124 SALMON FISHING 



carried far out to sea in a large pipe, and this year 

 the sea nets, in compliance with an Act, have to be 

 lifted at 12 noon instead of at 6 P.M. on Saturdays. 



Major Rose adds: "About nine years ago I 

 think in August I had strange luck. There having 

 been heavy rain for two or three hours in the 

 morning, I dug up a few worms and went down to 

 the Holme Bridge to fish under its arch for sea- 

 trout as soon as the spate should come down. On 

 arriving I found the water in the pool, 10 or 12 feet 

 deep, quite clear; fish at the bottom were visible. 

 While I was waiting for the spate a salmon jumped 

 just opposite me. Without any idea of catching 

 him, I cast my baited hook into the ripple. In a 

 second the line was taut, and shortly after I gaffed 

 a fish of 5 or 6 Ibs. Three others followed quickly. 

 Finally a big fellow carried away my tackle. A 

 minute later the flood came roaring down, yellow 

 and foaming, two or three feet high, and I had 

 hastily to clear off from under the bridge with my 

 captures. No doubt the salmon were momentarily 

 expecting the river to ' come," and mistook my bait 

 for a sign that it was beginning."" 



The FINDHORN is famous for the suddenness and 

 amplitude of its floods. Lord Moray, who has been 

 associated with it since 1901, very kindly states his 

 impressions. " I am sorry to say," he writes, " that 

 there are no trustworthy figures of what was done 

 by my predecessors, with which one could compare 

 what is done in these later years. Of course, there 

 are stories told by old keepers and gillies ; but I do 



