146 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



ably when the boat is being rowed ; but 

 there is sometimes a reason for wishing 

 to move on a lake more quickly than the 

 wind will take you. It is that, whilst the 

 trout all through any water become dis- 

 posed to take flies at the same time, the 

 flies do not appear at all places simultane- 

 ously. This I knew to be peculiarly the 

 case on Lochleven. On that water there 

 is often what Mr. Harris calls a " burst 

 of flies" over an area about an acre in 

 extent, while there do not seem to be 

 more than a few straggling insects out- 

 side the well-defined circle. I perceived, 

 therefore, that if we moved quickly over 

 the water we should increase our chance 

 of discovering a region where insects and 

 fish were rising. 



This reasoning was justified. I had 

 a rise about half-an-hour after the second 

 issue of the minnows ; then, within a 

 space of time scarcely more than is 

 taken up by the writing of this sentence, 

 another, another, and another ! All four 

 trout, I grieve to say, were missed. My 



