220 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



water, followed by the successful manipulation of the bait over the 

 rocky bed of the river. In this tackle the lead is fastened to the 

 mam gut line by a short piece of very thin gut or horsehair, as the 

 lead hanging down is supposed to " bump up " the bait and prevent 

 it from fouling. The thinness of the lead attachment is, of course, 

 to save the breakage of the main line in the event of a bad foul. In 

 spite of aU skill, a day's worming on the Lochy is almost sure to 

 entail the loss of at least a pound of lead with a good few hooks ; 

 so if the angler would avoid delay, perhaps just when the fish are 

 taking well, he should have plenty of spare leads and spare hooks 

 at hand. 



Until quite recently the Spean and Lochy have been free from 

 pollution ; but dinring the last three or four years the village of 

 Spean has begun to increase, bringing more drains to the river and 

 larger rubbish heaps to the banks — these latter waiting to be washed 

 down by the first spate that rises high enough to reach them. This 

 pollution has already somewhat spoilt Long Pool, a short distance 

 below Spean Bridge, which up till three years ago was generally 

 good for a fish or two, and has now become nearly worthless, a state 

 of affairs which is attributed entirely to the pollutions coming into 

 the river above the pool, which either make the fish sick, or cause 

 them to run through. 



Although this nuisance is not at present a very serious matter, 

 there can be no doubt that if Spean village continues to increase at 

 the rate that it has done during the last three years, then ultimately 

 this pollution might become very damaging, so it would be wiser 

 if it was stopped now, when it is only a small affair. 



A httle to the south of Fort William and below Lochy Jlouth 

 the Nevis falls into Loch Linnhe, a rushing, leaping stream, tearing 

 round the base of Ben Nevis. It is not of much account as a salmon 

 or sea trout river, but in times of autumn spates it yields a few 

 fish from the lower reaches, which are let by Lord Abinger to the 

 Fort WiUiam Angliag Club. 



From igo2 to igog the Fishery Board Reports are silent as to 

 any catches made on these three fine rivers. 



At Inverlochy Castle, which is sometimes let with the Lochy 

 beat and the shootings, the catches have been as follows : — 



j\Ir. John Dewrance, who rents the Roy fishings and shootings, 

 tells rae that in igio he and his friends got thirty salmon, 21 lb. the 

 heaviest ; and that in igii, forty-four salmon were got, the heaviest 

 of 25 lb. being caught by his daughter, Mrs. E. E. Rich. On 15th 

 September a lady caught seven fish one day, the weights being — 

 22 lb., 16 lb., 14 lb., 131b., 131b., g lb., and 8 lb. In these two 

 seasons angling commenced during the first week in August, and 

 both seasons were too dry to give really good sport. 



