70 ANGLING SKETCHES 



(in ' A Season in Sutherland '), that he once found 

 an elegant otter, a well-made engine of some 

 unscrupulous tourist, lying in the bottom of the 

 water on a sunny day. At Loch Skene, on the top 

 of a hill, twenty miles from any town, otters are 

 occasionally found by the keeper or the shepherds, 

 concealed near the shore. The practice of otter- 

 ing can give little pleasure to any but a depraved 

 mind, and nothing educates trout so rapidly into 

 ' rising short ' ; why they are not to be had when 

 they are rising most vehemently, ' to themselves,' 

 is another mystery. A few rises are encouraging, 

 but when the water is all splashing with rises, as a 

 rule the angler is only tantalised. A windy day, 

 a day with a large ripple, but without white waves 

 breaking, is, as a rule, best for a loch. In some 

 lochs the sea-trout prefer such a hurricane that a 

 boat can hardly be kept on the water. I have 

 known a strong north wind in autumn put down 

 the sea-trout, whereas the salmon rose, with 

 unusual eagerness, just in the shallows where the 

 waves broke in foam on the shore. The best day 

 I ever had with sea-trout was muggy and grey, 



