286 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



of black abyss when one looks from a height, and where even 

 the fish, as they show on occasion, seem black, for one only 

 sees their backs. The names of the two pools immediately 

 below are significant. They are the Upper Smash and the 

 Lower Smash. There is no leaving either if you fail to keep 

 your fish on pretty close terms. If it goes downstream in 

 spite of you, you get one or other variety of smash. If you do 

 try to follow, the chances are you have a worse smash than 

 that of your tackle. 



The river is divided into two beats, the lower has ten pools, 

 and the upper has twelve, and although only the right bank 

 belongs to the Duke of Sutherland, His Grace has the sole 

 right of fishing. Culag Hotel is allowed four days a week, and 

 Loch Inver Lodge the remaining two days. The Kirkaig fish 

 are rather heavier than the Inver fish, the average being about 

 11 lb., and fish up to 20 Ib. are not very uncommon. From 

 40 to 50 are usually got in the season, which, considering the 

 shortness of the river, is not at all bad. 



The migrations of those Kirkaig fish is a matter of some 

 interest. The spawning ground for salmon is distinctly limited. 

 So far as marking on east coast rivers go, it is clear that the 

 great majority of kelts return to their own rivers again as clean 

 fish if they return from the sea at all. In a short river such 

 as the Kirkaig, the question naturally arises to one's mind : 

 Can it produce all the fish that ascend it ? It is a late river. 

 July is as early as one need start. No one sees the kelts, and 

 the chances are they are not very long in the water. To carry 

 out some kelt marking, and if possible some smolt marking, 

 not only in the Kirkaig but in the neighbouring rivers, might 

 show some most interesting and instructive results. But, 

 from experience, I know it is a difficult matter to secure an 

 adequate number of kelts in those small rivers. 



RIVER POLLY 



This river is within the limits of the Kirkaig district as pre- 

 scribed by the Salmon Act of 1868. It has, however, no actual 

 connection with the Kirkaig, and enters the sea at the head 

 of Enard Bay, about four miles south of Inverkirkaig. Like the 

 larger river, its upper waters are cut off by an impassable fall, 



