CHAPTER XLV 



THE BADACHKO AND KERRY 



Two small streams falling into the salt water of Gair Loch, both 

 of which formerly j'ielded good sport, but are no^^' nearly fishless, 

 and have fallen even to a lower ebb than the adjacent and larger 

 River Ewe. 



The Badachro goes with Shieldaig Forest, and has a course of 

 about fourteen miles, during which it drains the two good-sized 

 lochs of Vallich and Horrisdale, together mth some ten smaUer 

 ones. Until a few years back the Badachro, at about two miles 

 from its mouth, rushed over falls, which barred the further ascent 

 of fish. When, however, Mr. C. D. Rudd rented Shieldaig from Sir 

 Kenneth I\Iackenzie, he had these falls made passable at a con- 

 siderable expense, and undoubtedly the experiment would have 

 been highly successful had not the bag-nets — so much too numerous 

 and so much too near to the river mouth — caught the bulk of the 

 fish. 



It is the same with the Kerrj' and the Ewe ; for though the 

 rods get a few fish each season, their take is not one-fiftieth of 

 what it would be if these rivers received fair treatment. Three 

 miles above its mouth the Kerry is blocked by a series of most 

 formidable falls, which may be regarded as impassable ; for though 

 money and science no doubt could take the fish up them, the outlay 

 would never be worth the benefits to be gained. The same flies 

 that are used on the Ewe will also kiU on these two streams. All 

 three are, however, done for and ruined as far as angling is con- 

 cerned, and nothing less than a jubilee would restore their ancient 

 glories. 



As far back as 1883 a gentleman WTote to Mr. Young, the 

 Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, stating that he had counted thirteen 

 bag-nets in one mile of the seacoast, close to the Badachro mouth, 

 and that the close time was never observed. He then proceeded 

 to complain about the poaching carried on by the crews of yachts. 

 Says he : " From my own personal knowledge I can speak of 

 another serious evil, which of late years has gro\\'n apace. Yachts 

 have greatly increased in number ; they come about the west coasts 

 in June, July, and August, and theii" crews, sometimes under the 

 direction of the owner or hirer himself, sometimes ^vithout his 

 knowledge, drag the mouths of the rivers at night and carrj' off the 

 few fish that have escaped the bag-nets. Before morning the 



