THE TEITH 43 



season as Loch Achray, but now it may be said to be undergoing a 

 period of observation because of a new fish-pass which has recently 

 been erected by the Glasgow Water Commissioners to satisfy the 

 demands of the Forth District Board, who rightly condemned the 

 old passes which existed at the gauge house of the Commissioners 

 situated at the loch outlet. A natural river outlet has always been 

 maintained here, and has been modified in various ways to facilitate 

 the ascent of fish, but a large stone building with numerous sluices 

 was erected at the commencement of the Glasgow Commissioners' 

 operations, above what is still called "the new cut," an artificial 

 channel parallel to the natural outlet. 



The sluices here, like those at Loch Katrine, are unfortunately 

 made to open by being lowered, so that surface water is alone allowed 

 to escape. This makes the arrangement of a pass a matter of some 

 difficulty, since the level at which water enters is a varying one. 

 The new pass now constructed is adapted so that water may enter 

 from one or other of two sluices, there being two branches to the 

 upper section of the pass. Those two branches are built along the 

 side of the " new cut," and unite at a level section, from which 

 the water is then carried in the opposite direction, at a gradient of 

 one in twenty, towards the foot of the gauge house. The total 

 length of the pass is 194 feet, and the breadth 7 feet. 



It appears to be certain that fish are ascending the new pass 

 much more freely than the old one, and that they have been noticed 

 passing through the sluices into the loch, although this operation is 

 accomplished with some difficulty to gravid fish. The future history 

 of the salmon fishing of Loch Vennacher will be the surest guide to 

 the success of this pass from a sporting point of view. The distri- 

 bution of fish over the upper spawning grounds is perhaps the most 

 valuable result. 



In early days, before Glasgow commandeered the water, Loch 

 Vennacher often yielded good spring fishing, as Loch Lubnaig also 

 did, although the latter was perhaps not so much fished. I believe 

 that some thirty or forty years ago as many as 60 salmon have been 

 taken from the two lochs in a season, and it was frequently observed 

 that according as the water-flow favoured one or other channel, so 

 one loch or the other yielded better results. Keferring to the Loch 

 Vennacher outlet, the official report of an inspector says : l " The best 

 fishing above these works is said to have been obtained in 1887, 

 when the river had been in flood from the 19th January to the 9th 



1 Eleventh Report Fishery Board for Scotland, Part ii., p. 5. 



