336 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



very marked. This is quite out of keeping with what experience 

 teaches are the essential features of a good pass at an obstacle of 

 this kind. Moreover, if the fall be viewed when the water-level is 

 above normal it will be seen that the transverse section of the pass 

 is completely swept by the water descending the weir already referred 

 to. Indeed, at such times two-thirds of the pass is raging white 

 water. When the river is not too high, large numbers of salmon 

 and sea-trout do, in the summer and autumn, ascend this pass. It 

 is not, however, a pass which spring fish will ever freely ascend, and 

 only spring fish would be of sporting value in Loch Lochy, as they 

 are in Loch Ness or Loch Tay or other large and deep lochs through 

 which salmon pass early to their natural spawning grounds. For 

 this reason the pass erected at considerable expense at Mucomer has 

 never been a complete success. Those who fish the lower Lochy 

 grumble that it takes a proportion of their summer and autumn fish 

 away ; it certainly has not recreated any sport or value in Loch 

 Lochy, and it allows only a fair number of fish to reach the best 

 spawning grounds in all the upper waters of the district the Pean 

 and Dessary above Loch Arkaig. 



If it were desired to create good angling for salmon in Loch Lochy, 

 the river Arkaig, and Loch Arkaig, the pass would have to be so 

 modified as to allow a very easy gradient for the ascent of spring 

 fish, or else an entirely new pass of very easy gradient would have 

 to be constructed. I would consider a pass 400 feet in length, thus 

 giving a gradient of 1 in 25, as suitable to meet the conditions. I 

 have several times examined Mucomer, and I consider it is quite 

 practicable to create a pass of the gradient suggested. With such a 

 pass I would not hesitate to state that spring salmon fishing in Loch 

 Lochy and the lower Arkaig would result, and this would undoubtedly 

 be a new and valuable asset to the fisheries of the district. How 

 soon the fish would find their way into Loch Arkaig would depend 

 upon the spring water temperature. The rise from the one loch to 

 the other is 47 feet, and the distance is barely a mile. The one 

 abrupt descent occurs just above Achnacarry House, where a view 

 from the south or right bank shows a fall of considerable magnitude, 

 and certainly of great beauty. Two wooded islands separate the 

 waters at this point, the island nearest the north or left bank being 

 of some length. When the river is viewed from the north side, it is 

 seen that a natural channel or pass is formed by the stream beyond 

 the larger island, so that a comparatively easy passage is already 

 secured to the fish. 



