CHAPTER XX. 



THURSO. 



ANGLING SEASON : January llth to October 5th. 

 NETTING SEASON : February llth to August 26th. 



District Fishery Board sits in Thurso. Clerk, David Keith-Murray, Esq., Solicitor, 



Thurso. 



THE river Thurso has a great record, but for some years has had to 

 be regarded as distinctly on the down-grade. Now, the lowest ebb 

 has in all probability been passed, and we may look for a brighter 

 future. The river is about 34 miles long, including the not much 

 frequented water above Loch More, and drains an area of 162 

 square miles. It is the important river of Caithness, but the river 

 fishing is practically confined to the 24 miles of water below Loch 

 More. The source is away at a lonely part of the Sutherlandshire 

 march in the Knockfin Hills, the water is peaty, and the direction 

 of the river is north to the Pentland Firth at the town of Thurso. 



Caithness is one of the flattest counties in Scotland, and although 

 many parts of the river have a fine running character, there is a 

 tendency throughout the whole course to ease up in long flat 

 stretches, some of which are deepened by imperfect or partial dykes, 

 where, for good angling, an up-stream breeze is desirable, and 

 where in summer weather the frothy scum common in peaty water 

 is most noticeable. 



The average fall from Loch More to the mouth is only about 13 

 feet a mile, but with the conditions which usually obtain in spring 

 and late winter, early angling is often most productive, and quite 

 exceptional takes have in the past been made. There is no obstruc- 

 tion in the river, unless the rocks at Westerdale Bridge be so 

 considered. 



The stock of salmon must at one time have been such as we 

 never see nowadays. There is a record catch for one haul of the 



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