THE EWE 299 



the poor. As a boy Mr. Osgood Mackenzie started fishing 

 nearly 75 years ago. His first two days resulted in 12 fish, 

 the heaviest being 27f Ib. Another tale, reminiscent of the 

 former plenty, is that of a few young bloods who were at a 

 wedding dance at Poolewe one night in autumn, and realising 

 that all the neighbourhood was there also, these young fellows 

 set off to the Inveran river, a stream which enters Loch Maree 

 a short distance above the outflow of the Ewe. They speared 

 17 fish out of the river, and were back at the dance again 

 almost before they were missed. 



Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, in giving evidence before Lord 

 Elgin's Commission, explained that the cruive dyke which 

 formerly stood at what is now called " The New Cruive Pool " 

 was never fished by means of cruive boxes with inscales, and 

 that the reason for its removal in his father's time was to lower 

 the level of Loch Maree in order to prevent flooding on farms 

 at the head of the loch. 



It is noteworthy that, since the removal of the cruive dyke, 

 the rod-fishing on the Ewe has declined. It need not be 

 asserted positively that the decline was consequent upon the 

 removal of the dyke, but that the result has been to make the 

 floods on the Ewe more severe in their scouring action in the 

 river bed, and to facilitate the uninterrupted run of fish through 

 this short and rapid river. 



If, as has been stated by Sir Kenneth, the removal of the 

 dyke lowered the level of the loch, it seems to follow that after 

 periods of low level in the loch the presence of the dyke would 

 act as a regulator of the river flow till such time as the loch 

 reached the level of the top of the cruive dyke, and that, there- 

 fore, in spite of the two gaps which probably existed in the 

 dyke, the structure acted in a modified way as an impounding 

 dam. Spring fish were in former days taken from the date of 

 opening. Grant, the Pool House keeper, informs me he has 

 taken two fish of 8 Ib. or 10 Ib. on the opening day, and that 

 he always expected, in former years, to have a fair number of 

 fish in February and March, fishing on the four days a week 

 which are allotted to Pool House. Sometimes the March fish 

 were a little coloured. In April the Pool House rod has taken 

 as many as 24 fish. 



This speaks to a fair number of fish in or passing through 



