136 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



course; it does not run directly before the wind; it spreads 

 out in fan-like form and breaks obliquely on the shores. 

 Loch-fishing by day in the absence of wind is the 

 least exciting of sports ; the fish may rise, and freely, 

 but not to the angler. In the evening it is otherwise. 

 Then they accept the fly without suspicion in water 

 smooth as glass. It is hard to say why they part with 

 their habitual caution at the close of day, for, until long 

 after sundown, there is still sufficient light to reveal 

 the fictitious nature of the lure ; more light, indeed, in 

 the bright, clear twilight of June than at noon on a day 

 "of rain. The gloaming seems to affect the vision of 

 the trout to a greater extent than the mere depreciation 

 of the light suffices to explain. During the hour which 

 follows sunset, wind appears positively harmful to the 

 interests of the angler ; I, certainly, prefer an evening 

 wholly windless or with just wind enough to facilitate 

 the act of casting. And my preference has sometimes 

 met with the approval of my fellow-anglers — when it 

 has given them what they thought was the advantage 

 of position. To one, at least, it proved a source of in- 

 finite satisfaction, since on the occasion to which I refer 

 it left him in undisturbed possession of the favouring 

 ripple, while I, in my simplicity, paced slowly to and 

 fro along the margin of a trifling stretch of placid water 



