THE SPEY 149 



The average take in Gordon Castle water at the back-end, drawn 

 from the figures already given, is 645, and 53 Ib. is the record weight 

 (1897). The average for the corresponding period of ten years from 

 the four fisheries just mentioned is only 408. Perhaps it was 

 natural in view of such circumstances that the proprietors above 

 Orton should consider they were not getting their fair share of the 

 fish. There is no call for me to act as arbiter, and the evidence 

 either way is inconclusive ; but there are certainly one or two con- 

 siderations which should not be lost sight of. The sound policy with 

 regard to the extent to which it is wise in the general interests of 

 any river to continue netting, depends on the just operation of the 

 weekly close time, the desire being so to adjust the netting as to 

 make it certain that a proportion of each run of fish entering the 

 river can pass through to the unnetted waters. The lower reaches 

 of the Spey are rapid ; when the water is cold, spring fish ascend 

 very slowly. In the close season of 1896-97, 150 clean fish were 

 marked in the Gordon Castle water. At the commencement of the 

 netting season 67 of them were recaptured in the same water. Of 

 this number 25 had actually dropped lower down the river, 8 were 

 in the same pools as when marked, and 34 had moved up slightly. 

 Only 2 fish were recaptured by rod after having left the Gordon 

 Castle water and ascended the river. In other words, the natural 

 conditions of Gordon Castle water are such that at certain seasons 

 fish are more likely to accumulate there than elsewhere, and, this 

 being the case, they are more likely to be caught in greater numbers 

 there than elsewhere. With the netting which used to exist in the 

 Spey, there can, I think, be little doubt that an undue proportion of 

 spring fish were caught before they could pass through to the angling 

 waters. 



I have no hesitation in saying that the best interests of the river 

 were considered when, at the end of 1903, an agreement was come to 

 between the proprietors above Orton and the Duke of Eichmond 

 and Gordon, by which nets were removed from Orton and the upper 

 part of Gordon Castle water. Netting now reaches only to the 

 Cumberland Ford below Fochabers Bridge, a distance of barely three 

 miles from the mouth of the river. In the agreement as to proper 

 compensation, I understand it was decided that between 6000 and 

 7000 fish would on an average be thus allowed to ascend annually. A 

 limited amount of water close to Fochabers Bridge was retained for 

 private angling ; the rest was let. 



Those 6000 fish have not been accounted for by the upper rods, so 



