296 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



for upwards of thirty years by Mr. C. A. Murray, one of the keenest 

 and best of anglers, who has probably introduced more Tay fish 

 to the priest " than anyone else on the river. This is a fine piece 

 of water with upwards of twenty good casts, divided into upper 

 and lower beats. 



Mr. Murray has had as many as twenty fish in a day to his 

 single rod, and all taken by casting, and thanks to his kindness I 

 am enabled to give my readers his recollections of this wonderful 

 sport : — 



" I happened to go to the water rather late that morning ; it 

 was a coldish day, with a thin wind and a little rain. I had the 

 lower beat, and during my long experience I never saw salmon take 

 in the same way, and I beheve had I begun at my usual time I 

 should have killed fully thirty ; as it was I got sixteen salmon and 

 four grilse, their weights being 355 lb., or an average of i7Jlb. I 

 have had many other most excellent days during the long period 

 I have fished this water, often getting twelve, fourteen, and sixteen 

 fish in a day, all by casting." 



Opposite is the lengthy stretch of the fish-famed Stobhall 

 water, which is rented, together with one beat on Benchill and one 

 on Burnmouth, by Mr. P. D. Malloch, who sublets it in the spring 

 to two rods and in the autumn to eight. In 1899 these were Mr. 

 J. W. Barry, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Blythswood, the Earl 

 Cairns, Mr. Archibald Coats, Mr. Panmure Gordon, the Earl of 

 Hardwicke, and the Earl of Warwick. This is undoubtedly the 

 finest angling stretch of the Tay, yielding fair sport in spring, with 

 extraordinary good takes on the removal of the nets. There are 

 between thirty and forty fine casts, the whole of which were formerly 

 rented by the late Mr. Barclay Field. Here he and his two well- 

 known fishermen — Joseph Panton and John Haggart- — made many 

 great scores ; to the latter belongs the honour of killing with a 

 Phantom perhaps the heaviest fish ever landed by the rod in the 

 United Kingdom, which weighed 62 lb. Mr. Barclay Field also 

 had the Ballathie shootings, and one day Panton was asked if he 

 would come out and beat for the guns or go to the river ; he chose 

 the latter, and took thirty-three fish to his ovm rod ! On re- 

 turning from shooting, his master asked him if he had got as 

 many fish as he wanted, when old Joe, being a man of few %yords, 

 merely answered " Yes," and turned away, although anxiously 

 waiting for the inquiry, " How many ? " and chuckling to himself 

 at the thought of what a sensation his reply would create. Mr. 

 Field, however, forgot to put the question, an omission which to 

 this day the hero of the big score has never quite condoned. 



In 1899, Lord Blythswood, who has a long experience of the 

 Tay, had the Islamouth beat of Stobhall, with one on Taymount 

 as well, so that he had fishing every day in the week. In twenty- 

 three days he got 130 fish to his own rod, the largest of which 

 was one of 53 lb., hooked in the lower end of Sandyford Pool by 

 a mpderate-sized Black Dog. In the same period, Lord Blythswood's 



