68 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



PERTHSHIRE. 



WITH the Tay and its tributaries, my acquaintance, as a 

 trout-fisher, dates as far back as 1830. Kincarrathie House, on 

 the north side of the river, close to Perth, was occupied by my 

 father as a summer residence during a portion of that year, 

 extending from the beginning of July to the end of September. 

 Permission, on application, was freely accorded to the members 

 of his family to angle from the policy grounds attached to Scone 

 Palace, and higher up, over a considerable extent of water, con- 

 taining at that period, I cannot say abundance, but a fair stock 

 of fresh-water trout. Any success, however, I met with on the 

 Tay itself, beyond the capture of small fry, was accomplished, 

 on a happening flood, by means of the minnow, opposite Lun- 

 carty, and in the neighbourhood of the lade from which the 

 Stormonthfield breeding-boxes and rearing-ponds are supplied. 



Away from the main river, I extended my piscatorial wander- 

 ings along the courses of several of its feeders, among which 

 may be named the Almond, the Ordie, the Shochie, and St. 

 Martin's Burn. I also, on the same year, paid occasional visits 

 to the Earn, and its tributary the May-water, unquestionably 

 the best trouting-stream in the neighbourhood of the Fair City. 



As far as the fario is concerned, the Tay near Perth is not a 

 river possessed of very great attractions for the angler. The 

 resident trout are not particularly numerous ; indeed, in this 

 respect they belie even the indications which ample shelter and 

 an apparent sufficiency of food throughout the year present in 

 their favour ; nor is the size which they usually attain to any- 

 thing singular, considering the bulk of the river itself. Tn both 

 respects, the produce of Tay falls greatly short of that of Tweed. 

 This inferiority can be more readily accounted for in relation to 

 the upper parts of the river than to the stretch of water betwixt 



