X 



THE TEITH. 343 



the estate of Craigforth. The rent of these in 1840 

 amounted to seven hundred and sixty-six pounds. At 

 present they fetch nearly one thousand pounds. The 

 lower fishings, those betwixt Stirling and Alloa, draw 

 about the same sum. Forth salmon are held in high 

 repute, being large and rich-tasted. Many of them 

 weigh from eighteen up to thirty pounds, and some have 

 been killed as heavy as fifty pounds. Their price, at the 

 beginning of the season, is two shillings and ninepence 

 or three shillings, and near the close, as low frequently 

 as sixpence or eightpence. There are no net-fishings in 

 this river above its junction with the Teith, but it con- 

 tains several good salmon -casts for the angler. The 

 main stream, however, is much injured by the quantities 

 of moss floated down from the upper districts of the 

 county. It yields a considerable number of yellow 

 trout, but these in general, although strong and active, 

 are not large. The heaviest one taken there of late 

 years was captured by Mr Sawers, secretary to the 

 Stirlingshire Fishing Club. It weighed two-and-a-half 

 pounds. The best salmon-fly for Forth is one having = 

 yellowish-dun wings, tipped with white, black body, and ' 

 black hackle, with silver tinsel ; the tail-tuft yellow, and 

 a little orange dubbing worked on, at the root of the 

 wings. 



The TEITH, which is by far the largest tributary of 

 the Forth, is a clear, fast-running river, with a good 

 deal of gravel at the bottom, and is much preferred to 

 the main stream by salmon and sea-trout ascending to 

 spawn. Its course from whence it springs in the braes 

 of Balquhidder, to where it joins the Forth, lies entirely 

 in Perthshire. There are properly two branches that 

 form this river ; one from the braes above mentioned, 

 which takes its way through Lochs Voil and Lubnaig, 



