CHAPTER XV 



THE INVER 



Flows out of Loch Assynt, which is some ten miles long by one 

 broad ; it drains sLxty-eight square miles, and after a run of six, 

 falls into the sea at Loch Inver. Although not a very large river, 

 during its course it offers the fisherman every sort of casting and 

 many opportunities of testing his skill, as from " Garrarie," the first 

 pool below Loch Assynt, right do^vn to the mouth it is an angler's 

 ideal river, and sad it is to see such fine water so very short of fish. 

 At present the upper beat of the river goes with Tumore Lodge and 

 shootings, and the lower beat with Glencanisp Forest, now occupied 

 by Lord Brownlow ; as, however, the shooting tenants rarely come 

 north before the ist of August, it has been arranged that up to that 

 date the upper beat can be fished by ^-isitors staying at Inchnadamph 

 Hotel, and the lower one by those of the Culag Hotel at Loch Inver ; 

 at this latter place the lower beat is again divided into two, and a 

 charge of twelve-and-sixpence a day is made for each beat as soon 

 as the first fish has been caught on the lower one, which would be 

 very cheap if there were fish to be got ! 



The season opens on the nth of February and closes on the 26th 

 of August for nets, and the 31st of October for rods, which is fifteen 

 days too late. As far as the river is concerned, this opening date, 

 like that of many other rivers, is an absolute farce, for it is but very 

 seldom — I may say never nowadays — that clean fish are got before 

 the end of May. The 1884 Report of the Fishery Board does mention 

 that in one previous May two rods took thirty-nine fish in that month, 

 but so greatly has the angling fallen away of late years that it is rare 

 for a single clean fish to be got hy the ist of June. I fished the Inver 

 on the 20th of June 1S99, and one salmon and one grilse was then 

 the total take, although the river had been previously well tried ; a 

 take of thirty-nine fish now goes nearer to the total for the whole 

 season than to that of any one month. I suppose rivers are opened 

 on the nth of February so that the coast nets near by may com- 

 mence work ; nevertheless the opening of rivers on the nth of 

 February, in which there is never a clean fish until well-nigh four 

 months later, does seem an absurdity ! The Dionard, the Kirkaig, 

 Fleet, Kinloch, and Laxford are other examples in the county of 

 Sutherland. 1 As times are at present, salmon and grilse enter the 



1 The 1862 Act requires that " The Annual Close Time for even,' District 

 shall continue for one hundred and sixty-eight days." This "has been 



