104 TROUT FISHING 



days, of disappointment in the pursuit of 

 fish ; indeed, having regard to the general 

 belief that the streak and the glare are 

 unfavourable, one easily perceives that 

 it must have been ; but what does this 

 prove ? It does not prove very much. 

 Those who have a day on the water only 

 at rare intervals take it for granted that a 

 good one is just as likely as a bad one to 

 fall to their luck ; but that is a imstake. 

 After a rather dull outing on Lochleven, 

 I remarked to Old John, the boatman, 

 that, although I had fished there two or 

 three times a season for five years, I had 

 never yet chanced upon a really good day. 

 " 1 can believe that," answered the vener- 

 able man. "I mysel' ha'e been fishin' 

 this loch for sixty years, an' I've seen 

 only one really good day." That was a 

 startling account of a water which is 

 famous among sportsmen all over the 

 world; but, howsoever exacting Old 

 John's estimate of a good day may have 

 been, there was more than a grain of 

 truth in it. A good day is not the rule. 



