158 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



As I had been pluming myself on what I had been 

 pleased to think my superior skill, I was inclined to 

 resent the commonplace and humiliating explanation of 

 my success. Now I am wiser. I know that the boat- 

 man was right, and I agree with him as I agree with 

 the ancient Highlander who, in answer to something I 

 had said, declared that, "If ye waant to catch fish, ye 

 maun keep yer flees in the waater." It is quite true ; 

 the trout caught by the flies in the boat or on the bank 

 are easily counted. 



Loch -fishing is at its best in the early part of the 

 season, and the months during which it is most suc- 

 cessfully pursued are April, May, and June. On some 

 lochs, such as Loch Katrine and Loch Ard, the sport 

 is of very short duration ; it is practically over before 

 the end of May. July is, as a rule, unprofitable to the 

 loch fisher, and August is, if anything, still worse. 

 During these two months the trout, apparently satiated 

 with surface food, refuse to rise to the fly by day, 

 although after sundown they still continue to afford 

 entertainment to the angler. With the advent of Sep- 

 tember, however, they show a disposition to resume 

 their surface-feeding habits, but, as by that time they 

 are beginning to lose condition, their quest yields little 

 satisfaction. But, as concerns the time at which they 



