176 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



limitation of hard netting. Totals of 400 and over are now 

 looked for, but modern anglers have a fairly good record to 

 break, for in 1876 the late Mr. Denison then well known also 

 on Tweed had 16 fish to his own rod on 7th August. In 1885 

 he killed 120 fish in the Ness and 180 in the Tweed. He died 

 suddenly in Ness House in 1887. A great story is told of him 

 in the Fur, Feather, and Fin Series (Salmon). He hooked a fish 

 at six o'clock one Friday evening in the Holm Port, found it 

 to be a monster, played it through the night till 4 a.m., and 

 eventually lost it just under the gaff. 



The Four Cobles Water is in reality a part of the Bught 

 Water, the property principally of Colonel Warrand of Bught, 

 but the town of Inverness has a certain share in the right of 

 fishing. This share is held for the benefit of the lieges and is 

 interpreted by freedom to fish this water every eighth fishing 

 day. A list of the free days is drawn up each year, and is to 

 be obtained from the various fishing-tackle makers in Inverness. 

 This water is the lowest section, from The Islands to the mouth 

 past the town, and fishing is carried on from both banks as 

 well as from The Islands. 



LOCH NESS 



For a long succession of years Loch Tay has been held in 

 high repute as a spring fishing loch, where any one who cares 

 for the sport may go and catch salmon, or at all events practise 

 the peaceful if cold art of fishing for salmon from a boat. A 

 successful rival has now come to the front in Loch Ness. 



Including the small basin of Loch Dochfour at the northern 

 end, the loch is 24J miles long, and has an average breadth of 

 about a mile. It is, further, profoundly deep, being indeed 

 the deepest loch but one in Scotland, and it is not very long 

 since the greater depth of Loch Morar was discovered. 



The members of the Bathymetrical Survey of Scottish Lochs, 

 under the direction of Sir John Murray, have given great 

 attention to this great body of water, and have not only charted 

 the loch in a detailed manner, but have studied its fauna and 

 flora, its seches and its sprungschicht ; in other words, its 

 irregular tides, and its sharp separation into different layers 

 of water. These rather mysterious physical phenomena appear 

 to have no connection with the salmon fisheries of the loch, 



