FISHING ON SALT-WATER LOCHS. 431 



THE HAND-LINE. 



When a boy, I used to be much delighted with the hand- 

 line, and never failed to practise it as opportunity offered. It 

 is simply a piece of whalebone fastened crosswise to the line, 

 and a hook at each end, tied upon strong gut, with a heavy 

 lead in the centre. This lead sinks the line rapidly to the 

 bottom, which it no sooner touches than you feel it strike. 

 You are thus enabled to keep moving the hooks a yard or two 

 up, and then sink them to the ground again, which entices the 

 fish. All the art of the hand-line is to pull up the instant you 

 feel a bite, and never to slacken (unless to play a large one) 

 till the fish is safe in the boat. Keep changing your ground, 

 and dropping your anchor, unless the fish seem taking. Mussels 

 are the best bait ; and it is a good plan to throw a few into 

 the water, as well as the empty shells. 



Hand-line fishing may be followed at any time, but it is 

 best at the flow of the tide. As the water retires, shift your 

 position further down the loch, and vice versd. Almost every 

 cottage on the banks can supply a hand-line, and every inmate 

 knows how to use it. 



THE WHITE FEATHER. 



'To some highly facetious authors, a pun upon the white 

 feather might prove a prize, so I shall make them a present 

 of it instead of my readers, and proceed to its dressing and 

 use. Of all apologies for a fly, this is the clumsiest ; it is 

 only a swan's or goose's feather tied round a large and very 

 coarse bait-hook, without the least pretence to art ; any man 

 who had never dressed a fly in his life would be as successful 

 in the attempt as the most finished performer. 1 The rod and 



1 Worsted is occasionally used instead of the feather, and it is sometimes a 

 killing way to have a different colour for each rod viz., white for one, yellow for 



