of the Fishery Board for Scotland, 



389 



loch, so as to increase the number of the excellent yellow trout in the 

 loch, which have been captured by trolling 5 lbs. in weight. Some years 

 ago, in a few hours, I took 10 trout, with the fly, weighing altogether 8 lbs. 

 There is a small house at the foot of Loch Girlsta, where there is a com- 

 fortable sitting-room and two bed-rooms, which is a very convenient anglers' 

 resort. Both in Loch Girlsta and in Loch Spiggiethe trout are shy risers; 

 and I believe this to be the case in a good many other Shetland lochs. 



The 4th of August was the first fine day I had in Shetland, after a stay 

 of nearly a fortnight ; and, early in the morning, I started from Lerwick, 

 accompanied by Mr James Grierson, younger of Quendale, to drive to 

 Bixter Voe. On our way we passed Dale's Voe, Whiteness Voe, the Loch 

 of Strom, Stromness Voe, and Weisdale Voe. About 2 miles beyond 

 the Loch of Strom there is a loch called Hellister Loch, about the size of 

 the Loch of Asta, which communicates by a channel passing under the 

 high road, directly with the salt water of Weisdale Voe. It is full of sea- 

 weed, and in some places the sea-weed seems to have become decomposed, 

 as in Varday Bay, in the island of Egilshay in Orkney. There is a large 

 burn, twice the size of that falling into the head of Dale's Voe, running 

 into the head of Weisdale V oe. It has a number of fine pools, which 

 abound with sea-trout in the proper season —the best time being from the 

 middle of August to the end of October. There is a mill about a quarter 

 of a mile from the mouth of this burn, and there is a capital pool close to 

 the mill, out of which Mr Grierson told me he saw a friend of his take 18 

 sea-trout in a forenoon. The dam in connection with the mill is 

 impassable, except on the left bank, where there is a- sluice and a sort of 

 salmon ladder leading up to it. This sluice should be kept open in the 

 spawning season, as there is capital spawning ground above it, which is 

 quite inaccessible unless the sluice is lifted. 



An Edinburgh gentleman, an enthusiastic and successful angler, who 

 has had a long experience of fishing for sea-trout and yellow trout in the 

 western peninsula of the Mainland, comprising the Weisdale division and 

 that accessible from Walls, gives some interesting information respecting 

 the angling in these districts.* The Loch of Strom, he states, contains 

 numbers both of yellow trout and of sea-trout, and the stream at its head 

 affords excellent fishing, as many as a dozen sea-trout from 5 lbs. down- 

 wards having been taken from it, under favourable circumstances, in an hour. 

 The Lochs of Sandwater and Pettawater, through which this stream passes, 

 both contain numbers of loch-trout, and are said, in the season, to yield 

 sea-trout also. There are no obstructions in the course of . the stream 

 between them and the sea. As to the burn at the head of Weisdale Voe, 

 he states that he has caught sea-trout in it 6 lbs. weight, and that he has 

 heard of their being captured as heavy as 14 lbs. Houster Water, at the 

 head of Aith Voe, contains very fine yellow trout, and sea-trout also in the 

 season. The Brouster enters the sea at the Bridge of Walls, forming a small 

 salt water pond above the road at high water. Occasionally this pond con- 

 tains numbers of sea-trout at high water. But during the open season both 

 it and the head of the Voe are a good deal netted. The Brouster, with its 

 chain of lochs, offers a splendid run for sea-trout, and ought to contain far 

 more fish than it does. In Loch Voxterby, above Loch Brouster, the 

 loch-trout average 3 to the lb. ; and in one day, the gentleman from whom 

 I am quoting, saw 4 trout of over 5 lbs. each brought to Walls from this 

 loch. In Voxterby Loch, he once took with the fly and worm, in two 

 hours, 101 loch-trout weighing 30 lbs., the largest being 1J lbs. 



On the 5th August I left Lerwick to drive to Hillswick, in the parish 

 of Northmaven, about 42 miles to the northward of Lerwick, in order to 

 * See articles in Fishing Gazette of 29th January and 5th February 1881. 



