THE EARN 99 



At Dupplin the first dyke occurs. This is a cruive dyke 

 which formerly was fished to the great detriment of the river 

 in general. The cruive box habitually had a rush of water 

 through it so heavy that it was seldom, even when the heck 

 was off, that fish could freely pass. I have seen fish lying so 

 closely packed at the sides of the white water rushing from 

 the cruive box, that their back-fins and tails were out of the 

 water. I have lifted fish out by the tail here and thrown them 

 up over the obstruction. Needless to say, at such times the 

 river -watchers have always to be on the spot. By an agree- 

 ment amongst the various proprietors, this cruive is now 

 disused, and a pass has been constructed round the right-bank 

 end of the dyke. I am told that numbers of fish go through 

 the pass, and also that numbers of fish go over the dyke as 

 they used to do whenever the water-level is suitable for them 

 to do so. It is the presence of this dyke which is still 

 responsible for the great collection of fish at the end of the 

 season in the Dupplin Reserved Water, and for the great value 

 of this fishing. Hence the very material difficulty of regulating 

 the fisheries of the Earn in the general interest. 



And even if Dupplin Dyke were totally removed it would at 

 once become necessary to deal with the somewhat similar 

 structures further up. Strathallan, Millearn, Colquhalzie, 

 and Bridgend or Cook's Dykes have still to be negotiated, and 

 there is not a pass at any one of them. Another dyke formerly 

 existed at Dornock, below Crieff, but the two mills which 

 derived water therefrom practically fell into disuse, and a 

 merciful flood managing to make a breach in the structure, 

 Lord Ancaster, to whom it belonged, allowed the natural gap 

 to remain, and to be enlarged by subsequent floods. Strath- 

 allan, like Dupplin, is a cruive dyke, the others supply water 

 to mills. Below each obstruction fish have to stop till the 

 condition of water-flow permits them to continue the ascent. 

 This is a serious thing when the great majority of the fish 

 become fairly heavy with spawn. Carefully considered sugges- 

 tions have been made from time to time for the modification 

 of all those dykes, but up to the present these have not been 

 acted upon, and the salmon fishing suffers in consequence. 



As a result of the many obstructions, and, I think, as a result 

 of nothing else, fishing in the upper reaches is practically 



