of the Fishery Hoard for Scotland. 



9 



head of Glencoe, are allowed by Lord Breadalbane the privilege of fishing 

 in the following lochs in the neighbourhood, namely, the Black Lochs, Loch 

 Mathair Etive, and Loch-na-Gannich, in all of which there is fair trouting. 



Between forty and fifty years ago, Loch Tulla was nearly equal to Loch 

 Leven as a trouting loch, and it had the great advantage of being likewise 

 well stocked with salmon which ascended into it through the River Orchy. 

 The trouting was then wonderfully good, and I was told by an old keeper of 

 Lord Breadalbane's that, in those days, when weather and water were 

 favourable, he has not unfrequently taken in a few hours with fly, wading 

 into the loch, 3 or 4 dozen beautiful trout from 1 to 3 lbs. weight. 

 Such sport, unfortunately, is a thing of the past. The quality of the trout 

 is as good as ever, but their numbers have been greatly diminished. What 

 could once be done in a day, could not now be done in a fortnight. In an 

 evil hour, the late Marquis of Breadalbane, about forty years ago, introduced 

 pike into Loch Tulla which have almost exterminated the trout and the 

 salmon fry both in Loch Tulla and its feeders — the Water of Tulla and the 

 Linne-nan-beathach. Through the Orchy, these fresh-water sharks have 

 also passed down to Loch Awe, to the great detriment of the trout fishing ; 

 and the chief expense now incurred by the Loch Awe Angling Improve- 

 ment Association is in killing down the pike. As to Loch Tulla and its 

 tributaries, they seem to have established themselves there so firmly that 

 it will be difficult, if not impossible, to extirpate them. When the extreme 

 voracity of the pike is taken into account, the immense amount of food 

 it consumes in proportion to its weight, and also how prolific it is in 

 comparison with the trout or the salmon, the danger of giving it a chance 

 in inland waters where salmon and trout exist can scarcely be exaggerated. 

 In a pike of 28 lbs. weight 292,000 eggs were found, whereas in a salmon 

 of the same weight there would be only 22,400 eggs, while in trout the 

 number of eggs varies from 200 to 500 in a two year old trout and in a 

 trout from four to five years old it does not exceed 2000. The pike 

 spawns in spring, ascending for that purpose narrow creeks and ditches, at 

 which time it may be easily destroyed. 



It is clear that there were no pike in Loch Tulla and Loch Awe and 

 their tributary streams, when the first statistical account of Scotland was 

 written during the last' decade of the 18th century. The minister who 

 contributes the account of the parishes of Glenorchy and Inishail — in which 

 these waters are situated — mentions only salmon, char, trout, and eels as 

 abounding in the lakes and rivers, and of the eels he says :■ — ' The last is 

 ' the abhorrence of almost all the common people in the Highlands who 

 ' consider them as water serpents and unfit for the use of man.' When, 

 however, we look at the new statistical account of Scotland we find the 

 Rev. Duncan Maclean writing as follows in his description of the aforesaid 

 parishes, which is dated 1843: — 'Various kinds of trout abound in all 

 ' our lakes, especially in Loch Awe, viz., salmon, eels, char, now rather 

 ' scarce fish, perch, and pike ; the pike is only of recent importation, and it 

 1 is greatly feared that the character of the lakes ivill suffer from the 

 ' ravages of this active and voracious fish.' 



The fears, expressed in the above-quoted sentence, have been more than 

 realised. The fishing in Loch Tulla and its tributaries, has greatly 

 deteriorated since the first statistical account of Scotland was drawn up. 

 Looking to what Loch Tulla was before pike were introduced into it, and 

 also considering what a passion for angling there now is — what sums are 

 cheerfully paid for good fishing — and how much may be done by artificial 

 breeding to increase the stock of trout in a loch under favourable con- 

 ditions, it is not too much to say that Loch Tulla might now have been 

 worth, as a trouting loch, <£300 or £400 a year, but for the unfortunate 



