296 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



THE CAKBON OF WEST EOSS-SHIEE. 



ANGLING SEASON : February llth to October 31st. 

 NETTING SEASON : February llth to August 26th. 



In a region where most of the rivers are small, the Carron, 

 although in itself not large, has to be regarded as a river of con- 

 siderable importance. It is the largest river in the whole stretch 

 of coast opposite the Isle of Skye, or between the Ewe from Loch 

 Maree and the Shiel in Moidart. It is, moreover, a river of fine 

 natural features, and of good spawning ground. It should have a 

 much better stock of fish than it appears to possess. 



The river rises from Loch Scaven (Sgamhain), 491 feet above 

 sea-level, past which the railway line from Dingwall to the Kyle of 

 Loch Alsh runs, and flows south-west for 14 miles to the sea at the 

 head of Loch Carron, being followed very closely by the railway 

 throughout its course. It is divided into two well-marked sections 

 by Loch Doule (Dhughaill) at Achnashellach. The upper portion 

 from Loch Scaven to Loch Doule is steep and rocky through Glen- 

 carron, till the stony flat is reached above the latter loch. This 

 section is of little use for fishing, although the streams in the stony 

 flat are of great use as spawning grounds. Loch Doule is barely 

 two miles long, and, from the lower end, the river emerges by a 

 long sluggish channel, and gently flows off to descend about 100 

 feet in the remaining 5J miles to the sea. This is the angling sec- 

 tion of the water. It is tortuous in its upper section, and rather 

 shallow in some of the streams. A short distance below the 

 railway bridge, where a burn joins on the right from a high hill 

 loch, reported to be full of small char, a large pool occurs which holds 

 fish all through the summer. When Lord Wimborne had the river 

 he had hecks placed across the sluggish outflow from Loch Doule to 

 prevent fish passing through the river too rapidly, and at this time 

 the large pool referred to was a familiar haunt of the late Lord 

 Eandolph Churchill, whose gillie told me he had a trying time of it 

 plunging into the water to rescue precious flies for the somewhat 

 impetuous fisherman, who at last rather blamed him for taking so 

 much trouble. 



Between this and New Kelso the course of the river is com- 

 paratively straight, and then a series of fine bends, with good flowing 

 gravelly pools, succeed to the mouth of the river. The head of Loch 

 Carron, like the head of most sea lochs of its kind, has a shallow 



