126 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



When the wind is blowing towards the shore, the 

 angler may conduct his fishing in a series of short drifts. 

 He will find that all around the margin of the loch, 

 and at varying distances from the bank, the bottom 

 falls abruptly away, leaving a sharp line of demarcation 

 between the shallow water and the deep. It is pre- 

 cisely on that line that he may expect to reap his richest 

 harvest ; he must not neglect the water within it, but 

 to cast much beyond it, is to waste his energies. Some- 

 times it will happen to him to take fish only when his 

 flies are passing over what, in the language of the 

 boatman, is called the " broo," and when that is the 

 case he should instruct his gillie to cease drifting and 

 row slowly along, parallel with the brink, and just so 

 far outside of it that it is within an easy cast. His 

 flies will then be, not at intervals and for a moment, but 

 continuously over rising fish, and he will effect a great 

 economy of time and add much to his pleasure. 



In angling from the bank the angler is sometimes 

 compelled to employ a line of unwieldy length. In 

 angling from a boat, however, the line need never be 

 long ; the angler can always be taken within easy 

 reach of any fish he may wish to cast over. He may 

 rid himself of all anxiety lest the trout be alarmed at 

 his approach ; they have so little fear of the boat that 



