162 A HUNDKED YEARS 



My readers will agree that the records which I am 

 going to give of the various fishermen are truly amazing. 

 From time immemorial the Fionn Loch has been always 

 famous for its enormous trout. As there were no boats 

 on the loch, the old crofter population, who lived around 

 its shores in their shieling bothies, used to catch fish 

 by tying a cod-hook to the end of a long string, baiting 

 it with a good-sized trout, and throwing it as far as 

 possible out into the loch from certain points and pro- 

 montories best known to themselves. They also used to 

 spear the trout by bog-fir torchlight in the burns and 

 the rivers in October and November. 



Soon after the purchase of Kernsary by Gairloch, 

 my uncle happened to come across the late Sir Alexander 

 Gordon Gumming of Altyre, who was then a very keen 

 young spo-rtsman, both with gun and rod, and on hearing 

 of the reported size of the trout, Sir Alexander determined 

 to try the loch himself. Of all unlikely times of the 

 year for trout-fishing, he chose the middle of March, 

 when no one but himself would have had hopes of 

 catching anything ; but in spite of the odds against him 

 he caught plenty of fish, many of which were real 

 giants. 



The old people declared there were three different 

 species (or at least varieties) of these big trout, and gave 

 them three different Gaelic names — viz., Claigionnaich 

 (skully, big-headed), Carraige^naich (stumpy, short 

 and thick), and Cnaimhaich (bony, big-boned). Cer- 

 tainly the trout do vary a lot in shape and colouring. 



How perfectly do I remember one evening in April, 

 1851 (when I was just nine years old), Sir Alexander 



