Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: north-west coast of Scotland, the sea is brilliantly clear and takes the most lovely reflected lights, according to the condition of the sky and atmosphere. Where the water is so very bright, and a greenish tinge is noticed, the bottom may be sandy ; a purple colour indicating dark rocks, covered or not with seaweed. This very clear water is by no means favourable to successful sea fishing, except with fine tackle, or on moderately rough days, or at night. After a storm, the water near the coast on which the waves have been beating may be slightly thickened for some days for a mile or more out to sea ; and heavy rains and floods inland will colour the sea for a good many miles on either side of the mouths of great rivers. Of course, where the angler is troubled with over-clear water he should not neglect the additional advantage given him by discoloration caused by flood or storm. I was very much amused with an amateur sea fisherman at a place I went to with the express object of catching big bass which, that year, were a delusion and a snare ; in fact, they almost seemed to have left the locality for several years past. I had been drawn to the place by some most charming —in fact, almost poetical—descriptions written by a literary angling enthusiast who quite neglected to state that the excellent fishing he described was of some antiquity, and not known in the present day. I met with this brother fisherman —not the enthusiast, but the other—and he told me that if I would be successful with the bass of that particular place, I must wait until I could obtain certain conditions : In the first place, there must be a spring tide; secondly, the northwest wind must have been blowing for three days to colour the water; and, .thirdly, I could not hope for success unless the trawlers ha...