LOCH TROUT. By Colonel H.A. Oatts.

1958 1st edition. 8vo (145 x 222mm). Pp142 + 2pp ads. B/w photographs, illustrations. Green cloth, spine titled in gilt.

This is the standard practical work on fishing for Scottish loch trout. Although Oatts gives his address as Cuil Lodge, Kilmelfort, Argyl, the book does not contain information about specific, named places. Oatts is taking his experience of many small lochs and lochans and their associated small streams, and systematising what he has learned so that the reader can apply it to any number of similar situations. There are numerous sketch maps of lochs, complete with depths, locations of reefs, inflows and outflows, and so on. The details of each map are strongly suggestive of real locations, but none of these lochs are named, and his descriptions in the text are presented as typical of lochs "nearly everywhere". Chapters include: The loch trout; The weather; Tackle; Dry fly and wet; Blow line and greased line; Spinning and trolling; Shore fishing; Boat fishing; More about loch trout; Preservation and predators; Relatives. Dapping also gets an enthusiastic mention. An appendix lists recommended loch trout flies, not including their tying patterns.