CHAPTER XVI 

 KYLE OF SUTHERLAND 



RIVERS CARRON, OYKELL, CASSLEY, AND SHIN. 



ANGLING SEASON : January 1 1th to September 30th. 

 NETTING SEASON : February llth to August 26th. 



District Fishery Board meets at Ardgay, Bonar Bridge. 



This is a complex district, since of the various rivers contained 

 within its limits no one is pre-eminently the chief. One 

 hesitates to say the Shin is a tributary of the Oykell, or that 

 the Oykell is a tributary of the Shin. The Shin flows from its 

 great loch, and is a spring river ; the Oykell, which is also a 

 spring river, has a long course, and receives the Cassley as a 

 tributary, a stream which is quite as long as Loch Shin, and 

 perhaps more important from a salmon-fishing point of view. 



The outstanding feature of the district, as its name implies, 

 is the Kyle, or narrow channel of tidal water. This forms the 

 natural estuary of all four rivers, and, in its lower or eastern 

 section, forms the Dornoch Firth. From the statutory limits 

 of the estuary the firth winds inland between Tain and Dornoch, 

 past Skibo Castle and the mouth of the little Evelix river, which 

 holds salmon and sea-trout in the autumn, and was converted 

 by the late Mr. Carnegie into a loch at its mouth, up to Bonar 

 Bridge, a distance of about 16 miles. It is shallow with 

 numerous sand- banks. At Bonar Bridge the river Carron 

 enters from the south almost at right angles, and in post-glacial 

 times has brought down such an enormous amount of detritus 

 that the firth has been practically cut in two at this point. 

 The narrow channel which alone remains is bridged, is subject 

 to a rapid inflow and outflow of tidal currents, constitutes the 

 most important part of the Kyle, and is the centre of local net 



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