IRISH LOACH-TROLLING. 11 
could long remain undetected. If the rivalry of con- 
temporary anglers be potent to conceal, the jealousy 
of their brothers of the rod is equally powerful to dis- 
cover, the quality of a favourite lure. The veil, con- 
sequently, with which it was sought to guard the art 
of loach-trolling from the knowledge of the unin- 
itiated was not long in being penetrated. The 
following account of the event is derived from the 
principal actors in the transaction, with whom the 
writer, in his youth, was long and intimately ac- 
quainted. He merely uses the author's privilege to 
reduce the information he received to a more con- 
nected form. 
It is, then, about fifty-five years—s: rite remetior 
astra—since two men met on the high road which 
tangentially touched the northern extremity of Lough 
Lane—a lake of moderate extent in Westmeath, but 
famed at that time for the number, excellence, and 
sporting qualities of its trout. One of these men 
belonged to the old Irish constabulary, the other was 
the occupant of some twenty or thirty acres of land, 
overlooking the lake. They were proceeding in 
opposite directions, and might have passed on with- 
out further recognition than that implied in the usual 
salutations of Irish peasants on such occasions. But 
both being anglers and old friends, the meeting led 
to a more protracted interview. The elder of the 
two carried in his right hand a two-piece rod and a 
