THE YTHAN 129 



The lowest 3 miles forms the reserved water, part going with Haddo 

 House and part being let to a sporting tenant. 



The take of salmon in the Ythan varies very much, a list of the 

 approximate rod totals from 1893 to the present time (which I have 

 before me) showing a range of from about 90 to about 300. The 

 river sometimes fishes very well in spring, the average for the last 

 twenty-two years being about 70 salmon. In 1891 the spring catch 

 reached the respectable total of 140, the majority being taken on 

 Lord Aberdeen's water. Owing to the gentle nature of the river, 

 spring fish make a fairly rapid ascent. 



The autumn fishing, on the other hand, is usually most successful 

 on the lower reaches, and some of those fish are of heavy weight for 

 a river of this size. In 1905 the best fish was 27 Ib. taken in 

 Upper Haddo House water ; in 1900 a 28 Ib. fish was got. On the 

 coast, fish of 40 to 50 Ib. are caught annually, and evidently these 

 big fellows sometimes ascend the river, for in the Haddo House 

 Museum there is a fish of 51 J Ib. which, I believe, was found dead 

 in the river. 



There are several good burns, tributaries to the Ythan, and up 

 these sea -trout run in great numbers as the season advances. In 

 the past I have heard that certain Aberdeen worthies have thought 

 it worth while to visit those burns when they thought they would 

 not be seen. The method of fishing under such circumstances has 

 for its primary object the securing of a maximum number of fish in 

 a minimum length of time. Nowadays, however, the burns on the 

 Haddo House estate are closed for fishing of any kind on 14th 

 October. 



