384 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



a fool. I have rather cherished the memory of his red 

 beard and beady eyes ever since. As a seeker after 

 truth, he had not his equal in the whole boiling of them. 



If the sportsman on whom the gillie is in attendance 

 knows what he is about, then the gillie's job is simple : 

 he merely has to do as he is told, handling the boat or 

 gaffing the fish as directed. There are, of course, gillies 

 who do not find doing as they are told very easy. 

 They always think they know better than their 

 employer. Sometimes they are right, but even so, I 

 always make it clear, in a quite friendly manner, that I 

 am fishing for my pleasure, not for theirs. 



For convenience of division, the subject will be dealt 

 with under the heads of fish, tackle, bait, and general 

 hints, with such incidental notes on various matters as 

 may suggest themselves. 



(i ) The Fish^ The colder seas of Europe are not 

 the best in the world for fishing, for, unlike the salmon 

 and trout, the most sporting salt-water fishes grow to 

 the largest size in warm latitudes. I have caught bass 

 of 17 lb. in Turkey, and tarpon upwards of 100 Ib. in 

 Florida, but nothing in British seas of more than 30 lb., 

 and that was a shark. Even within the limits of these 

 islands this difference is appreciable, and the bass and 

 grey mullet, two of the gamest sea-fish, are finer and 



1 Having only fished off Taynuilt and elsewhere in Loch Etive, I 

 have been guided, as regards the west coast of Scotland, by the admirable 

 Fauna of the Outer Hebrides > by Harvie Brown and Buckley (David 

 Douglas, 1898), a work that is now out of print, like some others of the 

 same excellent series. 



