THE NORTH ESK 129 



It is this obstruction, in combination with the close netting 

 of the river below, that is the cause of there being no spring anghng 

 on the upper reaches. Of course, after a flood, a few keepers and 

 local anglers take a cast here and there, but there are no crowds of 

 gentlemen eager to come from long distances and pay big rents for 

 the spring angling, as they do on better managed rivers. I estimate 

 this, having regard to the high prices good spring angling commands, 

 as a clear loss of some £2000 a year to the upper proprietors, for 

 there are fuUy more than ten miles of good fishing water above 

 Craigo, which, if well stocked with spring fish, could be let with the 

 angling right on both banks for £200 a mile for the first five months 

 of the season ; and as a matter of fact it would be easy to name 

 many fishings which fetch a much higher rent. 



In 1877 and in 1881 the upper owners had a taste of the good 

 times that may be in store for them, as in both these years Craigo 

 dam was breached by heavy floods and masses of ice, and shortly 

 aftenvards the river became swarming with fish, and all the fisheries 

 above the dam took from fifty to a hundred salmon with the rod, 

 although as long as Craigo remained intact none of them yielded 

 more than two or three, or at the outside five spring fish, which was 

 an absolute confirmation of the damage done by Craigo dam ! 



This obstruction is the property of Miss Carnegy of Craigo, and 

 although it has been the subject of various lawsuits brought by 

 the upper proprietors, it still remains a hindrance to the free run of 

 the fish and a bar to the proper and fair development of the capa- 

 bihties of this fine river. No improvement can be looked for until 

 the Craigo goU is altered and made as good and efficient as that at 

 Morphie dam, which may be regarded as a typical one of the best 

 sort. Fafling this, it is to be regretted that the upper owners do 

 not club together and purchase the dam and make a gap in it, and 

 probably any sum paid over and above a fair price would speedily 

 be recouped by the benefits derived. Of course, Craigo dam could 

 only be purchased by agreement with the owner or owners ; but if 

 they were wiUing to sell, then I do not think the owners below 

 Craigo could raise any valid objections to the abolition of an unjust 

 and injurious monopoly, which has already existed much too long, 

 and to which it is high time an end was put. 



Each season the North Esk gives some very heavy fish both 

 to the nets and the rods, the former as usual getting the largest, 

 which range from 35 lb. to 55 lb. In November 1889 a kelt was 

 found dead in one of the upper pools which weighed 58 lb., and this 

 was probably the heaviest fish ever got in the river, as if in condition 

 it would have weighed close on 70 lb. 



The North Esk is protected by a powerful staff of well-trained 

 watchers, the chief form of poaching being stroke hauling or 

 " sniggering," for in times of low water the salmon gather thickly 

 in the pools and below Craigo dam, and then, though they will 

 not rise to a fly, it is easy to sink a hook where they are thickest 

 and strike home as soon as it toucles a fish. Happily for some 



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