300 THE SALMON RIVERS OF SCOTLAND 



of unusual excitement, for in some way the thin reel line got hitched 

 and broke, but was luckily caught just as it was slipping through 

 the top ring, and the fish happening to be quiet at the moment, the 

 Ime was speedily knotted together, though up to the end of the 

 battle the passing to and fro of the knot through the rings was a 

 source of continual anxiety. After fighting hard with great spirit 

 for an hour and a quarter, in which time the fish struggled half a 

 mUe down stream ere it was thoroughly beaten, this splendid fellow 

 met his fate. Captain Goodwin used one of Hardy's fourteen-foot 

 cane-built, steel-centre rods, with a fine undressed line of the 

 Manchester Cotton Company. The fish was 55 in. long with a 

 30 in. girth, which agrees exactly with the measurements of Lord 

 Zetland's fifty-five-pounder. 



For six miles below Perth, anglers are not interfered with, 

 and each season, after the nets come off, a good many captures 

 are made from the bank or from boats. The heaviest fish ever 

 taken in the Tay was got somewhere hereabouts by the nets of 

 Messrs. Speedie, and weighed 72 lb. 



The best angling periods on the river are as follows : — 



Loch Tay : from the 15th of January to the 15th of May. Very 

 few fish enter Loch Tay after May. 



Above the Tummel : from the 15th of January tiU end of 

 May ; April best. A few fish killed late in the season. 



Between Tummel and Dunkeld : from the 15th of January 

 to end of May ; March and April best. A few fish killed late in 

 the season. 



From Dunkeld to Tslamouth : good from the 15th of January 

 to end of May ; from the 15th of August to end of season very 

 good. The autumn run does not pass above Dunkeld in any large 

 numbers. 



From Islamouth to Linn of Campsie — the cream of the Tay : 

 good from opening till end of May, and in autumn from middle of 

 July to end of season, June being but of little good. 



From Linn of Campsie to Benchill : good from opening to 

 middle of May, and from the ist of July to close of season, numbers 

 of grilse being taken in Stanley and Benchill. 



From Benchill to Perth : good from opening till end of April, 

 and in autumn from the ist of August to the close of the season. 



The flies used at the opening of the season are of the largest, 

 the sizes being reduced as the season advances. The favourites 

 are Black Dog, Nicholson, Butcher, Jock Scot, Poynder, Major, 

 Sir Richard, Popham, Smith, etc. In the autumn much smaller 

 ones are used, and almost every standard pattern will kUl. 



With suitable water the fly is the best lure, but there are times 

 when the prawn or the Phantom will do execution when the feathers 

 have failed. Deadly, also, is the natural minnow in those pools 

 where the flow of the current permits its use, for it is waste of time 

 to fish this lure in a stream that " tears " so hard at the bait as to 

 keep it on the top of the water ; and equally so to try it in a current 



