rs ago now) we were young at the pastime, but more from the feeling
of treading the ground made classical by the great Magician of the
North, as the scene of the most stirring incidents in 'Rob Roy.'
Attached to a big tree in front of the hotel at Aberfoyle there hangs a
coulter, which tradition assigns as the veritable article which Bailie
Nicol Jarvie made red-hot and used as a weapon of offence and defence
when he was in a dilemma in what was, at that time, a very inaccessible
part of the Highlands. Since then many a Glasgow magistrate has visited
the spot--the inspection of the line of the noble waterworks undertaking
which supplies the city being a sufficient excuse for the annual advent
of the civic rulers. A railway station (Bucklyvie) is within eight miles
of Aberfoyle, and Aberfoyle is within three miles of Loch Ard, and by
the time this book is in the hand of the reader there will most likely
be a railway station at Aberfoyle itself. Shade of Bailie Nicol Jarvie!
what would you say if you were now to be allowed to haunt the old spot?
to hear a locomotive screech where formerly you thought yourself so far
"frae the Sautmarket o' Glesca"? We don't like the idea ourselves, and
doubt very much if it will pay. However, it is the fishing alone which
concerns us meantime, and we can at once assure our angling friends that
the sport is good--not but what one has to fish hard for a basket; but
the same remark applies to all our near-at-hand lochs. On an ordinary
good day a dozen to eighteen trout may be captured, and sometimes the
baskets are heavier; but eighteen fish, weighing 9 lb. to 12 lb., is a
very fair day's work. The trout average fairly a half pound, and
pounders are by no means scarce: a two-pounder is come across
occasionally, but he is the exception. The fish are very pretty, and for
their size give excellent sport. Fine tackle is here absolutely
essential to success, and as a matter of sport should always be used in
fishing for common yellow trout. The loch, for its size, is much fished;
and we fear that when the railway facilities are completed, there will
require to be a considerable amount of restocking to keep it up to the
old mark. The scenery is unsurpassed--wood, water, and mountain, making
a picture of wondrous beauty. To the north of the loch, Ben Lomond rears
its mighty summit; and in the spring-time (for Loch Ard is an early
loch), before the summer sun has melted the winter's snow, the effect is