414 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



the day; reddish-brown mohair body, red hackle, and No. 7 

 hook, tied with yellow silk, for a trail ; and a teal- wing, claret- 

 colour mohair body, black hackle, and No. 6 hook, tied with 

 orange or yellow silk for a bob. If the loch is full and 

 muddy, add a small thread of silver tinsel to the latter, and 

 increase the size of both : in large lochs a green body is also 

 very killing. In fishing a loch where the trout are small, 

 diminish the size of your hook ; even in river-fishing, I seldom 

 use any but those I have named, only much smaller and with- 

 out the mohair adding a hare's-ear body and woodcock-wing 

 early in the season, and a mouse body and snipe-wing at a 

 later period. 



Should the loch you are fishing contain sea-trout or salmon, 

 ascertain from any good fisher in the neighbourhood what are 

 the most killing flies, and tie them for yourself. Should you 

 not be " up to this," leg, borrow, or ~buy them from him. In 

 fishing with a long line from a boat, let the trail be either a 

 sea-trout or salmon fly ; but if throwing from shore, never 

 use the latter except by itself. When a salmon rises, whether 

 in a loch or a river, you may allow him a second or two 

 longer than a trout. He may be safely permitted to turn 

 before you strike. A two-handed rod, large reel, with plenty 

 of line, and the lightest tackle, are necessary. 



If the wind is so high as to cause decided waves upon 

 one of these small lochs, you will succeed much better with 

 the minnow- tackle than the fly ; indeed, the best plan then 

 is to troll for pike, with a parr : they always take best in 

 high wind, but are so capricious that you may have three 

 runs in half an hour on one day, and perhaps not one in 

 several apparently favourable days. High wind is prejudicial 

 to fly-fishing in lochs where the trout are large, because it 

 scatters them into unlikely places ; and being, of course, much 

 fewer in number than when small, you are not so apt to 

 stumble upon them : the waves also prevent their seeing the 

 fly so readily. 



