Xanfcseer ant) rtMllats 627 



winter a fallen tree had drifted down the river, and 

 settled itself in one of the best pools in Upper Stobhall. 

 One day Sir J. Wolfe Barry lost a good fish by running 

 on to it ; so my father gave orders for it to be cleared 

 away, and some two days afterwards, thinking that 

 his orders had been carried out, he lost there the 

 heaviest fish he had ever hooked perhaps the largest 

 fish ever seen on the Tay. From his great experience 

 he knew that this monster was not foul-hooked, for 

 'the beast even when given all the strain I dare put 

 on, made me spin about like a teetotum.' After 

 worrying on for an hour and a half, it went full speed 

 up stream to the head of the pool, towing the angler 

 along the bank. Imagine his astonishment when at 

 this point the fisherman told him to keep the fish 

 clear of the sunken tree ! That was now impossible ; 

 the salmon went straight for it and broke the cast ! 

 What happened then I leave to the imagination of 

 the reader. Suffice it that ever afterwards he spoke 

 of the incident as one of the keenest disappointments 

 of his life. 



Writing to his brother William on October 1 3th, he 

 says : ' To-morrow is my last day on the river where 

 I have worked like a slave, with indifferent success 

 considering the water, which has been nearly perfect 

 all the season. Somehow the fish wouldn't rise when 

 they were fresh, and first came up, and now they only 

 occasionally rise to a fly. Of course you will see in the 

 papers all sorts of reports about the fishing, but the truth 

 is there is general disappointment ; my number (with 

 one fish to-morrow) will be forty your fish about the 



