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Fishing and native wildlife of the Highland Lakes of Scotland
CHAPTER I.
Highland Lakes-Steamboats-Small Lochs-Wild Cats-Ravens-Dragging the Lake-The Crea-Fishing at Night-Pike-Trolling large Trout
on Loch Ness-Flies, Otters, &c.-Fishing 'with the Otter-Spawning
Trout.
The beauties of Loch Lomond, Loch Awe, and several other of
the Highland lakes, are almost as well known to the English as
Regent Street or Hyde Park. Lovely and magnificent as all
these visited lakes are, and worthy of the praise of the poet and
the pencil of the painter, there are unnumbered other Highland
lochs whose less hackneyed beauties have far greater charms for
me. Visit Loch Lomond, or many others, and you find yourself
surrounded by spruce cockneys, in tight-waisted shooting-jackets,
plaid waistcoats, and (so called) Glengarry bonnets, all of whom
fancy themselves facsimiles of Roderick Dhu, or James FitzJames ; and quote Sir Walter to young ladies in tartan scarfs,
redolent, nevertheless, of the land of Cockayne. Steamboats
and coaches are admirable things, but they spoil one's train of
ideas, and terminate one's reverie when enjoying the grandeur
and sublimity of one of these spots of beauty. Though a steam
boat, at a certain number of miles' distance, with its stream of smoke
winding over the rocky shore of a large lake, and adding a new
feature to the scene, may occasionally come in with good effect; -
when it approaches and comes spluttering and groaning near you,
with its smoke drifting right into your face, and driving you from
some favourite point or bay, you are apt to turn your back on lake,
boat, and scenery, with a feeling of annoyance and disgust. I
well remember being one bright summer's day on the shore of
Loch Ness, and enjoying the surpassing loveliness of the scene.
The perfectly calm loch was like a mirror, reflecting the steep red
crags of the opposite shore ; and the weeping-birch trees, feathering down to the very edge of the water, and hanging over
its surface, as if to gaze at their own fair forms in its glassy
depths, were as distinctly seen in the lake as on the shore ; while
here and there a trout rising at a fly dimpled the smooth water,
and in my idle mood I watched the circles as they gradually
widened and disappeared. The white gulls floated noiselessly by,
as if afraid to disturb the stillness of the scene, instead of saluting their common enemy with loud cries. I had been for
some time stretched on the ground enjoying the quiet beauty of
the picture, till I had at last fallen into a half sleeping, half-waking kind of dreaminess, when I was suddenly aroused by a
Glasgow steamer passing within a hundred yards of me, full of
holiday people, with fiddles and parasols conspicuous on the
deck, while a stream of black sooty smoke showered its favours
over me, and filled my mouth as I opened it to vent my ill
temper in an anathema against steam-boals, country-dance tunes,
and cockneys.
There have come in my way, during my rambles through the
Highlands, many a fair and beauteous loch, placed like a bright
jewel in the midst of the rugged mountains, far out of reach of
steam and coach, accessible only to the walking traveller, or at
most to a highland pony, where the only living creature to be
seen is the silent otter playing its fantastic gambols in the quiet
of the evening, or the stag as he comes to drink at the water's
edge or to crop the succulent grass which grows in the shallows.
There are so many small lochs which are known but to few individuals, but which are equally beautiful with those whose renown
and larger size have made them the resort of numberless visitors,
that it is difficult to single out any one as pre-eminent. In Inverness-shire there are many lovely lakes, and many an hour and day
have I passed in fishing on some of these. There was one beautiful
lake to which I used sometimes to take net and boat, as well as
rod. It was a piece of water about four miles long, and one or
two broad ; at one end were two sandy bays, forming regular
semicircles, with their beaches covered to a width of a few feet
with small pebbles. Between these two bays was a bold rocky
promontory running into the lake, and covered with fine old
pine trees. Along one side was a stretch of perhaps three miles
of grey precipitous rocks nearly covered with birch and hazel,
which hung over the water, casting a dark shade on it. The
other end of the lake was contracted between the rocks till it
was lost to the view, while on the remaining side was flat moorland. The whole country round and within view of the lake
was picturesque and bold. In the rocks near the water were a
colony of wild cats, whose cries during the night deterred the
shepherd from passing that way ; while on the highest part of the
grey precipice was a raven's nest, the owners of which always
kept up a concert with their voices of ill omen w'henever they
saw a human being near their dominions-there they would sit
on a withered branch of a tree or a pointed rock, croaking, and
playing their quaint antics for hours together. Their nest was so
protected by a shelf of rock which projected below it, that I never
could get a rifle-ball into it, often as I have tried, though I must
have frequently half filled it with the splinters of the rock.
In dragging this lake we were obliged to restrict ourselves to
the two sandy bays, as the rest of the bottom was covered with
old tree-roots and broken sticks, which tore our nets, and prevented our using them.
In the quiet summer evenings it was interesting to see my
crew of five Highlanders, as, singing a Gaelic song, they rowed
the boat in a large semicircle round one of the bays, letting out
the net as they went, one end of the rope being held by a man
on the shore at the point from which they started. When they
got to the other side of the bay, they landed, with the exception
of one man, who remained in the boat to right the net if it got
fixed in roots or stones. The rest hauled in the net gradually,
bringing the two ends together. As it came in, a fine trout or
pike now and then would be seen making a dart round the
enclosed space within the net, or dashing at the net itself, dragging for a moment half the corks under water. The head man
of the crew, a little peppery Highlander, invariably got into a
state of the most savage excitement, which increased as the net
approached the shore; and if any stoppage occurred from its
being caught by a root or stick, he actually danced with excitement, hallooing and swearing in Gaelic at the net, the men, and
the fish. When all went on smoothly and well, he acted the
part of fugleman with no little dignity, perched in the bow of
the boat, and keeping the men in proper place and time as they
dragged in the net. We generally caught a great number of trout
and pike, some of very large size. By the time we had killed all
the fish, and arranged them in rows to admire their beauty and
size, the little captain (as the other men called him) subsided into
a good-humoured calm ; and having offered a pinch of snuff to the
gamekeeper, whom he generally fixed upon in particular to shout
at, in consequence of a kind of rivalry between them, and also in
consequence of his measuring some head and shoulders higher
than himself, he made a brief apology for what he had said, winding it up by saying, " And after all, that 's no so bad, your
Honour," as he pointed to some giant trout; he then would light
a pipe, and having taken a few whiffs, deliberately shove it alight
into his waistcoat pocket, and extracting a netting-needle and
string, set to work, mending any hole that had been made in the
net. This done, and a dram of whisky having been passed round,
the net was arranged on the stern of the boat, and they rowed
round the wooded promontory to the other creek, keeping time
to their oars with some wild Gaelic song, with a chorus in which
they all joined, and the sound of which, as it came over the
water of the lake, and died gradually away as they rounded the
headland, had a most peculiarly romantic effect.
Sometimes we did not commence our fishing till sunset, choosing nights when the full moon gave us sufficient light for the
purpose. Our object in selecting this time was to catch the
larger pike, who during the day remained in the deep water,
coming in at night to the shore, and to the mouths of the burns
which run into the lake, where they found small trout and other
food brought down by the streams. During the night time, also,
towards the beginning of autumn, we used to catch quantities of
char, which fish then, and then only, approached near enough to
the shore to be caught in the nets. In the clear frosty air of a
September night the peculiar moaning cry of the wild cats as
they answered to each other along the opposite shore, and the
hootings of the owls in the pine-wood, sounded like the voices of
unearthly beings, and I do not think that any one of my crew
would have passed an hour alone by that loch side for all the
fish in it. Indeed, the hill side which sloped down to the lake
had the name of being haunted, and the waters of the lake itself
had their ghostly inhabitant in the shape of what the Highlanders
called the water-bull. There was also a story of some strange
mermaid-like monster being sometimes seen, having the appearance of a monstrous fish with long hair. It was a scene worthy
of a painter, as the men with eager gestures scrambled up the fish
glancing like silver in the moonbeams ; and then, as they rowed
round, sometimes lost in the shade of the pine-trees, which completely darkened the surface of the water immediately below the
rocks on which they grew, or came again into full view as they
left the shadow of the woods, the water sparkling and glancing
from their oars. Frequently they stopped their wild chant, as the
strange cries of the different nocturnal animals echoed loudly from
the rocks, and we could hear the men say a few words of Gaelic
to each other in a low voice, and then recommence their song.
We always caught the largest fish at night-time, both trout
and pike, the latter frequently above twenty pounds' weight,
with the teeth and jaws of a young shark. Sometimes the net
brought in a great number of char, which appear to go in large
shoals ; but these latter only in the autumn.
In these lochs I killed great numbers of pike and the larger
trout by means of floating lines, which we put in at the windward side of the lake, to be carried down by the wind. On
favourable days, in March or October, when there was a brisk
wind, the lines went but half way across the loch before every
hook had a fish on it, and then commenced a rare chace. When
we neared a float with a large pike hooked to it, as the water was
very clear, the fish took the alarm and swam off at a great pace,
often giving us some trouble before we could catch him. I have
seen an empty corked-up bottle, with line attached, used as a float
for this kind of fishing, instead of the corks. Pike are very
capricious in taking the bait, and some days not one would move,
although the wind and weather all seemed favourable; while on
other days every float had a fish to it. Again, the fish would be
quiet for some time, and then suddenly a simultaneous impulse
seemed to seize them, and they would seize the baits as quickly
as we could wish, for the space of an hour or so.
The trout seldom take a dead bait during the daytime, but we
often caught them on hooks left in the water all night. In all
the Highland lakes on which I have fished in this way, large
eels would sometimes take the hook, and often break my lines.
It is frequently said that putting pike into a lake would destroy
the trout-fishing; but I have invariably found that in all
lakes of a considerable size, where the pike were plenty, the trout
have improved very much in size and quality, and not diminished
even in numbers to any great extent. In fact, the thing to be
complained of in most Highland lakes is, that the trout are too
numerous, and consequently of a small size and inferior quality.
The only way to kill the larger trout is by trolling. In Loch
Awe and several other lakes I have seen this kind of fishing
succeed well. If the sportsman is skilful, he is sure of taking
finer trout in this way than he would ever do when fly-fishing.
In trolling there are two or three rules which should be carefully observed :-Choose the roughest wind that your boat can
live in ; fish with a good-sized bait, not much less than a herring,
and do not commence your trolling until after two o'clock in the
afternoon, by which time the large fish seem to have digested
their last night's supper and to be again on the move. You
may pass over the heads of hundreds of large trout when they
are lying at rest and not hungry, and you will not catch one ;
but as soon as they begin to feed, a fish, although he may have
half a dozen small trout in his stomach, will still run at your
bait. The weight of sinkers on your line, and the depth at
which you fish, must of course depend on the depth of water in
the lake. A patient fisherman should find out how deep every
reach and bay of the lake is before he begins to troll. The
labour of a day spent in taking soundings is well repaid. The
strength and activity of the large loch trout is immense, and he
will run out your whole reel-line if allowed to do so. Sometimes he will go down perpendicularly to the bottom, where he
remains sulky or attempts to rub off the hooks : get him out of
this situation, and away he goes, almost towing your boat after
him. Then is the time for your boatman to make play to keep
up with the fish and save your line ; for a twenty-pound Salmo
ferox is no ignoble foe to contend with when you have him at
the end of a common fishing-line: he appears to have the
strength of a whale as he rushes away.
I was crossing Loch Ness alone one evening with my rod at
the stern of the boat, with my trolling-tackle on it trailing behind Suddenly it was seized by a large trout, and before I
could do anything but take hold of my rod he had run out
eighty yards of line, and bent my stiff trolling-rod like a willow, carrying half the rod under water. The loch was too deep
for me, and he snapped the line in an instant, the rod and the
twenty yards of line which remained jerking back into the air,
and sending the water in a shower of spray around. Comparing
the strength of this fish with that of others which I have killed
when trolling, he must have been a perfect water-monster. In
deed I have little doubt 1hat the immense depths of Loch Ness
contain trout as large, if not larger, than are to be found in any
other loch in Scotland.
For fly-fishing in lakes, it is difficult to give any rule as to the
colour and size of your fly. The best thing you can do is to
find out some person whose experience you can depend on, and
who has been in the habit of fishing in the particular water
where you want to try your own skill, for most lakes have a
favourite fly. I have always, when at a loss, had recourse to a
red, white, or black palmer. There are very few trout who can
withstand these flies when well made. The size of the palmer
should depend on the roughness or smoothness of the water.
On a dark windy day I have frequently found a white palmer
succeed when nothing else would tempt the fish to rise; while
on a bright calm day a small black palmer should be tried.
There are endless favourite loch-flies, and it is seldom that a
person cannot be found to give you the requisite information as
to which to use : however, I never feel much at a loss as long
as I have some palmers in my fly-book.
In putting night-lines into a large lake, the best places are
those where any burn or ditch runs into it, or along some shallow
sandy or gravelly bay, for in these places the fish feed during
the night time. Worms, frogs, and small trout are the best bait
for night-lines. In trolling, the small silvery fish supposed to
be the young of the salmon, or the small kind of herring called
garvies, are the best bait. Preserved in spirits of wine, they
keep for a long time, and become so tough, that they do not
tear or break off your hook. If you take a fancy to fish with a
fly during the night in a lake, a large black fly is the best, but
unless it is drawn very slowly through the water, the fish, though
they rise, will miss it.
A small fly which I have found to be always a favourite with
trout, is one made as follows:--Body yellow floss silk, with landrail wing, and a turn or two of red heckle near the head. In
most waters this fly succeeds. In some of the small black looking lakes, far up in the solitudes of the mountains, where no
person is ever seen, unless a shepherd may chance now and then
to stray in their direction, or the deerstalker stops to examine
the soft ground near the water edge for the tracks of deer-in
these lonely pools the trout seem often as unconscious of danger as
birds are said to be on a newly discovered island ; and they will rise
greedily at the rudest imitation of a fly fastened to a common piece
of twine, five or six trout rising at once, and striving who should
be caught first. The fish in some of these lakes which are situated at a great height, are excessively numerous, but generally
black and small. I have seen little black pools of this kind
actually crowded with small trout.
The otter takes to the waters far up in the hills during the summer time, where she may rear her young in the midst of abundance and in solitary security. Making her lair on some small
island or point of land covered with coarse grass or rushes, she
lives in plenty and peace, till her young having grown strong,
and the frosts of winter having commenced, the family remove,
like their betters, to the seaside, passing over hill and valley in
a straight line, to some remembered rocks and caves, where the
dam has wintered before.
Bound the small hill-lake, too, are seen the tracks of the fox
and wild cat. Their nightly maraudings seem to lead them always
in the direction of water. During the heats of August, when at a
loss for grouse, I have always found it a good plan to hunt round
any lake that may be at hand-as the old birds lead their young
daily to the water's edge to drink, and to pick up the small
angular stones, numbers of which are invariably found in the
stomach of the grouse, being probably necessary to grind down
their dry and hard food. The hen-harrier and falcon too, seem
to hunt in these places, knowing that if grouse fail them, they
are sure to find either a duck or snipe, or perhaps a large flock
of plovers huddled together on the pebbles which edge the water.
In fact, the mountain lake seems to be always a kind of rendezvous for all wild animals; and I doubt if any grouse-shooter or
deerstalker ever passes near their clear waters without going
out of his way to look along the margin, or to refresh himself by
gazing over the cool surface.
When you are shooting, too, there is the inducement of
hoping to find a brood of ducks or teal, which few hill-lakes
are without. I have sometimes found great numbers of
these birds, collected in some quiet pool on the hills, in August
or September, before they have descended to feed on the corn in
the low country.
Many a Highland lake has a legend attached to it, and however improbabxe the tale may seem to the incredulous Sassenach,
the Highlander believes firmly in the truth of it.
Some person, endowed doubtless with a prominent organ of
destructiveness, has within the last few years invented an implement for fishing the lakes, called the otter; and though it is
rather a poaching sort of affair, still I consider it quite a fair
way of catching trout in some of the mountain lochs, where a
rod could be used to no good effect, and where it would be impossible to launch a boat. Its principle of motion is exactly
similar to that of a boy's kite. Acted upon by the resistance of
the water, the otter, which consists of a small thin board, about
fourteen inches by eight, and leaded on one edge so as to swim
nearly upright, carries out a long line, which is attached to it by
four short strings, and is wound on a large reel. To this line
are fastened a dozen flies on short lines, which, being carried
along by the board, rake the surface of the water; and in windy
weather I have caught numbers of trout in this way, where the
rod would have been of no use whatever.
Many a grilse, and salmon too, have I killed in Loch Ness
with the otter. There are, however, some great drawbacks to the
merits of this implement. The fish are very apt to escape after
being struck by the hooks, and, being thus wounded and frightened, become shy, and unwilling to rise again. Also, if a large
fish is hooked very near the board, there is a great risk that he
will break your fly off, and go away with it sticking in his mouth.
For these reasons, the otter, though of great use in certain localities, should never be used in waters where the rod can be
brought into play. Though exciting enough in an unknown and
remote lake, where you seldom fish, the actual sport which it
affords falls far short of rod fishing.
I have tried it for pike, but did not find it answer, as the fish
were constantly struck without being hooked-in consequence
of their requiring some time to gorge their prey. The angling
in some of the best trout lochs is completely spoilt by the introduction of these instruments of destruction. Every shepherd's
boy or idle, fellow can make one, and carry it about with him ;
and in'* lakes where this kind of fishing is prohibited, he has
nothing to do, if he sees a keeper or watcher in the distance, but
to wrap up the whole thing in his plaid, and walk away with it.
There are but few Highland lochs in which a net can be drawn
with good effect, owing to the unevenness of the bottom, and the
risk of getting your tackle entangled and broken by roots and remains of trees, which always abound in these waters-the
remnants of forests of an age gone by. Their great depth too
is another obstacle to net fishing, excepting here and there,
where a sandy bay or tolerably smooth bottom can be found.
To these places the trout always resort in the evenings, in order
to feed on the insects and smaller fish that frequent the small
stones.
In lochs containing pike, a hang-net, as it is called, placed
across deep angles of the water or along the edge of weeds, is
sure to catch them ; this fish always struggling and endeavouring to press forward as soon as he feels the net, whereas the
trout in these clear waters always escape the danger by turning
back as soon as they touch the meshes.
The Highland shepherds kill numbers of the spawning trout
in the autumn, in every little stream and rill, however small,
which feeds the lake. At this time of the year the trout are
seized with an irresistible inclination for ascending any running
stream that they can find ; and I have seen large trout of several
pounds' weight taken out of holes in very small runs of water, to
get into which they must have made their way for considerable
distances up a channel where the water could not nearly cover
them. Still, as long as a trout can keep his head against the
stream, so long will he endeavour to work his way up. Numbers of fish, and always the largest, fall a prey not only to men,
but to every prowling fox or wild cat who passes their way
during the autumn, and all vermin instinctively hunt along the
edge of water during the night time. A trout in shallow water
is easily caught by any of these animals. Even the buzzard and
the raven succeed in capturing them when they are left in' small
rills, as is frequently the case, having been tempted to ascend
them by some shower, which swells the water for a short time
and then leaves it as low as ever.
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