TROUT-FISHING 



1912. Treat. lb. ou. 



April 884 .. . 686 1 



May 13,931 . . . 9,260 9 



June 16,520 . . . 10,500 



July 7,832 . . . 5,527 13 



August 8,226 . . . 6.264 5 



September 1,651 . . . 1,336 



Totals 49,044 . . . 33,574 12 



Average weight, lOff ounces. 



The highest average recorded is that for 1903, viz., 1 lb. 5| oz., but that 

 was also the year of the lowest total of fish taken — 2,002. It may be ob- 

 served incidentally that the vast increase in the annual catch is the result 

 of the protective and regenerative system adopted by Mr P. D. Malloch, 

 who, in 1908, took over the management of the fishery for the Tay Fish- 

 eries Company. Pike, which used to swarm in Loch Leven, have been per- 

 sistently fished with trammel nets, and are now so scarce that only fifteen 

 were taken in the twelve months ending in September, 1912. When Mr 

 Malloch began upon them, the captures were reckoned by thousands. A 

 few years ago, a very large proportion of the trout taken were caught 

 on the minnow; but it is pleasant to record that now minnow -fishing is 

 the exception, and may come to be prohibited altogether, as it ought to 

 be in such a free-rising lake. 



Personally, I have never fished Loch Leven, nor do I entertain any desire 

 to do so. There is too much of the competitive element in the proceed- 

 ings there to attract me, and I hold that directly generous emulation 

 merges into competition for prizes, ill luck must be embittered without 

 the glow of success being enhanced by the feeling that the loss or capture 

 of a good fish carries its equivalent in cash. During the season 1912 one 

 hundred and sixty -two competitions were decided on the bosom of this 

 fair lake, and in these no fewer than 2,052 anglers took part, accounting 

 for the capture of 13,166 trout, weighing 8,343 lb. This is a wonderful test 

 of the fertility of Loch Leven and testifies to the science and energy which 

 have been applied to the development of its resources; but the per- 

 formance has parted with the charm inherent to wild field-sport. Give 

 me rather a couple of hours' climbing to a lonesome mountain tarn, with 

 the chance of finding the wind propitious to casting from its boatless, reed- 

 girt shores, and I will not exchange the chance of two or three brace of 



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