LOCH MORE 255 



12 feet wide at the top, and 25 feet wide at the bottom ; it has 

 a gradient of 1 in 20. To act as breaks to the descending water, 

 rows of stones are erected at intervals and these have since 

 been modified by the placing of wooden battens against the 

 stones. To allow of fish entering the loch when the level does 

 not permit of the highest part of the pass being filled, two 

 openings, or passages, through the dam-dyke at right angles 

 to the direction of the pass are provided at lower levels. Each 

 opening is 3 feet square, and is sluiced. During one of my 

 visits to this pass, the level of the loch was such that only the 

 spray from loch waves came through the upper of those square 

 openings, while the lower opening had 2 feet of water. In 

 other words the loch was practically half-way down the dam- 

 dyke. The 2 feet head of water in the lower opening produced 

 in the pass, in my opinion, a too great amount of white super- 

 aerated water . Another point which struck me was the manner 

 in which a head of water 2 feet by 3 feet suddenly thinned out 

 when debouching across the pass at right angles. The Helms- 

 dale dam-dyke has no difficulty of this kind, because no attempt 

 is made to allow salmon into Badanloch when the sill of the 

 fish-pass is dry. Sluices come right down to the stream bed, 

 the dyke being only half the height of the Loch More structure. 

 While the dam has enabled floods to be let down, it has, I 

 fear, interfered with the ascent of early fish, and Loch More 

 is now too deep for good angling. But the river is immensely 

 improved, and is now very well stocked. 



LOCH MORE 



Previous to the construction of this dam-dyke, Loch More 

 used to be about 170 acres in extent, with an average depth of 

 6 ft. 10 in., and a maximum depth of about 15 feet. Now, 

 the area is increased to 511 acres, and the maximum depth 

 is 27 feet. The habit was in the past to fish indiscriminately 

 casting with fly from boats all over the loch, and salmon 

 rose at any part of the loch. 



I have already said that the Loch More fishing only com- 

 mences with April, but there is no doubt that in most years 

 in the past the loch must have been well stocked before that 

 day, or rather must have been well stocked at quite an early 



