THE BARN 259 



Hole, below which Trinity Gask begins. The Bend and Murray's 

 Hole are decidedly the pick of the Strathallan water. This part 

 of the river is somewhat disappointing, for the fish are dour in these 

 reaches, the last three seasons having yielded but sixteen, sixteen, 

 and forty salmon and grilse. 



As regards the size of ify best suited for this part opinions differ. 

 The natives use large ones, but Mr. Whitelaw, who had this 

 water for three years, tells me he has been more successful 

 with small ones, and probably here as elsewhere the locals don't 

 knov/ everything ; at any rate, Mr. Whitelaw had a day of five 

 fish to his small flies, while a local angler with his large ones was 

 blank. 



The Trinity Gask water consists of from three to four miles 

 on the north bank, placed between Strathallan and Gask, having on 

 the opposite banks the anglings of Strathallan, Auchterarder, and 

 Lord Camperdown's property. There are nine good pools, some 

 of which are cast from the bank, while others require wading 

 trousers. The best catches are the Grindles, Bank Neuk, C. Pool, 

 and Boat Pool. The whole of it is very pretty water. In 1878, 

 some friends and myself had this fishing in connection with the 

 Carim shootings at Blackford. It was a dry season, and I only 

 fished one day, after an early September flood, when I got two fish 

 of 33 and 31 lb. and lost another heavy fellow. Then came 

 more dry weather ; and when the rain at last returned I was unable 

 to be there. However, the rent in those days was not a serious 

 matter ; moreover, it was divided amongst four, and thus I was 

 very well pleased with my only day on Trinity Gask. 



The Gask water lies on the north side of the river, between 

 Trinity Gask and Upper Dupplin, while on the south side opposite 

 to it is the Duncrub property. Gask is about two miles in length, 

 with Duncrub going down half a mile below it to the Dunning Burn. 

 At about the middle of the water the two banks are connected by 

 the pretty old Bridge of Dalreoch, on the road to Gask House, an 

 interesting place full of rehcs of Prince Charlie, and where Lady 

 Nairn lived when she wrote "The Land o' the Leal" and other 

 well-known Scotch songs, including the " Auld Hoose," which was 

 then the house of Gask, but now only represented by a wall. 



No spring fish has been got on these anglings for many years 

 past. Wading trousers are necessary for some of the pools, of 

 which there are seven, and with the river once in good order they 

 remain so for about a week. The best of them are Hilton Haugh, 

 a difficult one to fish nicely owing to its eddies ; the Dam-breast, 

 the pick of them, has more current than the other pools, and always 

 holds fish, which are usually heavy ones — a thirty-two-pounder 

 being the last representative of the " sockdoUagers." 



The Bridge Pool at Dalreoch is also a sure hold, and is best cast 

 by wading from the Duncrub side ; this is followed by the Red 

 Brae, also waded, and the Chapel Bank, at the tail of which the 

 Gask water ends and that of Upper Dupphn begins. On the south 



