THE BEAULY DISTRICT 201 



The cruives were not always in their present position, but 

 in early days were close to the mouth of the river above the new 

 Lovat Bridge, which replaced the old structure carried away 

 in The Moray Floods. The houses which were attached to the 

 old cruives still exist and are still in use called Cruive End. 

 Here the old coppers of roomy dimensions are yet to be seen, 

 in which, before the days of ice-packing and railways in the 

 North, salmon were cooked or parboiled preparatory to being 

 steeped in vinegar, packed in flat firkins, and shipped to 

 London. 



The Beauly nets are still kept at Cruive End, but netting 

 since 1897 has been restricted to two days a week during the 

 months of June and July. An estuary netting station, formerly 

 in the possession of Rosehaugh, has also been bought up by 

 Lord Lovat and left unfinished. 



From the cruives to the commencement of the estuary at the 

 top of tide-reach is a distance of about 2^ miles. Counting 

 the pools between the cruives and Kilmorack and from the 

 Falls to the sea is the Beaufort Castle water there are fifteen 

 good pools, the majority of which are almost ideal fly pools. 

 Till the shooting season begins the Castle water is let annually 

 for two rods, and the tenants usually reside at the hotel in 

 Beauly. The spring fishing is not perhaps as good as it used 

 to be, for the stock of fish declined some years ago ; but, given 

 suitable weather, the results are reliable, and when the grilse 

 begin to run the takes are often great, for the Beauly is a very 

 good grilse river. Between 200 and 300 fish may be got after 

 the grilse begin to run, and July is the best month. 



The record performances on this stretch of the Beauly were 

 made by the late Lord Lovat and Colonel Duff. They are 

 results the like of which are never obtained nowadays, even 

 in the Grimersta, where 54 fish have been killed on one rod in 

 one day. In 1854 Lord Lovat had 128 fish in eight days. 

 In 1859 Colonel Duff had 106 fish in seven days. In 1864 

 Lord Lovat had 146 fish in five days. Ye gods ! think of 29 

 fish a day for five consecutive days. These results were got 

 when the grilse were running either at the end of June or 

 beginning of July. 



The spring fish of the Beauly are commonly of the small 

 class, i.e., the fish entering fresh water for the first time, and 



