THE LYON 85 



at Kenmore. The best spring fishing is in the 6 miles of 

 water nearest the mouth of the river. Above this, the river 

 descends through a steep defile where one or two cascades 

 occur, and early fish do not pass these for some little time. 



The central section of the river, below the Bridge of Balgie, 

 and especially in the neighbourhood of Slatich, is flat and 

 sluggish, being in all probability the site of a prehistoric loch, 

 the waters of which were released when the defile above Fortin- 

 gal was pierced by ice at the yielding of the glacial period. 

 Some trout of large size are said to be found in this sluggish 

 section, and indeed the whole river has a good reputation for 

 tr outing. The scenery below this point is specially fine and 

 perhaps equal to anything in Perthshire, which is saying a 

 good deal when it is recollected that the Trossachs are in the 

 same county. 



From Loch Lyon downwards for 12 miles or so, the fishing 

 rights go with the Meggernie estate, and from May onwards 

 this is understood to be a very fine fishing. Any one who has 

 seen the ascent of fish at the Gallan Falls, or Falls of Meggernie, 

 has at any rate been able to realise the great number of fish 

 which the river holds. These falls are extraordinary, in that 

 the river is divided into many courses owing to the high angle 

 at which the rocks are pitched and the manner in which they 

 fracture. Fish cannot get up during low levels of water, and 

 indeed a more than moderate rise is necessary before they go 

 up in numbers. At such times they pop here and pop there 

 at all sorts of different places, each, as it were, finding the best 

 way for itself ; no great number of them impelled to follow one 

 line by the natural conditions of water-flow, yet each having 

 to make quite a series of ascents by means of leaping. When 

 a really high flood is on, the falls must be turned into a long 

 sloping cataract. The falls are 3 miles above Balgie Bridge, 

 and a mile above Meggernie Castle. The water between these 

 two points may be styled the best in the river. When the 

 summer fish are up, the Gallan Pool is full of fish and continues 

 so till the end of the season. M'Farlane's Pool, the Neck, and 

 the Fir Pool are also reputed excellent. 



Immediately above the Bridge of Balgie there are a series of 

 rapids, at the bridge itself a low fall of between 3 and 4 feet, 

 and round the first corner at the head of the rapids another 



