250 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



running fish. They have been the subject of much litigation, and 

 11 the money spent in law had been applied to purchasing these 

 obstructions with a view to blowing them up, they might probably 

 have been removed long ago. r j o t y 



March and April are the best salmon months, May and June 

 being practically blank. Then in July the grUse begin to run, and 

 fash continue to enter the river till the middle of November. 

 Salmon run up to 30 lb., but average 13 lb. ; the grilse are 

 remarkable for their size, many of them weighing 10 lb. while the 

 average weight is 8^ lb. 



Well ! what with sweep-nets, yairs, shoulder-nets, and Doachs, 

 small wonder that there will be few fish left for the angler until 

 these devices are forced by the law to cease working. One gentle- 

 man writes me : " The rod fishing on my property is practically 

 useless until the nets, etc., come off." Another says : " It is only 

 in the autumn that there are any quantity of fish in the Dee, but 

 then they are so ' dour ' and hard to rise, that it is only occasionally 

 one comes to the fly." A third correspondent says : " The fishing 

 in the Dee is very poor. Over-netting has been the great cause of 

 the falling off, and the running fish that escape them are mostly 

 caught at Tongueland Bridge in the pass." 



The river opens on the nth of February, closes for nets 26th of 

 August, and for rods 31st of October. A sixteen to eighteen foot 

 rod will be wanted on the lower reaches, the Annan files will kill, 

 and waders are necessary. 



It is to be hoped that if the Cree Club turns out a success, a Dee 

 Club may shortly be started in friendly rivalry ; as matters are at 

 present it is not worth while going twenty miles out of one's way to 

 fish this badly treated river. 



In 1897 the clerk to the Dee District Board states the take of 

 fish to all the kinds of Dee nets was 876 salmon and 1900 grilse, so 

 that there is no doubt a Kirkcudbrightshire Dee Angling Associa- 

 tion would have material to work on if they could take some of the 

 capturing devices into their own hands. 



