52 
THE EISHING GAZETTE 
[January 28, 1893 
Dochart contains plenty of spawners annually, 
hut these all are fish which go up out of Loch 
Tay, and which ascend the River Tay before the 
netting season opens. This gives to the Tay a 
'“keep up” of the stock, which the Tweed does 
not possess. One word more regarding these 
two rivers. As showing how immensely produc¬ 
tive they naturally are (and ought to be for the 
whole year), I have only to point to the extra¬ 
ordinary, indeed, almost incredible, quantity of 
fish that ascend them after the netting season 
terminates to occupy their lower and middle 
I'eaches, where the greater proportion of them 
eventually spawn. Only consider, then, how much 
more profitable to all concerned would be the 
fishing, if, throughout the rest of the year, a 
better head of fish got inland. Sport then would 
be something like what it ought to be. Such 
nets as remained would catch more fish than the 
greater number did before, and this^ all in con¬ 
sequence of there being more breeders left—a 
sufficient number to occupy pretty fully the whole 
of the further inland spawning grounds. 
The Scotch Fishery Roard will do nothing— 
that may be depended on. Therefore, those who 
would better their own interes's must themselves 
(To he continued.) 
^coicli ^ofes. 
By Mac. 
E^eii siqpe the ice went down about a week 
ago, salmon in more or less strength have, with 
the fine running waters, been pushing up the 
following Scotch rivers: Tay, North Esk, Dee, 
Don, Deveron, Spey, Ness, Brora, Helmsdale, 
Thurso, Naver, and Borgie. Up to Wednesday 
night there was no change in the weather—it is 
still continuing delightfully mild. 
Olk, correspondent McBouncer, Ross-shire, 
writes: “ The spawning season on the Carron 
has been fairly good, but the fish have this year 
been deprived of the best spawning ground 
within the basin of the river. The floods of last 
January so altered the conformation of the rocks 
at the Carron Fall that they could not ascend, 
.and that the Kyle of Sutherland Fishery Board 
took steps to have the damage rectified, but had 
to desist owing to opposition by Mr. Smith, of 
Glencalvie, and others. This barrier caused a 
stampede with salmon and grilse, which (on the 
pools immediately below the fall and contiguous 
to the Glencalvie estate) afforded Mr. Smith 
better sport last season than he ever got since 
he acquired the property ; but if he persists and 
succeeds in preventing the fish from ascending 
to the excellent spawning grounds on the Glen- 
more and Alladale rivers, he kills the goose that 
lays the golden eggs. . . . Mr. Andrew MacLeay, 
who recently died at Bonar Bridge, at the age of 
sixty-six, was one of the most expert fly-dressers 
of his time, and could command almost any price 
for his handiwork. For a number of years he 
wrought with his late brother, Mr. MacLeay, 
the well-known taxidermist and tackle maker, 
Inverness, but several years ago his health failed 
and he removed to his native parish of Creich, 
Sutherland, where he spent the remainder of his 
life.” 
“ The rod fishing on Loch Tay% the Rivers Tay, 
Tummel, and Lyon” (writes a correspondent), 
“ opened on Monday of last week under conditions 
highly inauspicious, many of the casts on the 
upper waters being more suitable for skating 
and curling than angling, besides being extremely 
low for the month of January. Notwithstanding, 
sport in many places exceeded expectations. 
The fresh which came with the end of the day, 
it is to be hoped will continue; if it does, then 
there is bound to be a decided improvement in 
the angling soon.” _ 
Mr. Macaulay, the Forester of Reay, writes : 
“ Sitting by the river side one day lately, I 
noticed an eel about eighteen inches long coining 
out of the deep water towards the bank opposite 
me, having something in its mouth, which i made 
out to be a brown, or river trout, about three 
inches long, held captive by the tail, and strug¬ 
gling hard to get free, while the eel held fast, and 
perseveringly made towards the shore, till at last 
the trout was pushed partly out of the water. 
At this stage I made a movement to get hold of 
a walking-stick lying beside me, with which 1 
hoped to stop for ever the depredations of the 
cannibal; but, unfortuna ely, slight though the 
movement was, the eel noticed it, released the cap¬ 
tive, and made into the deep water in a twinkling. 
Judging from the above, it may be concluded that 
eels, especially the large sized ones, are not very 
desirab'e to have in salmon rivers amongst the 
smolts.” 
“ Mv neighbour, Ross, tells me that a sea eagle 
recently made a visit to the upper end of Loch 
Stack, and remained in the A’icinifcy of his house 
for a few days, feeding, no doubt, on the fat of 
the land, as may be gathered from the following: 
Gne day, while Ross was looking through his 
telescope, and admiring the almost snow-white 
plumage of the bird, which was sitting on an 
eminence some forty yards away from the edge of 
the locb, he saw the eagle make a sudden dart at 
a place in the loch, some two hundred yards away, 
pick out a good-sized sea trout, fly back to his 
former commanding position, there to lunch and 
quietly admire the surrounding scenery! Apropos 
of the eagle—which has for many years been pre¬ 
served here—about the middle of last month, 
while looking over some fox traps, I found that a 
fine golden eagle had by some accident got into 
one of them—rather a rare occurrence. Fortu¬ 
nately, I found her—for it was a hen bird—while 
yet alive, though so much exhaused as to be 
unable to fly away Avhen liberated. Seeing this, 
I carefully carried her home, and fed her for five 
days, after which she was able to wing her way 
into space again.” _ 
Our North Esk correspondent writes : “ Once 
more the river is clear from source to sea, and, 
the ice having gone, the fish have again got 
on the redds and commenced to spawn. Very 
few dead ones, in comparison with what we ex¬ 
pected, have been found, and now'we are thinking 
the disease will not be so terribly bad this season. 
The clean fish are not yet showing about the 
dykes, as we have seen them some years; hence 
we conclude that if w'e don’t get much mild 
weather this month the take at the opening will 
be a poor one. It has to be remarked that most 
of the dead fish taken out and found about the 
banks of the river since the ice cleared away have 
been spent cocks.” _ 
Our Speyside correspondent writes: “The ice 
flood has come and gone. What damage it has 
caused to spawning beds, principally those 
in shallow water, can only be matter for con¬ 
jecture. The ice began to break up on Tuesday, 
and for a couple of days it came gradually, until, 
on Thursday, it tore down in one mass, covering 
the river from bank to bank. One can scarcely 
imagine such an accumulation of solid ice could 
come down without doing immense damage ; but 
I am informed on reliable authority that the 
damage to spawn beds is nothing to what was 
anticipated. Comparatively few dead fish have 
been seen. On Monday conditions were specially 
good for inducing fish to run—a heavy water 
with a mild temperature and south-westerly 
wind. The comparatively small amount of 
damage done is explained by the thaw coming 
gradually before the general break-up, so that 
the water by that time had grown enough to 
carry the ice more safely over the beds. The ice 
on breaking up began to accumulate in such 
a mass in the river near Boat of Garten, where 
the water is sluggish, that, for the safety of the 
bridges, it had to be broken up by labourers to 
let it get easier passage.” 
G. M. M., Aberdeenshire Dee correspondent, 
writes : “ Counsel in the Ardoe (Dee) fishing 
case were heard last week, and the arguments on 
both sides throw a flood of light on the history of 
the development of salmon angling. The whole 
matter in dispute between the two litigants is 
the boundary or march of their respective estates, 
the solum of which is valued at L'-oO, and over 
which thousands will be spent by the time the 
final decision in the House of Lords is obtained. 
Both ])roprietors are wealthy Aberdeen manu¬ 
facturers, with a world-wide reputation for their 
respective wares. ‘ Ogston’s soap and candles ’ 
are to bo found everywhere, and the products of 
Stewart’s comb works have brought almost as 
much fame to Aberdeen as its polished granite. 
Mr. Murray, Mr. Ogston’s counsel (pursuer), in his 
address said : ‘ Pner to 1602 both estates were 
church lands, with the salmon fishings attached ’ 
—(fine times the abbots must have had). ‘ It was 
a pecularity of this case that the actual value and 
store that tvas set on the rod fishing was obvi¬ 
ously a growth of recent years.’ ‘ The law was, 
that in a case of salmon fishings the possession 
by rod would never compete with the possession 
by net and coble.’ ‘ Who would have thought in 
1851 of separating rod and net fishings ? No one 
knew anything about rod fishing then.’ ‘ This was 
one of those causes where they were fighting for 
a risk that W'as not worth the cost of the suit.’ 
IMr. Jameson, for Mr. Stewart (the defender), hit 
off some good points. He said : ‘ The pursuer 
must satisfy his lordship that ho had a title 
before the Court would grant him declarator.’ 
‘ Where fishings were given off with lands border¬ 
ing the river or the sea, that meant the satmo:i 
fishings e.i’ adverse of these lands.’ ‘ Mackie (a 
witness for pursuer) seemed to crop up alwajs 
when there was mischief.’ — Lord Wellwood : 
‘He is fhe Mephistopheles of the play.’ ‘Yes, 
my lord, he is. But he is now in America, and 
we can’t get him.’ The case has been taken to 
avizandum. Lord Wellwood will deliver judg¬ 
ment in due course.” 
“ The flood has come most opportunely, and 
along the lower half of the Dee at any rate and 
on the nether reaches of the Don, there will be a 
fair show of clean fish for the opening days. 
That kelts will be strongly en evidence goes with¬ 
out saying, as up till now they have made little 
progress seaward. With an absence of severe or 
prolonged frosts, there ought to be a good 
opening.” _ 
“ Many anglers take a delight in getting their 
gear ‘ ship-shape ’ before the opening ; probably 
for the want of anything better to do, aud i)ro- 
bably from the delight experienced in handling— 
may I say fondling—their ‘ trusty friens,’ To do 
a little whipping to the rings use silk twist, 
drawing the final end through a few coils of the 
whipping by means of a loose loop. ' To re¬ 
varnish, wipe off all grease stains, &c., and dress 
lightly down with best copal. To re-blacken 
brasses, mix a little lamp-blacking with spirit 
varnish. Dress once or twdee and let thoroughly 
dry before using copal.” 
“'I’liE breaking up of the ice on Wednesday 
morning was a grand sight. The cracking, 
smashing and dashing together of the huge 
masses might have been heard miles off. In 
many places it was over a foot thick, and in the 
narrower parts of the river it got piled up and 
came tumbling down the shallows, tearing up the 
bed of the river like a harrow. It is eleven years 
since anything like it was seen.” 
“ The pack ice was so thick on the river that 
the ferry boat at Kincardine O’Neil was within a 
shave of being wrecked. ‘Boatie’ had to let 
‘ her’ go with the stream when he attempted to 
cross, and forge his way over as best he could, 
landing some half a mile below' the usual place. 
The river is about 100 yards wide at least at the 
ferry, aud this ice blockade continued for four- 
and-twenty hours, which will give some slight 
idea of the quantity of ice passed down.” 
“ The best sections on the Dee are all fully let 
to private individuals, in many cases at good 
round sums. Last week a stretch was leased by 
a hotel proprietor at a rental of £100 till the 
middle of May. An Aberdeen boniface has been 
looking after another stretch in the middle 
reaches, and will likely secure it for the “good of 
the house.” This is not by any means a new 
departure, but it is a further development of 
what we may expect shortly to find—the City 
caravansary manager catering to his angling 
patrons like ‘mine host’ of the country inn.” 
