SALMON FISHING 135 



alike, the splendid Spey has another drawback to contend 

 against in the incessant par catching carried on by the riparian 

 population. A right of free trout fishing is claimed, which 

 has never been contested in a superior court, so it is merci- 

 lessly exercised, and each village and farmhouse sends forth 

 anglers in plenty ; most of them are pleasant-spoken, decent 

 bodies, but among so many it is needless to say there are 

 some black sheep, men who will glory in stepping into a 

 salmon pool and fishing it with trout flies right in front of 

 the salmon angler ; and who, if asked to desist, will be prolific 

 in abuse and bad language. These are the rascals who slip 

 on a salmon fly the moment they think it safe to do so, and 

 should they land a well-mended kelt, it is sure to be knocked 

 on the head and hidden till they can return for it at night. 

 In addition, however, to the man angler, each village sends 

 out troops of boys to catch par. We think we hear our 

 readers exclaim : " Oh, no ; that cannot be right, as the Act 

 of Parliament protects them " ; but, alas, on the Spey it does 

 nothing of the kind ; it throws its shield over the smolt only, 

 which is a par in the silver coat it takes for a few months 

 before going to the sea. The Act does not even mention 

 the poor par ; and yet there can be no smolts without par, 

 which stay in the rivers from two to three years before 

 becoming smolts. Thus the boys and the girls of the species 

 are protected, but the defenceless babies in arms may be 

 massacred! Truly, this is a clever, far-seeing Act of 

 Parliament. The little village urchins, therefore, catch 

 thousands of par each season, and between Rothes and 

 Aberlour one can daily see some twenty to thirty of them 

 all thus busily engaged. That each lad will easily get a 

 couple of dozen a day may be taken as certain. We saw 

 one boy with fully fifteen dozen to his own rod, and as there 

 are two hundred and ten days in the Spey fishing season, 

 if but twenty-five lads are out daily and get but two dozen 

 each, they will take 125,000 par, and this is on only seven 



