LONE TARNS AND POOLS. 3! 



from the fact that it is not so pronounced as that obtained on the 

 shore of the tarn, it lacks one ingredient that is prominent in the 

 latter's flavorous compound of charms, the presence of which makes 

 the same so pleasing and satisfying to the palate of the sportsman. 

 Let it not be supposed that I desire to place the delights engendered 

 by the fishing of lone, still waters over those begotten by the fishing 

 of the fretful moorland beck. No, indeed ! The joys of the frolic- 

 some stream amid the "bonny purple heather" are, I opine, 

 undeniable and inexpressible. In the following lines will be found 

 the nature of the aforesaid ingredient that occasions the distinction 

 between the two styles of angling, so similar in many respects. 



There is a known limitation to the possibilities of the moorland 

 stream, but not to those of the lake or tarn in the mountains. Ex- 

 perience may have told the angler that the majority of the latter 

 waters provide comparatively small trout only ; still, there always 

 dwells within him a feeling that the unexpected may happen, and 

 that some day a fish worthy of a glass case may be enticed from 

 those unfathomed depths. And this feeling is substantiated by the 

 knowledge that, although the lakes hidden, say, among the dark 

 recesses of the Irish mountains may not yield trout heavier than 

 half-a-pound to the visiting angler with his fly-rod, many a larger 

 fish has fallen to the prowess of the native skilled in the various 

 poaching methods. Alas ! the Irish peasant is addicted to poaching; 

 and manifold are the waters that have suffered great despoliation 

 from the nefarious method of " cross-lining " and the use of the 

 abominable "otter." 



A great deal, too, is heard of poaching in Wales and Scotland. 

 But, on the whole, the Irishman appears to perpetrate his crimes 

 more openly than the Scotchman. Although netting, etc., is much 

 in vogue in the " land of the mountain and the flood," many of the 

 natives conceal their atrocities by cunning and underhand devices. 

 Posing as sportsmen, they, aided by one or more accomplices, 

 employ foul^means of fishing whenever possible, and are able, when 

 warned, quickly to change their illicit methods to those of fairness 

 and orthodoxy. 



