342 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



which does not belong to the Abinger Estate. The estuary 

 extends down Loch Linnhe, a distance of about 14| miles to 

 Cuil Bay, from the westernmost point of which (Rudha Mor) 

 the line is drawn due north-west across the loch. Cuil Bay is 

 north-east of Balnagown Island and south of the mouth of 

 Loch Leven, so that the limits of the estuary include not only 

 the Lochy and the Leven, but also the mouths of the rivers 

 Scaddle, Gour, and Sanda. 



A gillie is provided by the Estate for each beat let to a 

 tenant, together with a boat or boats wherever necessary. 



The rents of the various beats vary somewhat according to 

 the season, but all particulars are at once obtainable from the 

 Abinger Estate Office, Fort- William. 



The lowest beats are most readily fished from Banavie, the 

 upper from Spean Bridge or neighbourhood. If tenants use 

 motors the distances are little or nothing. The roads are 

 good. 



Fish begin to run in March, as they do in the other early 

 rivers of the West Coast. The average weight is about 11 to 

 12 lb., but a good number of the large class of spring fish may 

 also be expected 16, 20, 25 lb. Several fish of over 30 lb. 

 are usually taken. The heaviest reported in recent years are : 

 1902, 38| lb. ; 1903, 36| lb. ; 1904, 35 lb. ; 1905, 47 lb. ; 1906, 

 35 lb. ; 1907, 32 lb. Good days of five, six, seven, and even 

 eight fish are sometimes got. 



In 1898, 222 salmon, 327 grilse, and 1,742 sea- trout, or a 

 total of 2,321 fish, were secured, but twenty years earlier the 

 salmon total alone reached 600 and the grilse over 800. Mr. 

 Scott Smith, who has fished Mu comer for many years, has 

 prepared a very complete statement with curves, and his 

 decimal periods show a slow decline in total. 



More recent seasons, and it must be understood that the 

 figures include both Lochy and Spean, make it tolerably certain 

 that about the total mentioned above may be pretty regularly 

 expected. 



The natural conditions of this river in its outflow from Loch 

 Lochy were materially altered about a hundred years ago, when 

 the Caledonian Canal was constructed. 



The old outlet of the river was appropriated for the formation 

 of the southern end of the canal in order to keep it on the west 



