454 . THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



three fixing one, which (as I had only good trouting single 

 gut, and dared not check him) twice ran out two-thirds of my 

 100 yards reel-line. The sight of him rolling on the top of 

 the water at such long distance certainly tried the nerves ! 

 His strength failed after these boring bursts, and I soon had 

 him under command of a short line, when he played beauti- 

 fully. He was a lovely-shaped salmon of 11 J lb., with the 

 sea-lice on him. 



If the fly-trout are on the feed, Loch Slam always produces 

 better-conditioned ones than the other two lochs -often from 

 three-quarters to a pound weight. I have been told that 

 since my trip to Sutherland in 1875, a wire-netting has been 

 fixed across the mouth of Loch Craggie burn, which will stop 

 the salmon from penetrating into Lochs Craggie and Lay- 

 ghal, and by this means make Loch Slam a valuable fishing 

 water. 



The salmo-feroxes of these three lochs are scarcely equal to 

 those of Loch Assynt at the other end of the county ; while 

 the Loch Shin trout taken by the troll are decidedly inferior 

 to all these lochs on which account I never took the trouble 

 to fish it. The biggest ferox captured by us on Loch Layghal 

 was secured by the worst-baited hook we ever insulted them 

 with. Having used up all the best live bait, there only 

 remained one or two small things quite unfit for trolling. I 

 had landed at the Shepherd's brook for a fresh supply, while 

 my son put on a couple of these tiny trout with scarcely an 

 attempt to make them spin. Very soon this large ferox dashed 

 at the clumsy lure, and, after a wicked struggle, was persuaded 

 into the landing-net, and proved a large -headed, ill -shaped 

 monster of 14 lb. The next largest we landed was a perfect 

 contrast to the above viz., a beautiful specimen of 11 J lb., 

 and in the finest order, on which account my son, who caught 

 him, had him preserved for our collection. On the other days 

 when we trolled this loch, our bag generally contained from 

 two to three feroxes, of from 5 to 8 lb. 



