366 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



15 salmon in eight days to one rod. Taking the Blackmount 

 and Inveroran water together, the best result I know of was got 

 in 1882, when three rods killed 49 fish in Inveroran and 23 in 

 Blackmount. These catches were recorded at the time in the 

 Annual Reports of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



The Orchy is to the Awe what the Garry is to the Ness. The 

 upper part of the waterway is the early fishing river. The 

 district now under consideration is not so celebrated as the 

 other, but the conditions are very similar. The Ness and the 

 Awe are, or were, generally considered later rivers, or rivers in 

 which spring angling was not likely to yield much result. But 

 all the spring fish of the district passed through them into the 

 large loch from which each river flows, and ascended to the 

 river above. The Garry fish leave Loch Ness, and, passing up 

 the river Oich, enter the cold waters of Loch Oich, fed from 

 the Garry. Here, while the cold conditions of spring continue, 

 they remain. In the case of the Orchy, fish in the same way 

 leave Loch Awe and enter the colder waters of the Orchy, but 

 they ascend the easy waters of the lower Orchy only to be met 

 by the falls. These falls are capable of ascent given suitable 

 conditions of water-flow ; but it happens here, as in the Garry, 

 fish will not attempt to make the ascent till the wintry thermal 

 conditions have passed out of the water. Scottish salmon will 

 not jump rough and steep barriers till the water has become 

 comparatively warm ; and if it is considered desirable to take 

 them above such places, it is imperative that they should swim 

 easily either in a pass of gentle gradient, or in the river bed 

 after the barrier has been removed, if this is possible without 

 creating other difficulties above. 



I refer to this question of temperature and the ascent of 

 fish when dealing with other districts, such as the Ness, Lochy, 

 and Tay, and it seems unnecessary to deal with the matter 

 further here ; but I may add that in referring to the Orchy 

 as being colder than the Awe in the spring, I am speaking from 

 actual thermometric readings as shown on a chart of curves 

 representing weekly means for both rivers in the winter of 

 1901-1902, and already published. 1 



Salmon are not expected in the lower Orchy in any numbers 



1 Twenty -first Annual Report Fishery Board for Scotland, Part ii., 

 Appendix v., p. 71, 



