56 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



the affections of the trout are said to be exclusively 

 confined would certainly convince him that it is quite 

 unworthy of his confidence. 



I have been told so frequently that there was but 

 one counterfeit presentment of a fly to the charms of 

 which the trout in the water I was about to fish were 

 at all susceptible, and have so frequently disproved the 

 statement, that I have long ceased to regard it. It 

 never influences my practice, yet where others succeed 

 in taking trout I seldom entirely fail, and sometimes it 

 happens that at the end of the day my basket is much 

 less easily carried than that of the knowing gentleman 

 by whom I have been informed in the morning that my 

 flies were " neither of the right size nor the right colour 

 for this water." Long experience has convinced me 

 that the prejudice ascribed to the fish is really owned 

 by the fisher. 



Some years ago I fished a Highland loch, of which 

 we learn from that veracious chronicler, Mr. E. Watson 

 Lyall, that on it " Largish flies are best, with body not 

 too heavy and a full wing." My old gillie maintained 

 a discreet silence as he watched my preparations for 

 the chase, but speech is not our only medium of ex- 

 pression, and his face was eloquent of the nature of his 

 thoughts. It betrayed a disapproval of my methods 



