CHAPTER III 



THE BORGIE 



The total length of this pretty stream, in which disease has not at 

 present made an appearance, is twenty-one miles, inclusive of the 

 four lochs through which it flows. Draining an area of sLxty-two 

 square miles, it rises some six miles to the north of Altnaharra. 

 After a short run its head streams flow into the narrow loch of Coul- 

 side, and issuing from thence, in a little more than a mile they expand 

 into Loch Laoghoal, or Loyal, which is some five miles long, and 

 united by short narrows first to Loch Craggie and then to Loch Slam. 

 On leaving this last-named loch the river has a further run of nine 

 and a half miles before it falls into the sea at Torrisdale Bay, about 

 a mile to the west of the Naver. On this lower reach of the Borgie 

 there is one considerable fall, which fish do not ascend before the 

 middle of April ; but after that date salmon and grilse are oc- 

 casionally caught in Loch Slam, less frequently in Loch Craggie, and 

 very varely in Loch Laoghoal, and then only by trolling. The 

 angling has greatly fallen off, for twenty years ago as many as seven 

 fish have been got in Loch Slam in one day, while now that is about 

 the take of the whole season, although the loch is much more 

 regularlj' fished for salmon than in the old times. The fishing of 

 the river goes with the Borgie shootings, and opening on the nth of 

 January for the rod, it may be fished until the 30th of September. 

 The nets may not begin to work till the nth of February, and have 

 to stop on the 26th of August. No wading is necessary, and the 

 river can easily be fished with a grilse rod. February and March 

 are the chief months for salmon, the best lures being Jock Scot, 

 Childers, Popham, and Yellow Eagle, sizes from 30 to No. 6. Grilse 

 run in June and July, and are more partial to the charms of small 

 silver or black-bodied flies, while sea trout, which are very scarce, 

 affect the Zulu. In low water the worm kills well, but except on 

 occasions when a fish is badly wanted it is rarely used. The yearly 

 average take is seventy salmon and grilse, the former scaling 10 lb. 

 and the latter 5 lb. 



Between Loch Slam and the sea there are some twenty casts, 

 the best of which are perhaps " The Long Pool," " Brecku," " Black 

 Bank," and " The Fall Pool." At present the mouth of the Borgie 

 is worked by a net and coble, vi^hich is in the hands of the same 

 syndicate of gentlemen that have the netting and angling of the 

 Naver, and they do not begin work till May. Of late years there 



