SALMON FISHINGS AT SPEY-MOUTH. 373 



of the river. Almost all the fish are sent, packed in 

 ice, to London. For this purpose, eight smacks are 

 kept constantly in employment, each at the expense of 

 forty pounds per month. The average cargo of one of 

 these vessels consists of two hundred and eighty boxes, 

 containing severally one hundred weight of salmon. 

 These boxes have been estimated at five pounds a-piece, 

 and the number of voyages undertaken by the eight 

 vessels during the year, additional ones being provided 

 when required, has frequently exceeded seventy. Allow- 

 ing that the average weight of each fish is eight pounds, 

 the quantity of salmon and grilses captured yearly in 

 the neighbourhood of Spey-mouth, and exported to 

 London, will amount to two hundred and seventy-four 

 thousand, four hundred pounds. The salmon-fishings on 

 Spey are chiefly conducted by net and coble. The men 

 employed are divided into twelve bands, each band con- 

 sisting of seven fishermen, and a " kenner," or overseer. 

 In regard to rod-fishing for salmon, permissions to 

 indulge in that recreation are to be obtained from the 

 Messrs. Hogarth of Aberdeen, the fish taken, of course, 

 to be delivered up to the kenner. During the grilse 

 season, I understand that the sport is frequently first- 

 rate, and a practised angler may haul in eight or nine 

 fish, and hook as many more, in the course of a fore- 

 noon or evening, all of these being new-run, well-con- 

 ditioned, and active. The flies used I have elsewhere 

 described, but may mention that the most favourite 

 ones are those which are winged with the brown mottled 

 feather taken from the back of the mallard and having 

 a long-fibred hackle, generally one of those which 

 depend from the breast of the male heron, brown or 

 dun-coloured dubbing, and a strip of fretted tinsel, 

 wound, not too closely, around the body. 



