434 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



Except by a keen eye, few flat-fish (the exact colour of the 

 sand or mud on which they rest) will be discovered. If the 

 hand is not true, they will be missed when seen, especially in 

 six feet of water. Without good nerves, and their accompani- 

 ment, self-command, a man will be in such a flurry at sight of 

 a fine fish, as often to be unfitted either to manage his skiff or 

 to give proper directions to an assistant. There are as few 

 good " spearsmen " as of those who excel in other sports ; but 

 any one having a tolerable hand and eye, with pretty strong- 

 nerves, may, "by practice, become a good and successful " hand." 

 Any one trying this amusement, I am persuaded, will either, 

 on failure, give it up in disgust, or become an enthusiast. I 

 have known my young friends on the moor, in the middle of 

 grouse well scattered for evening shooting, rush down to the 

 boats without a pang when they saw the loch near Otter Ferry 

 in shining order. On coming home at night with a heavy 

 grouse-bag, thirty to forty ground-fish were laid out in the hall, 

 and the idea ridiculed that the amusement of the gun could 

 equal that of the spear ! 



There are, however, comparatively very few days in a season 

 when spearing is even practicable far fewer when it is at its 

 best. A slight ripple mars the sport, while it is ruined by a 

 moderate breeze. 



Under a cloudless sky and burning sun, with our best 

 " hand " alone in his tiny skiff, it would be a strange exception 

 if he reached the shore without a basket of choice fish. To 

 give an ordinary day's specimen, the bag for one Saturday in 

 1865 was a dozen flounders and two plaice, respectively four 

 and a half and five pounds weight. On that day the spearing 

 lasted only from ten till one o'clock, when a stiff breeze sprang 

 up, and of course the fishing ceased. The same expert " spear " 

 has often landed from twenty to thirty flounders in a forenoon, 

 several of them two or three pounds in weight. Large skate 

 are sometimes detected basking on the deeper banks ; but the 

 spearsmen had to humour these powerful fellows, by allowing 



