CHAPTER IV 

 RIVERS NORTH ESK AND SOUTH ESK 



ANGLING SEASON : February 16th to October 31st. 

 NETTING SEASON : February 16th to August 31st. 



The District Fishery Board of each river sits in Montroae. 



These two Forfarshire rivers have great possibilities in their 

 yield of salmon at all seasons of the year. The coast in the 

 immediate neighbourhood is more heavily netted than any 

 part of Scotland. The estuaries are not large, and nets are 

 therefore allowed fairly close to the river mouths. Yet the 

 salmon are, and have been for many years, a rich harvest, 

 although a decided decrease is alleged. 



Both rivers have in the past been much obstructed by the 

 erection of dam dykes, but for the most part these have now 

 been modified for the benefit of ascending fish. At their 

 sources each river springs from high country of rather Highland 

 character, but each in the greater part of its course flows 

 through undulating pastoral and cultivated land, often richly 

 wooded. Long stretches of beautiful spawning ground exist ; 

 at other parts the water is sluggish, the banks overgrown with 

 a tangle of vegetation, and the bottom inclined to be muddy. 

 The latter conditions are frequently brought about or accen- 

 tuated by the dam dykes being placed where the natural 

 gradient of the river is slight. Of the two the South Esk is the 

 more prone to this characteristic, and in its course it is natter 

 and more given to winding. 



RIVER NORTH ESK 



The mouth of this river is 3 miles north of Montrose in 

 an open sandy bay. Large sand dunes are piled up all along 

 the shore above high water mark by the action of sea and 



101 



