THE GAME FISHES OF THE WOELD 



accommodated with boats, which the Duke and his male guests only use 

 for crossing the river. 



' Aad this brings to mind one of the most commendable features in 

 the management of this part of the Spey. Neither in spring, summer or 

 autumn does the Duke aUow the use of any lure except the fly. The 

 sport obtained during February and the spring months in the water 

 from Fochabers Bridge upwards is suificient refutation of the evil 

 doctrine that sahnon wiU not readily take the fly in snow water and cold 

 weather. These conditions can be and are satisfactorily met by the use 

 of large flies ; and who wiU challenge the supremacy of fly-fishing over 

 every other branch of the craft, provided that it is equally effective in its 

 results ? 



' The five [ladies are all mistresses of the mystery of anghng. They 

 can not only send out a good line in a nor'easter, but they have complete 

 command over their equipment, and none of them is hkely to be involved 

 in the disaster which besets many a neophyte, who, having hooked a 

 strong fish, either forgets, or lacks the power of back and arm, to keep up 

 the point, and, allowing rod and line to be ptdled into a horizontal position, 

 encounters the inevitable fracture. 



' Spey salmon are a noble race, numerous and steadily increasing, 

 owing to a timely reduction of netting, which is now restricted to the water 

 below Fochabea-s Bridge. The spring run used generally to be accounted 

 to consist of small fish ; but of late there has been an increase in the aver- 

 age weight. One day last February, two anglers, fishing opposite sides 

 of AUtdearg, hooked fish simultaneously. One called across the river 

 to the other that he would bet half-a-crown his fish was the heavier. He 

 lost his wager by a matter of eight ounces, the two fish weighing re- 

 spectively eighteen and eighteen and a half pounds. 



' The Grordon Castle water, being so rough and rapid, fishes well 

 even after prolonged drought. Indeed, in dry seasons, the display of 

 salmon in the lower pools is sometimes amazing after the nets are removed 

 at the end of August. A singular chance befell one of the ladies. She 

 was being rowed across the river when a twelve-pound salmon, fresh from 

 the sea, sprang out of the water into her lap. That fish never returned 

 to harry the herrings in the North Sea ! A ciuious thing about the Spey 

 is that in some parts it looks so quiet, due to the fact that its surface 

 where you fish is usually a hurrying, dancing stream, unbroken by rocks 

 showing, and giving httle indication of the wilderness of small rocks of 

 all shapes and sizes which strew its bed. I shall never forget fishing in 

 one of the pools on the AmdiUy House water when the river was just 

 rising the least bit, and getting my right foot jammed against a rock in a 

 strained position. The stream was too strong to push back against it 

 unless I could get my foot free. I went on casting my fly and hooked 

 i6 



