CHAPTER XXVI. 



THE MORAR AND SHIEL DISTRICTS. 



MORAR DISTRICT. 



RIVER MORAR AND LOCH MORAR. 



ANGLING SEASON: February llth to October 31st. 

 NETTING SEASON: February lltli to August 26th. 



No District Fishery Board. Rights of salmon fishing held by Lord Lovat, J. A. 

 Macdonald, Esq. of Glenaladale, Mrs. Cameron Lucy of Callart, and Mrs. Nicholson of 

 Arisaig. There is no netting. 



MORAR district is remarkable in having the deepest loch and the 

 shortest river in the British Islands. There are a few places where 

 a mere tidal stream separates fresh and salt water, or where a short 

 burn, or little more than a burn, joins a lake to the sea, but I think 

 I run no risk of contradiction in saying that nowhere else is there a 

 combination like that of the Morar district. As a consequence the 

 salmon fishing conditions are somewhat peculiar. 



The loch is some 11 J miles long, and the river some 600 yards, 

 but the fishable part of the river is practically confined to the lower 

 half of its course. The loch is 30 feet above sea -level, and the out- 

 flow is sluggish, with a bend first to the south and then to the west. 

 Two hundred yards beyond the latter bend the water suddenly 

 plunges over a fall, confined in a narrow channel, and varying from 

 4J to about 7J feet in height, the rocky ledge being lower at the 

 left than at the right bank. Thereafter for 300 yards the river 

 flows somewhat rapidly to the sea. 



There are really only three pools, of which the fall pool is gener- 

 ally considered the best, because it is here fish naturally congregate, 

 being checked in their ascent. But fishing in the fall pool is almost 

 exclusively with " the garden fly." The area is very prescribed, and 

 the water often heavy. A long pole, with a wire ring at the end of 



