50 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



waters and an occasional deep, still pool. By 

 that time you are so filled with the joy of life 

 that, if you have the carriage to yourself, you 

 have to get up and dance, to work off some 

 of it at least, I did, regularly, up to the very 

 last trip, which was not so many years ago. 

 Then, later on, the coastal bits again, close 

 enough to the beach to watch the bird-life 

 thereon, the oyster-catchers showing up con- 

 spicuously amongst the others more soberly 

 adorned. And then the arrival. The moment 

 has come, and not the least of its pleasure 

 lies in the hand-grip of the excellent gillie 

 who was with me when I caught my first salmon, 

 and who treats me as if the years that have 

 passed since my last visit were only days. Soon 

 I feel as if I had never been away from " the 

 strath." The little town, the roads, the old 

 bridge and the river seem to have changed 

 very little ; the people not at all. By good 

 luck I have arrived on a day when we have 

 the beat nearest to the station. The river 

 is in order, and we can start almost at once. 

 Salmon-fishing is strenuous work if your muscles 

 are soft and you use a big rod (mine is a green- 

 heart, seventeen feet four inches, for spring 

 work in heavy water), and it is well for the 

 unfit on the first day to conserve all energies 



