half-way down Loch Baa, 

 called the " Salmon Point," from being their grand rendez- 

 vous. The area of the feeding-ground extended to nearly 

 200 yards; and when they were rising briskly, we could fish 

 it over in half the time required if they were dull and 

 sulky. This cape was one of the favoured haunts where 

 fish were sure to harbour all summer; and even on the 

 days when none were seen feeding on the natural fly, you 

 might depend on their resting below hence the need of 

 always going carefully over it. On two occasions, when wind 

 and sky were all that could be wished, I had carefully gone 

 over the Salmon Point without a rise, or even seeing a fish 

 stir at the natural fly. The first time, when changing my 

 cast for a fresh trial, the head of an otter above the best 

 part of the water showed that my trouble would be useless. 

 On the next unsuccessful day we were resting on the shore 

 after sweeping the water thoroughly; the otter's head again 

 appeared, when he dived all round the fishing-ground, and 

 finally landed, and ran into the wood. Other casts of this 

 loch were more uncertain, the salmon and white trout often 

 changing their ground. Here I may mention a rather unac- 

 countable fact long noted by me viz., that a cast of a loch 

 or a pool in a river will sometimes prove excellent for a 

 whole season, and during the next scarcely afford a rise, yet 

 no outward alteration can be detected either in the loch cast 

 or river pool. 



