2i6 THE SALilON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



Nets, cross-lines, otters, spears, and snatching are, of course, 

 prohibited, and the water is to be used in a sportsmanhke manner, 

 and fish captured with rod and hne only. All fish caught belong 

 to the tenants, and the weight and number of salmon, grilse, and 

 trout are to be entered in a book by the keeper on each beat. There- 

 fore, anyone contemplating a rod on the Lochy has only to \mte 

 to the Factor at the Inverlochy Estate Office, Fort William, and 

 he wiU be informed at once as to the take of previous years on the 

 beat he thinks of going to. 



There are good hotels at Banavie and Spean Bridge ; the 

 former handiest for beats 5, 6, and 7, and the latter for i, 2, and 3, 

 while beat No. 4 is about half-way from either hotel. 



There are also two good furnished houses that can be rented ; 

 one at Corriechoillie, suitable for beats i or 2, and the other at 

 Camesky, for 3, 4, or 5. 



It will be seen from this that the angling of the Lochy and 

 the Spean is divided into six principal beats, each of which is let 

 twice in the season ; the earlier period being for practically the 

 first six months, and the latter one for about the last twelve or 

 thirteen weeks. The rent of each beat, I am told, is £250 ; and 

 seeing that the services of a man, the use of the boats, and the cost 

 of preserving are all included, this does not seem excessive. It 

 mounts up, however, to a total of £3000, to which must be added the 

 rent of the Roy, the third letting period on No. 3, and the rent of 

 No. 7 — perhaps altogether getting on to another £500. I doubt 

 if the leasing of the bag-nets on the seashores below Lochy mouth 

 comes to over £300 a season, so that after deducting this expense 

 there yet remains a total largely in excess of any sum the netting 

 ever brought in. Would that there were more river owners in 

 Scotland who would give the late Lord Abinger's successful experi- 

 ment a trial, for certain it is there are many who could foUow in the 

 same lines, increasing alike the value of their estates and the amount 

 of their rent-roUs. 



The Spean flows out of Loch Laggan, a good large lake eiglit 

 miles long, and after a run of seventeen miles joins the Lochy at the 

 celebrated Muccomer Pool — certainly one of the best in Scotland, 

 from which as many as seventy fish, averaging 15 lb., have been 

 taken in a month by one rod. Owing to the making of the railway 

 to Fort Wilham, this fine pool became somewhat spoilt by railway 

 baUast, brought down the Spean in times of floods ; but this is 

 probably only a temporary depreciation, for the spates must 

 eventually wash down all the debris that exists, and then the 

 following ones will doubtlessly clear out the accumulations from 

 the tail of Muccomer, and so restore it to its original grandeur. 



The Roy rises in Glen Roy, and has its source not very far 

 distant from that of the Spey. It has a rapid run of about a dozen 

 miles ere it joins the Spean at Roy Bridge, where there is a com- 

 fortable hotel. It does not flow from any loch, and therefore 

 depends entirely on rain ; as it runs do\\-n very quicklj-, it fishes 



