CHAPTER XXXI 

 THE RIVERS NITH AND ANNAN 



THE NITH 



ANGLING SEASON : 25th February to 30th November. 

 NETTING SEASON : 25th February to 9th September. 



District Fishery Board meets in Dumfries. 



The Nith is a river of very considerable volume. It does not 

 rank with the largest rivers of Scotland, nor with the salmon 

 rivers of even second rank, but that is not the fault of the Nith. 

 The natural features of the country through which it flows 

 are such as go to the making of a beautiful river which should 

 produce valuable salmon fishing. 



Unhappily,jbhe fisheries here have been allowed to sink to a 

 very low ebb. Many things have combined to bring about 

 this state of matters, the chief of which I will refer to presently ; 

 but the broad fact is, I fear, that the interests of the fisheries 

 have not been guarded in the past. All manner of contending 

 or opposing interests have been allowed to spring up, without 

 the usual and very necessary safeguards which would have 

 enabled at least a much larger proportion of fishing-value to 

 remain. 



The river rises in Ayrshire as a burn called the Powkelly, a 

 few miles east of Dalmellington on the river Doon. The course 

 takes the form of a wide curve to the east and south, and the 

 river enters the Solway Firth through extensive sandy flats 

 below Dumfries. The total length from source to Scar Point, 

 in the tidal estuary, is 55 miles, and the river in its course 

 passes through New Cumnock, Kirkconnel, Sanquhar, and 

 Thornhill, as well as Dumfries. In almost its whole length, the 

 Nith is a river of beautiful character, offering many attractions 

 to the angler ; gravelly reaches of good streamy water, long 



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