CHAPTER XIX 



THE NAVER 



Drains one hundred and eighty-six square miles, and is the largest 

 of the Suth rland rivers. It rises in several lochs draining into the 

 Mudale and Vagastie streams, which flow into Loch Naver, out of 

 which the river runs. Of these two tributaries the Mudale is the 

 largest, and risins; in the northem slopes of Ben Hee, it drains Loch 

 Meadie and then has a run of some dozen mile^ before it loses itself 

 in Loch Naver at the foot of Ben Clibreck. This loch is about six 

 miles long, with an average width of half a mile. It is a very early 

 one, with tlie best angling at the upper end, where as many as six 

 spring fish have been taken in a day, while a few years ago one rod 

 had fifty-two in seven weeks, mostly by trolling a phantom, though 

 they have been known to rise to a fly. There are three boats on 

 this loch : the hotel at Altnaharra has one, ilr. Baxendale has 

 another with the Ben Clibreck shootings, and the third goes with 

 Syre Lodge. 



Late in the season fish ascend the Mudale to spawn and are 

 occasionally caught, but as they are then getting black, it is but 

 seldom the rod is plied on this tributary. 



As the Naver leaves the loch it is joined by the Mallart or Mallard, 

 another considerable tributary flowing out of Loch Choire or Corr, 

 and from this point it has a run of some ten miles through a barren- 

 looking country until it reaches Syre, when the banks become birch- 

 clad, and after a further run of twelve miles it falls into the sea at the 

 sandy bay of Torrisdale, about a mile below Bettyhill. 



The rod season begins on the nth of January and lasts 

 till the 30th of September ; the nets commence on the 26th of 

 February and come off on the 26th of August, quite ten days 

 too late. 



The best months for salmon, which average 13 lb., are February 

 and the two following ones, the very pick of it being from middle of 

 March to middle of April. The grilse, average 7 lb., begin to run as 

 early as May and continue for the following three months. 



The use of a landing net is not compulsory. In early spring an 

 eighteen-foot rod and wading trousers will be wanted, which, as the 

 season advances, can be exchanged for a smaller rod and wading 

 stockings. No other lure than the fly is allowed, and in addition to 

 all the standard patterns, the Yellow and Grey Eagle of the Dee is 

 also a killer. In the early spring lures may be dressed on irons 



