144 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



Loch Insh is reported to hold many pike and large trout. It and 

 Loch Alvie were the pike-fishing haunts of Colonel Thornton who, a 

 hundred years ago, as recounted in his Northern Tour, 1 took some 

 monsters by means of his " greyhounds " or live-trout baits attached 

 to floats. It would be a good thing to continue the destruction of 

 the pike in this neighbourhood and in the sluggish parts of the 

 Spey. I am not aware that it is any one's business to attend to this, 

 but, as is done in certain other rivers, the District Fishery Board 

 might with great advantage give attention to the matter, since a 

 very considerable number of salmon certainly spawn above this 

 point, and leave their fry to descend through the happy hunting- 

 grounds of the natural enemy. Some guide to the number of salmon 

 to be found in the loch may be got when it is stated that 275 were 

 netted and sold in 1891, and 400 netted and sold in 1895. Since 

 1898 this netting of the upper waters has been discontinued, but at 

 the end of the season a very considerable number of fish have become 

 distributed over the upper Spey, as well as in the Feshie and Tromie. 



Below Loch Insh some really fine pools exist, but these have for 

 the most part fallen into neglect. Broken banks and submerged 

 and overhanging trees now make one or two of them quite unfish- 

 able. Kinrara, where the famous Jean, Duchess of Gordon, used to 

 hold sway, and where she is buried, has the fishing on the left bank, 

 while Kothiemurchus has the right bank. The havoc to the pools is, 

 however, almost all on the Kinrara side. 



For a considerable number of years the presence of salmon in 

 those waters has been considered practically past praying for. A few 

 people fished, and no one caught anything unless he fished for trout, 

 which, by the way, are here quite worth catching, for many of them 

 run to quite good size in my experience. The keepers could always 

 explain why salmon were not to be expected, and by degrees the river 

 was left severely alone. With 20,000 acres of splendid moor to shoot 

 over, the absence of fishing was not difficult to put up with. 



It is proper to remember, however, that a very material change 

 has taken place in the amount of netting at the mouth of the Spey. 

 An increase in the stock of fish, and in the number of fish which 

 may be able to ascend in the early part of the season the particular 

 fish which are of interest in this connection will, I trust, before 

 many years are over, bring about a new condition of things. People 

 who have got out of the way of fishing those upper waters may 



1 A reprint of this interesting book has been edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart. 

 London : Edward Arnold. 



