138 THE SALMON" RIVERS OF SCOTLAXD 



Kilmaronaig in hopes of finding it in order, but though there had 

 been plenty of rain at our starting-point on each of these occasions, 

 the showers proved local ones, and the Etive was dry, so therefore 

 I cannot say I have ever wetted a line on it. On each of these trips 

 we fished the brack water (in fact, salt was hardly to be tasted) at 

 the mouth of the river, and though there were plenty of sea trout 

 and a few grilse splashing, we never succeeded in getting more than 

 a couple, and as they were offered many different flies and phantoms, 

 we came to the conclusion that in this locahtj? they would not lay 

 hold as freely as they do in some similar places ; therefore anglers 

 making trips to the head of Loch Etive from Taj-nmlt may be 

 assured they \\-ill get but little, if indeed any, sport, unless by a 

 luckj' chance they happen to hit off the day and the hour when 

 the fish are on the take. Those residing on the spot are, however, 

 in a very different position ; and the tenants of Barrs Lodge, on the 

 shore of Loch Etive, one of Lord Breadalbane's shooting lodges, 

 usually catch several hundreds of sea trout chiefly from the salt 

 water. 



