86 THE SALMON RI\^RS OF SCOTLAND 



short time after and but a few hundred yards below where I had 

 lost it. 



The pools of the Awe want careful learning. All sorts of tricky 

 casting are required to get the fly to hang on the he of the fish long 

 enough to give them a good view of it ; and to do this effectually, 

 twenty-five to thirty yards of line have often to be sent straight 

 across stream, and then as the fly alights, the rod point has to be 

 turned sharply directly up stream to make the lure swing and hang 

 over the likely spot in a position to do business. For this sort of work 

 the longer the rod the better. The late Colonel Murray of Polmaise 

 used a spht cane of eighteen feet, made for him by Hardy Bros., and 

 certainly the Awe should not be seriously approached with any rod 

 of less than eighteen feet ; the normal state of the water is very 

 clear, and at least a yard and a half of single gut is necessary. The 

 best flies are the Blue Doctor, Jock Scot, and Thunder and Lightning, 

 which latter kills best when dressed with a light orange yeUow 

 hackle and the tinsel wound in wide spirals ; the crimson or reddish 

 hackle with the narrow turns of tinsel is not so good, although this 

 is a dressing which some of the tackle-makers use for the fly. The 

 sizes range from 2/0 to the very smallest double hooks. 



By a lucky chance I hit on an improvement in the dressing of 

 the Blue Doctor, which has been attended with success wherever 

 that fly is a killer. The alterations from the standard pattern 

 consists in substituting a bustard hackle at the shoulder instead of 

 the usual blue one, and dressing the wing very sparely with strands 

 of gold pheasant tail and ruff, brown turkev, maUard, wood duck, 

 and red macaw, jungle-cock cheeks, and a topping over aU — the 

 last two adornments not being mentioned in the diploma of the 

 standard Blue Medico. 



A gaff may be carried all the season, although it is understood 

 that kelts are to be "tailed" and returned unhurt; but these 

 gentry have usuaUy left the river long before serious rod-fishing 

 commences. The fly is the onh' lure permitted on Lord Breadal- 

 bane's part of the river or on the STOdicate water. Minnows 

 are, however, useless, though the prawn in the autumn wUl at 

 times kill well : the worm is deadh', but happily the Awe is so 

 unsuited to its use, and there are so few who can fish it properly, 

 that it is somewhat rare to see a bait-fisher. 



Only a very few fish are got in April, although all those that are 

 making for the Orchy must pass up the Awe. By the kindness of 

 Colonel Jlurray and Colonel Thorpe, I fished the whole of the east 

 bank during the first ten days of May 1S98, and, working very hard, 

 I rose but six fish in that period — two did not touch, four hooked, 

 three were landed, the fourth cutting me in the rocks on the far side 

 of Pol Verie ; an event which probably would not have taken place 

 but for a most furiously sustained blast of wind accompanied by 

 bhnding snow, which was so strong as to put me on to my 

 knees — an attitude of devotion hardly indicative of my real 

 feelings ! 



