CHAPTER XIV 



THE INCHARD 



This little river, the most northern on the West Coast, drains but 

 sixteen square miles, and has its source in a series of lochs mostly 

 grouped round the foot of " the white hill " of Foinavon, while 

 the stony heights of Ben Arkle look down on the others. These 

 lochs discharge their waters over a fall, at present impassable to 

 salmon, into Loch Garbet More, which again empties itself b}? a 

 mere burn into Loch Garbet Beg, out of which flows the rapid 

 little Inchard, to discharge itself, after a run of rather less than a 

 mile, into the salt water of Loch Inchard. As an angling river it 

 is nearly worthless, for it is so full of rocks, and the run is so rapid 

 that, except just where it leaves the loch, there is hardly a resting- 

 place for a fish. Salmon, grilse, and sea trout take it with a rush, 

 and ascend with one run into Loch Garbet Beg with the first flood 

 that comes after the middle of June ; and here good sport may 

 often be had, for as many as sixty salmon and grilse have been taken 

 in one season by one rod staying at Riconich, a comfortable inn 

 prettily placed at the head of Loch Inchard. From the ist of July 

 the angling of the loch is let from the hotel at the rate of ^20 a 

 month, limited to two rods ; and for those who like loch fishing, 

 I do not know of any better sport to be had for the money in Scot- 

 land. The Hotel Fish Book, which is kept with care and entered 

 up daily, told me that in 1898, from the 14th of June to the 17th of 

 September, Loch Garbet Beg yielded forty-one salmon and grilse, 

 and just over 600 sea trout, averaging ij lb., the largest being 6J lb. 

 As to the best month, much depends on when rain comes ; but, 

 with the weather right, I would take from the middle of July to 

 the middle of August as the cream of it. 



In 1889 the then landlord of Riconich Inn reported to the Fishery 

 Board a general falling off of salmon and sea trout angling in the 

 district, which he unhesitatingly attributed to excessive bag-net 

 fishing, coupled with the fact that the observance of the weekly 

 close time by these nets was the exception and not the rule ! ! Loch 

 Garbet Beg is a little over a mile in length and about a half in \\'idth. 

 The fish pass up into Garbet More, but owing to its great depth they 

 are not often caught there, and the chief take is in Loch Garbet Beg. 

 In the small burns entering these two lochs the bulk of the productive 

 spawning must be done, for though fish spawn in the river, the bottom 

 is so rocky and devoid of gravel , and the current so strong, that it 



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