128 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



adequate should the angler, as he occasionally does, 

 hook a fish of unexpected weight, it must be of some 

 size. 



The position of the angler on board a boat is one of 

 much discomfort. His movements are narrowly cir- 

 cumscribed, and he is without a place of rest except 

 the hard, inhospitable stern-sheets. The gunwale, too, 

 appears designed for his embarrassment ; it catches him 

 unpleasantly across the waist and denies him the sup- 

 port for which his aching shoulders long. 



In fishing from the bank, as from a boat, the angler 

 should devote himself entirely to the shallower portions 

 of the loch. Even these, however, he will not fish 

 without discrimination, and in his choice he will be 

 guided by several considerations, of which the nature of 

 the bottom — so far as it is within sight — is not the least 

 important. While no water deep enough to hold a 

 trout should be heedlessly passed over, he will exercise 

 particular care where stones provide his quarry with 

 convenient cover ; but it is in the vicinity of weeds that 

 he should apply himself with greatest assiduity, for there 

 he may most confidently anticipate success. If he be 

 within reach of the "broo," he will certainly find it 

 worthy of his attention. Whether the neighbourhood 

 of a stream is, in itself, likely to reward his efforts, is 



