80 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



General Mackay's royal forces so weak-kneed, that the whole thing 

 was over in two minutes of hard slaying. Mackay himself galloped 

 right through the Highland force and, finding himself clear, turned 

 round to find, as he himself expressed it, that " in the twinkling of 

 an eye in a manner, our men, as well as the enemy, were out of 

 sight, being got down pell-mell to the river where our baggage 

 stood." "All was over; and the mingled torrent of red-coats and 

 tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie." 



The angler's battle with his fish is generally a longer struggle 

 than that just referred to, unless the fish is a wild one and goes 

 down stream where the angler cannot follow. The usual practice 

 is to hold him very hard, because in this rocky and steep gorge 

 one's movements are necessarily restricted. In moving from pool 

 to pool one has to clamber up to the path above, move along, and 

 then slide down again. One gets a lot of exercise. 



I recollect a friend of mine recounting how he took out a man 

 just invalided home from India. It was the Fast Day, and the 

 people going to church saw the invalid hooked to a sulking fish. 

 His tackle was of the lightest, and the fish kept deep down. Some 

 folk did not go on to the church, and some who did, found the man 

 still fast to the sulking fish when they came out. A long-handled 

 gaff could only reach the fish's tail. Eventually victory was secured 

 by suddenly releasing all strain. Whereupon the fish immediately 

 assumed the horizontal position, which just brought it above the 

 gaff' point. 



The water runs rapidly over a stony bottom where, on occasion, 

 salmon can be seen like ghosts, for so well disguised are they that 

 one almost seems to see the stones through them. A short distance 

 below Garry Bridge, where pools are again deep and rocky, the river 

 sweeps round in a shallow stretch to the junction with the Tummel 

 at Faskally. 



The fish which are recognised as Garry fish are really a detach- 

 ment of the summer fish of the district, although a certain number 

 of the heavier spring fish do penetrate to the deep pools in March. 

 The Garry fish are, however, not expected till May, and are then 

 found to average about 11 Ib. in weight. Grilse also reach these 

 waters, and although the Pass of Killiecrankie is some 30 miles from 

 Perth, and 50 from the open sea, summer fish have been taken here 

 with sea-lice still upon them, showing apparently that the ascent 

 has not occupied more than four or five days. 



