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Appendices to Fourth Annual Beport 



there have been no nets nearer than 20 miles from their mouths. Their 

 state, many years ago, is thus described by the author of Twenty Years' 

 Reminiscences of the Lews, than whom no man had a more extensive 

 and accurate knowledge of the fisheries : — 



At the time I am speaking of, Hogarth had the net fishing of the island of 

 Lews, and his bag-nets had effectually done their work — so effectually, that he 

 begged to be allowed to give up his lease, as he had fished out the island and 

 would be a heavy loser if held to it. This resignation the proprietor wisely 

 and generously accepted, but as far as salmon were concerned the mischief was 

 done. I do not think that during the month we were at Callernish, we killed 

 above 3 or 4 grilse. The Blackwater, about 2 miles off, attached to the 

 Soval shootings, we never tried as it was very low ; and Hogarth's fishermen — 

 and no men knew better — assured us there was little use, for they thought 

 there was not a single fish in the river. 



The account given above was corroborated by Angus Mackay, one of 

 the oldest fishermen in the Lews, and particularly well acquainted with 

 the Grimersta, whom I met and examined at the house of the keeper at 

 Stornoway Castle. Mackay said that he came to the Lews in 1835 or 

 1836. At that time, the Hogarths had netted the Grimersta for a 

 number of years, until at length the netting was no longer worth having. 

 Then they gave it up and the river had a jubilee, in consequence of which 

 the fishings soon recovered. He thinks the reason that the Grimersta is 

 the earliest river in the Lews arises from the distance that the fish have 

 to go up to spawn ; for, though there is good spawning ground between 

 the uppermost Grimersta Loch and the foot of Loch Langavat, the 

 principal spawning beds are far above that in the streams that fall into 

 the head of Loch Langavat. On the Blackwater, on the other hand, the 

 chief spawning ground is in the three miles of river between Loch 

 Tairbert and the sea, and the fish have but a short distance to go. At 

 present, the rod-fishing in the Lews continues until the 31st October. 

 Mackay thinks it would be better that it closed on the 15th, as after that 

 the fish are out of condition. But, practically, this is not of much conse- 

 quence as very few gentlemen fish between the 15th and 31st. 



The Grimersta. 



The Grimersta, with the lochs belonging to its basin between Loch 

 Langavat and the sea, is, undoubtedly, the most productive salmon river in 

 the Hebrides, and probably for its size, in the United Kingdom. The 

 best fishing is in summer and autumn. But it is the only river in the 

 Lews that has a spring season likewise, when the fish caught, though 

 much scarcer are also much larger than those taken later in the season. 

 One gentleman, with 20 years' experience of fishing in the Lews, states 

 that he has caught 3 or 4 spring fish in a day in the Grimersta ; whereas 

 in the Blackwater, he caught but 2 in 20 years, and in the Laxay scarcely 

 a dozen in the same period. ' Why the Grimersta ' — he writes, ' has this 

 ' superiority I cannot say, only that it has it.' Both in length and in 

 drainage area, the Grimersta is by far the largest and most important of 

 Hebridean rivers. From the head of the Langadale, the chief feeder of 

 Loch Langavat, to the point where it joins the sea at Loch Roag, is at 

 least 17 miles, of which 8 are occupied by Loch Langavat, which is 

 quite an inland sea, but which, owing to its remoteness and inaccessibility, 

 is scarcely ever visited except by sportsmen and gillies. Between the 

 foot of Langavat and the head of Loch Roag, the Grimersta flows through 

 4 considerable lakes, in which are the best salmon casts, and on which 

 boats are kept by the lessees. As already mentioned, the chief fishing is 



