148 A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



dustriously for a quarter of an hour, when his gillie appeared and 

 told him what he was fishing for. 



A certain class of anglers frequently cause a good deal of un- 

 pleasantness ; they arrive at an inn, where perhaps six or seven 

 men have been staying for -weeks, and expect to have a boat on 

 one of the best Lochs next day. This can hardly be considered 

 reasonable. It is all right when there are, say, four men and four 

 good beats ; but when three or four more men arrive, then the 

 names of an equal number of Lochs are put into a hat, and each 

 man draws for his beat. The names of the Loch and the angler 

 are written down, and the men move up one each day. Anyone 

 arriving after this is put down at the bottom of the list. This 

 seems the fairest method. 



I think trolling for large trout is the best part of Loch fishing. 

 It is the perfection of sport, for there is nothing simple or con- 

 fiding about salmo ferox. It will take the finest tackle you can 

 safely use, and an accurate knowledge of the habits of the fish, 

 before you are successful. Most authorities put salmo ferox down 

 as a distinct breed, but in what way does he differ from a common 

 trout of equal size? His colouring is certainly darker, and he 

 lacks the red spots of the smaller trout ; but this can be accounted 

 for from the fact that he retires to the deeper part of the Loch 

 during the day ; and if you put a brightly spotted trout in a deep, 

 dark pool, he soon loses his brilliant colour. The leopard may 

 stick to his spots, but I am not so sure of the trout following suit. 

 These large trout very rarely come on to the shallows, except at 

 night to feed, and it is seldom one is taken on a fly. Yet there 

 must be hundreds, or thousands, of them of over ten pounds weight 

 in such lochs as Assynt, Erricht and Awe. The evening is 



