280 FLY FISHING AND SPINNING 



In the case of the Add there will be a far greater per- 

 centage of fish which will find it impossible to ascend to the 

 spawning grounds than on the Wye for instance and 

 they will hang about in the sluggish parts of the river, 

 discolouration and decrepitation going on during this stay, 

 and finally, if unable to ascend the river to spawn, will 

 discharge their ova and return to the sea ; some of them, 

 such as those from which the scales were taken in Mr. 

 Menzies' report, being captured in the nets, presumably at 

 the mouth of the river. These fish, with their instincts to 

 spawn unsatisfied, will in the following season again seek 

 this river, and so on until they have spawned satisfactorily, 

 adding with each visit the decrepitation marks which are 

 now considered to represent the act of spawning. 



THE RIVER AWE 



In another report : " Fishery Board for Scotland, 

 Salmon Fisheries, 1911, No. 1," Mr. W. J. M. Menzies, after 

 examining the scales of 258 summer fish sent to him by 

 Mr. Calderwood, gives the following table : 



No. with 



No. one spawning Percent- 



District, examined. mark. age. 



Spey 106 6 5.6 



Forth 97 8 8 



Awe 45 13 ^9 



Kyle of Sutherland .. 6 



Solway 4 



258 27 10.46 



None have more than one spawning mark, 

 and goes on : 



" Whilst the figures of the Spey and Forth confirm 

 the results hitherto obtained in these and certain 

 other rivers in Scotland, those of the Awe show a 

 very much greater percentage of fish that have 

 previously spawned." 



