226 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



than any other loch in Scotland except Loch Shiel. It covers 

 an area of 8| square miles and drains an area of 150 square 

 miles. The greatest depth found by the Bathymetrical Survey 

 was 162 feet, the mean depth was ascertained to be 51 feet. 

 The surface is 270 feet above sea-level and the rise and fall 

 amounts to about 7 feet. 



Salmon enter Loch Shin in numbers and spawn away up in 

 the head streams around Loch Merkland, and also in the Tirry, 

 which enters the loch from the north-west, not far from Larig 

 a rough stony stream but for salmon fishing purposes Loch 

 Shin is of little use. An occasional fish is taken by sportsmen 

 trolling for large trout (usually termed " ferox "), but Loch Shin 

 cannot be called a salmon-fishing loch. In this respect it is 

 like all other Scottish lochs with obstructed spring rivers flowing 

 out of them. By the time salmon are able to ascend, they are 

 no longer " taking fish " in a loch. The fish, say, of Loch Tay 

 or Loch Ness, run through the river in December and January 

 and later. By the time Shin fish will leap at the fall, they are 

 also doing so, and are moving on to their top waters, the 

 Dochart and Upper Garry respectively. Salmon do not take 

 in Loch Dochart or Loch Garry any more than they do in Loch 

 Shin, or Loch Lochy, or Loch Garve, or Loch Morar. 1 If 

 the obstruction in the spring river is removed spring fish will 

 travel on, but not otherwise. So long, therefore, as the falls 

 of Shin remain, salmon need not be fished for in the loch. 



In a case such as that of the river Shin the complete removal 

 of the falls would, in my opinion, be a doubtful benefit. The 

 river is very short, and from a sporting point of view fish might 

 pass through it rather rapidly. It is not a case of letting fish 

 up to a long mileage of river with good spawning ground. The 

 Shin is only about 6 miles in length, and 2 miles of water 

 are below the fall. 



From the mouth to below the island where the old cruives 

 used to be, at Inveran the river has an open character, with 

 stony and gravelly bed and running pools. From Inveran to a 

 short distance above the falls the river is in a rocky channel, 

 in some places narrowing to a most picturesque gorge, fringed 

 with birch. In this the water surges along in black and frothing 



1 In this connection the account of early alterations in the Lochy 

 District may be of interest. 



