THE WIND 39 



better if only the boat could have been 

 stopped whenever a trout came on ? Is 

 it not an article of faith that where one 

 fish rises a good many others are probably 

 feeding ? 



The direction of the wind is quite as 

 important as its force. If it is from the 

 west or from the south, the trout, it is 

 expected, will rise briskly ; if it is from 

 the east or from the north, they will either 

 not move at all or come only in single 

 spies. There are, it is true, exceptions to 

 this rule. Any one, for example, who has 

 fished on Lochleven will remember the 

 gUlie's encouraging words if it was against 

 an easterly breeze that the boat cast 

 off from the jetty at Kinross. There 

 are other waters on which winds from the 

 same quarter are not found to tell against 

 the sport. These exceptions are easily 

 explained. Lochleven and the rivers and 

 lakes alluded to are all on the east coast ; 

 and an east wind is not so cold, so harsh, 

 directly it leaves the North Sea as it is 

 when it has travelled a good way inland. 



