THE EARN 97 



Strathallan water is reached, after which Auchterarder and 

 Gleneagles take us to Dalreoch Bridge. On the right bank, be- 

 low the Drummond Castle water, we have Colquhalzie, Strath- 

 allan (there being a bridge here at Millearn), and Trinity Gask. 



Below Dalreoch, on the left bank, the fishings are Duncrub, 

 Invermay, and Upper Dupplin, till Dupplin Dyke is reached, 

 the waters on the right bank are Gask and Upper Dupplin. 

 Below this all too-important dyke Dupplin fishes both banks 

 for some little distance, that next the dyke being styled the 

 Reserve Water -the most productive water on the river the 

 other being called the Lower Water. Below this, Freeland 

 fishes both banks, and then Dunbarnie and Moncrieffe face 

 each other above Bridge of Earn. Below the Bridge of Earn 

 the Earl of Wemyss has the fishing to the mouth, with the 

 exception of a quarter of a mile just below the bridge, which 

 goes with Kinmouth. On the left bank, Kilgraston and Mon- 

 crieffe, Carey and Cordon, share the fishing with Lord 

 Wemyss. 



There is much fine water in the Earn, but, unlike the larger 

 Tay, fish have not facilities for reaching it. Quite a series of 

 bad dykes exist to prevent fish becoming distributed through- 

 out the water till comparatively late in the season. The lower 

 reaches of the river are such as would naturally induce a fair 

 proportion of spring fish to enter, but with conditions as they 

 are at present, they cannot be said to do so. The tacksmen of 

 the netting stations find that their fishing does not pay wages 

 till about the end of June, and as a consequence the river may 

 be said to be clear of nets in spring. The Earn actual period 

 of regular netting is therefore practically July, and the three 

 available weeks of August. Two or three spring fish are 

 generally got on the rod in the middle reaches of the river, 

 showing, as it seems to me, the possibility of better things, 

 but such fish must undoubtedly ascend very early before the 

 temperature of the river water has fallen sufficiently to make the 

 various and serious obstructions of the river act as checks. 



It is believed by many that the reason why spring fish do 



not ascend the Earn at all freely is that the temperature of 



the river water is lower than that of the Tay. I know of only 



one paper which gives actual thermometric readings, 1 and 



1 H. R. Mill, British Association Report, 1891. 



Q 



