THE GRUINARD, EWE, AND CARRON 287 



the boulder-strewn shores, and the little rivers merely trickle through 

 amongst the stones. 



The Gruinard belongs to, and is fished from, Dundonnell, a 

 small iron lodge being erected a short distance from the little- used 

 road, where it crosses the river by a bridge rather less than a mile 

 from the mouth. Eight of fishing for one rod goes with Gruinard 

 House, which is at the present time under trust, and which stands 

 facing the bay to the right of the river mouth, and sub-lets are, I 

 understand, not unusual. The Craig Pool, just below the bridge 

 referred to, is the favourite, since from it have been taken surprising 

 scores in the past. It is deep at the left side where the " Craig " 

 slants straight down into the water. On the other side the channel 

 is almost choked with great boulders. It is quite a little place, but 

 21 fish have been taken from it in a day, and a round dozen have 

 been taken frequently. The river below this point has a steep 

 course, with little cascades here and there, but with inviting pools 

 the Pot and the Garden at intervals. Above the bridge the course 

 becomes much flatter, and seems to occupy the floor of an old lake 

 basin, a prolongation, no doubt, of the present more restricted Loch- 

 na-Sheallag. There are about a score of pools in all, " Baring's Flat 

 Pool" being the name of one which may be mentioned, since it 

 recalls the name of a tenant long associated with the river. 



No regular record is kept of the fish taken, and the sport is 

 reported to have fallen off greatly of late years. With the com- 

 mencement of season 1909 a limitation of the bag nets in the bay is to 

 be inaugurated with a view to improving the stock. In 1908 only 

 about 30 salmon and about 900 sea-trout are believed to have been 

 taken in the river and Loch-na-Sheallag. It has to be recollected, 

 of course, that it was a poor season for angling in most parts of 

 Scotland. 



About midway between the Great and Little Gruinard is a fishing 

 station called Fisherfield, close to a tidal peninsula or island called 

 Eilean Mor. Here a net is worked. This net has to be a moving 

 net, to be worked legally, since its position is within the limits of 

 the estuary prescribed by the 1868 Salmon Act for both the Gruinard 

 rivers. " The projecting point west of Mill Bay " is the southern 

 limit of this estuary, and some distance beyond this the bag nets 

 begin. I counted thirteen nets on this southern bend of Gruinard 

 Bay in July 1908, which is a rather smaller number than formerly. 



The beach just west of the mouth of Little Gruinard is of an un- 

 usual kind. It is clearly a glacial moraine, but some of the boulders 



