404 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



fish strikes the net, the man at once drops his cords and seizes a 

 long upright shaft attached to the centre of the bottom cross-beam, 

 and hauls it up so that the retreat of the fish is cut off and the 

 prize secured. The yair net is therefore like a large hoop net, or 

 like the shoulder net just described, but is fished between leaders as 

 a fixed engine. My photograph shows the net hauled up, the tide 

 being out. The long central pole is laid back from the top of the 

 staging. When the net is fishing it reaches to the bottom of the square 

 aperture. The leaders may be arranged either to fish the flood-tide 

 or the ebb-tide. The three top yairs fish the ebb to catch fish 

 dropping back with the tide when the water is low in high water 

 they do not catch many since the fish then ascend to the Doachs 

 and become prizes for the shoulder net. The lowest yairs are 

 arranged to fish the flood-tide. The seventh yair, which is smaller 

 than the others, is usually put in the water just at the end of the 

 season, 



With regard to the catch of rods in the Dee no one seems to 

 know what the total amounts to. The first runs generally occur at 

 the beginning of March, and during this and the succeeding month 

 a fair number of fish seem to ascend. Mr. Anderson who rented the 

 Doachs for many years told me on one occasion that 12th February 

 was the earliest he had taken salmon. May is rather a blank as a 

 rule, and in June the grilse come. The greatest number of fish 

 seem generally to ascend in July, and if this month is not a dry 

 one, the upper waters have some chance of being stocked. In a dry 

 summer salmon angling is, however, of little value. In the autumn 

 some heavy fish are got. The heaviest during recent years was a 

 46-pounder taken in 1904. More commonly 30 Ib. to 35 Ib. is the 

 greatest weight secured. 



The assessed salmon fishing rental of the District is generally 

 1556. I have no doubt this might easily be doubled if the river 

 was regulated according to accepted ideas. A certain amount of 

 netting might no doubt remain in the Estuary, but if a thorough 

 improvement were desired by, say, some Angling Association, or some 

 combination of proprietors willing to compensate those who removed 

 their nets, the Doachs, the shoulder net, and the yairs would be 

 taken out of the water. Without a drastic effort of this kind the 

 stock of salmon in this fine river will not improve. 



