1 6 ANGLING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



On the whole, the angler visiting Scotland cannot do 

 better than take his technical instructions about salmon 

 fishing from Francis Francis's ' Book on Angling.' Perhaps 

 no English angler has had more experience of the Scotch 

 rivers, from the angler's point of view, than he. It is no 

 secret to the initiated that the list of salmon and sea- 

 trout flies, which he gives for the various rivers and lakes 

 of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, cost him years of labour, 

 and that in compiling them he received the assistance 

 of some of the most experienced of British anglers. 



What the principal Scotch rivers produce I have already- 

 illustrated by figures. The Tweed is held in high esteem 

 as an angling river, though it is not so long, and does not 

 form so large a watershed as the Tay. The Kirkcudbright- 

 shire Dee, the Cree. and the Luce, are small rivers in the 

 south of Scotland, and the Annan and Nith, the former 

 famous for its sea-trout and herling, also run into the 

 Solway Firth. The Tay is a superb salmon river, and 

 like the Tweed has, in its lower part, to be commanded 

 from a boat. It yields, with its many tributaries, good 

 spring fishing. Aberdeenshire is a famous county for the 

 angler, for it can boast of its Dee and Don, and a number 

 of smaller streams. Inverness, also, is a notable angling 

 county, containing as it docs the magnificent Spey. This 

 river has peculiar characteristics for the angler, having high 

 banks and much rough, rapid water, demanding the 

 exercise of all his skill. In this county is also the Ness, 

 where the public have access on given days to a portion of 

 the water near the Highland capital. In the Beauly, some 

 years ago. Lord Louth killed to his own rod 146 salmon in 

 five days, and this beautiful river is still first-rate for fish. 

 Upon the Thurso, in the extreme north, the fishing opens 

 earlier than in any other portion of the United Kingdom. 



