The man who is lucky enough to hit on the right day,
and to land a couple of dozen Loch Leven trout, has very good reason to
congratulate himself, and need envy nobody. But such days and such takes
are rare, and the summer of 1890 was much more unfortunate than that of
1889.
One great mistake is made by the company which farms the Loch, stocks it,
supplies the boats, and regulates the fishing. They permit trolling with
angels, or phantoms, or the natural minnow. Now, trolling may be
comparatively legitimate, when the boat is being pulled against the wind
to its drift, but there is no more skill in it than in sitting in an
omnibus. But for trolling, many a boat would come home "clean" in the
evening, on days of calm, or when, for other reasons of their own, the
trout refuse to take the artificial fly. Yet there are men at Loch Leven
who troll all day, and poor sport it must be, as a trout of a pound or so
has no chance on a trolling-rod. This method is inimical to fly-fishing,
but is such a consolation to the inefficient angler that one can hardly
expect to see it abolished. The unsuccessful clamour for trolling,
instead of consoling themselves, as sportsmen should do, with the
conversation of the gillies, their anecdotes of great trout, and their
reminiscences of great anglers, especially of the late Mr.
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