APRIL 89 



in, than other men who are good fisher- 

 men with an equal length of experi- 

 ence ? " There cannot be any doubt as 

 to the assertion in this query. Every 

 angler will know at least one other whose 

 habitual success is not easily accounted 

 for. My correspondent, who was a friend 

 of Mr. W. C. Stewart in the later days 

 of that famous fisher, knows four of the 

 mysteriously successful men. I myself 

 know some. Of these the most striking 

 example is Mr. David Storrar Meldrum, 

 right - hand man to the Editor of 

 J3lackwood. One April morning he took 

 me to Carriston, a small loch not far 

 from Kingskettle, in Fife ; and when we 

 came off the water, at nightfall, his 

 basket was as heavy as my own. That 

 statement is not so conceited as it looks. 

 I myself had been fishing diligently for 

 years ; but Mr. Meldrum had hardly ever 

 cast a fly before. He was thoroughly 

 successful on what was practically his 

 first day. The flies he used, it is true, 

 were those I chose for him, duplicates 



