THE TAY 295 



angler can wish for. Just below the house is the famous Cradle 

 Pool, the lower part offering a nice piece of Spey casting from 

 the bank, and many are the spring and autumn salmon it has 

 yielded. 



In October 1892 I had the good fortune to stay a week at 

 Ballathie, and still retain a lively recoUection of harling the top 

 of the Cradle, with Gellatley, the fisherman, directing operations. 

 It was the evening of the last day but one of the season ; all day 

 there had been an extra cold east wind, no sign of sun, and occa- 

 sional showers. At four o'clock we were blank ! Fancy that 

 being the case on Ballathie on the 14th of October. In despair 

 I put a big three-inch White Eagle, as used on the Dee, on each 

 side of the outside rods, and no sooner did we come to the lie of 

 the fish than both reels were shrieking at once ; then a minute 

 later both rods were straight and both flies had gone ! 



Well, I had other three Eagles, so on went two more, and again 

 both were taken at once, although this time one fish was brought 

 to bank, the other departing with the fly. The loss having been 

 made good, was followed by a single pull, when, a few seconds 

 later, I was again cut. This reduced us to the last of the Eagles, 

 which, sad to relate, met with the same fate as its predecessors. 

 Thus in this pool six fish carried off five flies ; and in just that one 

 part of the Cradle the chances are the line will be cut, for the fish 

 lie in a deep, narrow channel, each side of which is overhung by 

 rocks with knife-shaped edges. Although the luck had been against 

 me, I was somewhat consoled by hearing from Gellatley of a 

 former Cradle angler who had once been cut sixteen times in suc- 

 cession ! also I had saved a blank day, and made a convert to the 

 merits of the White Eagle when used on a cold, dark evening. 



No one knows the Ballathie water better than Gellatley, though 

 he is slightly prejudiced in favour of an ugly fly called the Smith, 

 and if ever ten minutes elasped without a pull, there invariably 

 came the question, " Hae ye a Sm«(th ? " He could also ply his 

 rod as well as an oar ; and on one midsummer day, when fishing 

 tor sea trout with a small fly, he hooked and eventually landed a 

 50 lb. fish. 



In harling it is the boatmen, not the anglers, who catch the fish ; 

 and those who know the water, and who will work hard to 

 thoroughly cover it, will make the rods lay hold of three fish for 

 every one that would be hooked if the boat were in less experienced 

 hands. 



On the last day of the season I witnessed my host, Colonel 

 Cornwall Legh, have a desperate fight with a big one in the lowest 

 pool of the Burnmouth water, when skill combined with "hands" 

 eventually laid a fine fellow of 44 lb. on the bank. 



For a few seasons the Duke of Bedford had Ballathie, and in 

 February 1899 he and the Duchess had eleven fish of about 18 lb. 

 each in five days. 



Taymount, belonging to the Earl of Mansfield, has been occupied 



