152 SALMON FISHING 



rainfall. Although the records of fish caught 

 indicate no improvement in the fishings on the 

 river, the keepers are inclined to think that there 

 have been more fish running up during the last two 

 or three years than ever before. There is little or 

 no poaching, in any systematic way, on this water ; 

 and pollution is now unknown, the sewage of 

 Pitlochry the only considerable township on the 

 Tummel being treated on a sewage farm before dis- 

 charge into the river. The run of fish is well 

 maintained, and if netting were still practised the 

 hauls would doubtless be as heavy as ever they were. 

 Those who have known the river for a length of 

 time are of opinion that fungoid disease has been 

 increasing in recent years. The falls on the river 

 just above Faskally House form a serious obstacle to 

 the ascent of fish, and there is no recognised salmon 

 fishing above that point. Nevertheless, a good 

 many fish do get up. Some are occasionally caught 

 in Loch Tummel and in Loch Rannoch. John 

 Macdonald, gamekeeper at Kynachan, Strathtummel, 

 mentioned that he had seen about 200 fish lying in 

 a pool below the weir at Dalcroy, below Tummel 

 Bridge. 11 



LOCH LUBNAIG, in Perthshire, is a water which 

 one is always glad to visit. It lies picturesquely 

 beside Ben Ledi, and until quite recent years had a 

 good head of fish in the spring. Lord Esher, who 

 remarks that our questions relating to the preserva- 

 tion of the salmon constitute an important subject, 

 informs me that there is a falling-off in the stock and 



