THE TAY 297 



guests had ninety-eight others, Mr. Herbert Praed getting a day of 

 twenty-two fish, headed by one of 43 lb. The whole of these fish 

 were caught by the fly and by casting ; and on all the well-stocked 

 autumn reaches harling is now only resorted to on those pools 

 which cannot be fished in any other way. 



Lord Blythswood is strongly of opinion that the Tay angling 

 has been slowly but surely deteriorating ever since the netting time 

 was extended in 1862 from the 21st to the 26th of August. To 

 the uninitiated a week more or less may not seem of much account ; 

 but in one week there are often several thousands of fish netted^ 

 which if spared would give a splendid stock of spawners to the 

 upper waters. 



On the Tay, what is practically the last heavy run of fish takes 

 place with the Lammas floods, which generally come some time 

 in the first half of August. The season of 1899 was remarkable 

 by their absence, for they did not arrive untfl the end of the month, 

 and after the nets came off, with the result that the river became 

 really well stocked. 



From 1828 to 1852 the Tay was netted up to the 15th of 

 September ! During that period the rental fell every year, from 

 £14,500 in 1828 to under ^fSooo in 1852. There can be no doubt 

 that had this close time been continued untU now, then the Tay 

 would almost have ceased to be a salmon river. The owners of the 

 nettings, seeing what would happen, then agreed of their own accord 

 to return to the 26th of Augtist, which, up to 1828, had been the 

 beginning of the close time for four hundred years. Later on this 

 was altered to the 21st of August, and then in 1862 it was once 

 more most unwisely extended to the 26th, at which date it has since 

 remained. 



The above facts speak for themselves as to the enormous power 

 exercised by the close time, and there can be no doubt it would be 

 better for the river if netting ceased on the 21st of August ; and 

 this is one of the matters which is likely to be considered by the 

 recently-formed Tay Syndicate. 



On the 4th of October 1883, Lord Ruthven took a very heavy 

 fish from the Finford Pool of Stobhall, a little below Taymount — 

 a cock fish fifty inches long and thirty in girth. His captor writes : — 



" We had nothing heavy enough to weigh him with at the 

 riverside, so he was taken into Perth Railway Station, and weighed 

 next day a trifle over 54 lb., so he must have weighed considerably 

 more when first taken out of the water. He was a very dull fish, 

 and never showed after he was hooked. The fly was a No. 2 Jock 

 Scot, and we landed him in about half an hour." 



Colonel Harry Clarke Jervoise, on the 23rd of September, had 

 another leviathan from this same pool, which was fully 50 lb. "I 

 never called it a fifty-pounder," writes the Colonel, " though doubt- 

 less it was that and over when taken out of the water. Unfortun- 

 ately I was unable to scale him untfl the following morning, twenty 

 hours afterwards. He then weighed a little over 49 lb. He was 



