SOME HEAVY BASKETS AND BIG FISH 115 



Turning to Scotland, Mr. R. Anderson has sup- 

 plied me with some notes and observations on large 

 fish killed north of the Tweed. He mentions first 

 of all the Big trout it deserves a capital ' B ' caught 

 in Loch Stennis in Orkney in March 1889. And 

 here 1 should observe that in writing about Scotch 

 trout records, the captures were effected not solely by 

 the fly, but by spinning, by set lines, and in fact by 

 every sort of piscatorial device This Stennis trout 

 weighed 29 Ibs., measured 38 inches in length, and was 

 24 inches in girth. It was taken on a set line, but the 

 nature of the bait is not stated. There has been a 

 doubt expressed whether this fish was a true trout, 

 but that is a point 1 am not able to solve. 1 tell the 

 tale as it was told to me. 1 The largest river trout 

 which has ever come to Mr. Anderson's personal 

 knowledge is one which was killed in the Tay by 

 Colonel Dobiggin on September 10, 1842. That gentle- 

 man was fishing with fly for sea trout on the Murthly 

 water, and in the Birnam Burn pool he hooked the 

 fish. After a long fight, John Miller, the fisherman, 



1 Since the above was written in fact on June 28, 1 899 I 

 have heard from Major Levett, of Rowsley, respecting this fish. 

 He says : * I was intimately acquainted with the big Stennis 

 trout you wrote about in Fur, Feather, and Fin. The fish was 

 caught on a trimmer set with a live bait on a cod-hook tied on 

 to loose horsehair. ' G. 



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