CHAPTER II 



THE BERRIEDALE AND LANGWELL 



These two Caithness streams, draining an area of seventy-two 

 square miles, are best dealt with together, as at some two hundred 

 yards from the sea they unite at Berriedale, after flowing entirely 

 through the Duke of Portland's deer forest. The Berriedale, the 

 more northern of the two, has a run of about twenty miles, 

 which is just double the length of the Langwell, and the larger 

 river holds slightly heavier and earlier fish, for clean ones have 

 been taken on the 7th of March, while one of 25 lb. is the top 

 weight ever landed by the rod. The fish of the two streams are 

 easily distinguishable, and each breed keeps strictly to its own 

 river. 



It requires from eight to twelve hours' rain to put these waters 

 into good ply, while a twenty-four hours' drought brings them, as 

 far as sport goes, nearly as suddenly to a standstill, and in neither 

 is there any angling until some distance up from the sea. 



On the Berriedale the best killers are the Childers, Jock Scot, 

 and silver-bodied flies of sizes ranging from one and a half to seven 

 of Limerick hooks. A fourteen-foot rod is of ample length, and 

 both rivers can be fished without waders. With regard to the nicest 

 kind of rod for use on small rivers in which fish seldom exceed 

 10 lb., I have found it pleasanter to use a rather stout eleven-foot 

 trout rod. There is hardly any labour in casting, and the fly can 

 be placed to an inch, and also delivered more neatly than with 

 a two-handed rod. The fish when hooked has not water enough in 

 these small streams to get more than twenty or thirty yards away, 

 and though it will take a few minutes more to kill, that is of no great 

 consequence. With this sort of rod no treble gut is required ; the 

 salmon gut is attached direct to the reel-line the same as if fishing 

 for trout. 



In neither of these streams are there manj^ sea trout ; June, 

 July, and August are best for salmon and grilse, but unless the 

 angler is a resident at Berriedale and prepared to take advantage 

 of every rainfall, the chances of sport are not great during these 

 months, which are usually dry ones. There are no pollutions or 

 serious obstacles to the passage of fish, though about ten miles up 

 the Berriedale there is a fall which they cannot pass in times of 

 drought. 



The season for nets is from the nth of February to the 26th of 



