CHAPTER XX 



THE OYKEL 



Which is Gaelic for " The high-rising river," draining one hundred 

 and thirty-seven square miles, is formed by the junction of several 

 small streams rising at the foot of Ben More in Assynt ; these expand 

 into Loch Ailsh, and the angling commences from the outfiow of the 

 loch, and extends for some eighteen miles through the property of 

 Sir Charles Ross of Balnagowan, until the river falls into the head of 

 the Kyle of Sutherland at Inveroykel. Some dozen miles below 

 Loch Ailsh are the Falls of Oykel, up which fish are not supposed to 

 go until the middle of May. The angling immediately above these 

 falls belongs to the Loubcroy shootings — " The Ho'se-Shoe bend " 

 — while those of Ben More have the fishing rights higher up. After 

 a rainfall, sport used to be good on these two stretches of the river, 

 but of late years it has fallen off. 



Between the falls and the sea there is some seven miles of good 

 fishing, which is divided into two beats and fished alternately by 

 Langwell Lodge and the rod — or two rods — staying at the com- 

 fortable inn at Oykel Bridge. In this interchange of beats the 

 Sabbath counts as a day, as by so doing the order of fishing is duly 

 changed each week ; for unless this was done, whoever had Beat No. i 

 on Monday would continue to have it all through the season. 



Wading trousers are wanted. The fish average lo lb., though 

 they have been taken up to 22. Grilse average from 3 to 5 lb. ; 

 sea trout, i lb. ; and the brown ones are lanky, black fello\vs four or 

 five to the pound, not worth troubling about. 



The fly is the only lure permitted ; keepers and ghiUies are only 

 allowed to fish in the presence of their masters. A landing net 

 must be used till the ist of May, but these are served out to the hotel 

 ghillies, so that there is no need for an angler to specially provide 

 himself with one, although the local nets are perhaps hardly made 

 large enough, or stout enough in the ring, or sufficiently long and 

 stiff in the pole. 



Of the beats below the falls, the upper one is reckoned the best 

 in summer, especially so if it is a wet July — that abomination of the 

 grouse shooter ! The lower one offers the best sport in March and 

 April. Though the river opens for net and rod on the nth of 

 February, closes for nets on 26th of August, and for the rod on 31st 

 of October, quite a fortnight too late, yet there is but little chance of 

 a clean fish before the middle of March, and from that time to the 



