126 MOSTLY ABOUT TROUT 



what modified my opinions upon the amount 

 of skill required. 



After that experience other sea-trout days 

 stand out in my fishing memories, of rivers, 

 both on the west and on the east coast of 

 Scotland. In the west, especially a day on 

 the Lyon, on the late Lord Strathcona's water, 

 in wonderful scenery and surroundings, where 

 they took a " teal and black " (with silver 

 twist) fly well just where the salt \vater met 

 the fresh. In the east, a memory of one of 

 the most delightful fishing days I ever had. 

 A tramp for many miles by road and heather- 

 path to the upper pools of a little river on the 

 coast of Caithness. The delightful feeling of 

 independence which goes with sea-trout fishing, 

 and of reliance upon one's own resources and 

 such skill as one may possess. That w r as a 

 great day. There had been a heavy spate, 

 which had run down, leaving the river in perfect 

 order, and plenty of sea-trout were running 

 up. They only came for about an hour in the 

 day, but during that hour they came well, 

 and it was a heavy basket that helped me to 

 cover, without undue fatigue, a six-mile tramp 

 homeward by short-cuts across the heather. 

 The smell of peat-smoke from the crofts passed 

 on the way home always brings back the memory 



