6 tHE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



August, but the rod may be plied till the 31st of October. The 

 Duke's keepers do all the protection, but I was not able to ascertain 

 whether they ever visited the sea nets before 6 a.m. on Monday 

 mornings and made sure that the weekly close time had been 

 observed and the leads duly removed. 



When these streams are " right " each will give two or three 

 fish a day to the rod. Lord Charles Bentinck had five one day, and 

 on another occasion Miss Chandos Pole had four from the Rock Pool 

 of the Berriedale. On the Langwell the best fishing is from a little 

 above M'Ewan's, the head forester's cottage, some five miles from 

 the sea, down to the Langwell kitchen gardens, a stretch of about 

 three miles, in which there are many pretty little pools. Salmon 

 run from 5 to 8 lb., and grilse from 3 to 5 lb., and about fifty fish 

 a season are got from each river. The same flies that kill on the 

 Berriedale are also good for the Lang\vell, but in addition there is 

 a local fly called "The Stalker," with which the Duke got six fish 

 one day. 



The dressing is as follows : — 



Tag. Silver twist and turn of yellow floss silk. 

 Tail. Golden pheasant rump feather. 

 Body. Darkish green mohair, silver twist or tinsel. 

 At Shoulder. Claret hackle with jay over. 



Wing. Brown turkey, small jungle-cock cheeks, and two strands 

 of blue macaw. 



These rivers run into the sea through a bar of gravel, which, 

 according to the Fishery Board Report of 1884, completely closes 

 the access in times of drought. Gravel bars are, however, shifting 

 affairs, and I am glad to say that when I saw it on the gth of June 

 1899, although there had been no rain for three weeks, there was 

 just sufficient water coming through to let fish pass up as the tide 

 rose. 



The five or six bag-nets at the mouth of these two streams 

 belong to Mrs. Dunbar, the widow of a son of the late John Dunbar, 

 of Thurso fame, and under the guidance of Angus Henderson, 

 kindly deputed to show me all he could by Mr. King, the Duke's 

 factor at Berriedale, on visiting these nets I received an invitation 

 from the head man — one Adam Macpherson — to proceed to sea 

 with him and his men and visit the nets, a chance of which I 

 gladly availed myself ; but on this occasion, although they had 

 not been looked at for nearly twelve hours, they were all empty, 

 a fact for which Adam blamed the cloudless sky and the clear, still 

 water. 



These bag-nets, by some curious clause of the existing Estuary 

 Bye-Laws, are fishing nearer to the mouth of these rivers than fs 

 usual, or indeed lawful, m other places. None of them were over 

 four hundred yards from the mouth, two of them were certainly 

 within two hundred yards — in fact, I judged the distance at one 

 hundred yards, but to make all certain I have named the longer 



