January 7, 1893] 
THE PISHING GAZETTE 
3 
the centre overhead. The fish here were smaller 
again, but in greater quantity. 
The river from Kennebago can be ascended due 
north about twelve miles until the Seven Ponds 
are reached, thence by a very short carry, your 
canoe is launched within a mile of the Canadian 
frontier on the head waters of the Dead River, 
which will carry you many a day’s journey 
through lovely scenery and good fishing. 
Another fine fishing tour is up the Magalloway 
River, a branch of the Androscoggin. You enter 
it from TJmbagog Lake, which is about ten miles 
long, and the general direction almost due north. 
This is the river which flows through I'arma- 
chenee Lake, and eventually lands you in some 
“ ponds ” within half a mile of the south side of 
the Canadian boundary. 
The pity of the whole thing was that, being so 
early in the season, there was no fishing in the 
rivers, which are numberless. Picture the bliss 
of starting, say from Parmachenee Lake, and 
fishing sixty miles down to Umbagog Lake, every 
inch good ground, and then through the entire 
range of lakes on to other equally good rivers. 
The short glimpse we had had of this fishers’ 
paradise only made us long for much more. We 
two wished to take two good guides and camp out 
all summer and autumn, moving about from one 
lake or river to another, imbibing God’s purest 
air and Nature’s sweetest teachings, entirely 
outside the touch of civilisation. Think of the 
utter freedom from newspapers, letters, telegrams, 
the worries and annoyances of business or profes¬ 
sion, the free, simple, enjoyable life, the halcyon 
days of which every hour is a true delight, and 
then you can imagine the wrench it is to have to 
give the order to pack up, and turn towards home. 
One drawback there is, and that a terrible one ! 
In July and August the black flies and mosquitos 
devour man, and are not to be denied, but 
including them, I say let the lover of Nature and 
the slave of fishing give a trial, which he will 
never regret, to the Rangeley Lakes in Maine. 
_V rCTORIOLA. 
THE DON SALMON FISHERIES. 
CONTEMPLATED ACTION. 
The writer does not by any means consider 
himself qualified for dealing with the whole vast 
subject of salmon fishery abuses—a subject sadlv 
neglected, and which, to all appearance, the Scotch 
Fishery Board and their officials do not much 
concern themselves with ; but, from the fact of its 
“ lying near hame ” to use a homely Scotch phrase, 
he would seek to draw attention to the case of the 
badly, beggarly used river Don in Aberdeenshire, 
whose angling proprietors and tenants ought 
certainly long ago to have, as a body, brought, in 
memorial form, under the notice of Members of 
Parliament and those government officials who 
were supposed to inquire into matters which the 
Scotch Fishery Board either fear to, or will not 
tackle, or have no capacity for tackling—the 
following facts, which may serve as a ground¬ 
work for the action it is reported is to be taken 
with a view to secure the much needed and clearly 
necessary reforms in justice to, and in the interest 
of, those proprietors in whose waters almost the 
whole of the rivers’ stock of salmon are bred ; 
That to their knowledge, from the presence of 
cruives about two miles from the mouth of the 
1 ‘iver, and a series of dams or weirs across the 
river above the cruives extending some six miles 
inland, the ascent and descent of salmon from 
and to the sea, which by natural instinct are 
sought, cannot be accomplished except during 
floods—and in spring not even then—for wdien 
the river is at its ordinary level, nearly the whole 
of the water is taken out of the ordinary channel, 
and diverted to supply the large manufactories, 
notably a couple whose intake in the past has 
been so increased as to take, and now does take 
awaj’, throughout the whole year, when the river 
runs in ordinary volume, practically the whole of 
the w’ater out of its natural channel. The result, 
of course, is that below their weirs or dams, the 
bed of the river is dry for a considerable distance, 
and, though a salmon ladder is fixed in these 
dams or weirs, according to law there is no water 
running over the ladder, and, there being no water 
in the river bed, ascending fish collect in large 
numbers in the pools below the weirs, wdiere they 
become an easy prey to poachers, and where also, 
likely enough from overcrowding, disease is 
annually found to break out amongst them. The 
same remark applies as regards fish which have 
got up during floods, and seek to return to the 
sea: they cannot get down over the dykes or dams 
when the water is of an ordinary size, and, being 
collected at the dams, are equally a prey to 
poachers, and liable also to, and do similarly 
contract disease. 
That from what has been said it will be easily 
understood that, except when there are heavy 
waters, it is entirely impossible for the salmon 
either to get up river to the more inland waters 
to which both as clean fish and as breeders they 
naturally seek to ascend, or down river to the 
sea, to which, a.s spent or spawned fish, their 
migratory instinct impels them, owing to the 
obstructions now existing. 
That, as regards the weirs or dams especially, 
it surely was never contemplated that mill owners 
could divert the whole body of water from the 
natural river channel to supply motive power for 
their works, and thus render the salmon ladders 
useless for serving their intended purpose. 
That the dams or weirs not only entirely cut off 
from their due, or indeed practically any, share 
of the fish those proprietors of river further 
inland, who are assessed for the preservation 
during the spawning season of the fish in their 
own waters, but who nevertheless have no fishing 
to repay them for the outlay, arid therefore suffer 
great pecuniary loss—which is a most decided 
inj ustice to them ; but that they greatly cripple 
the river’s productiveness, from the fact that 
none of the spring or summer fish, and not nearly 
the full head of the autumn fish, which seek to 
ascend after netting season terminates, ever reach 
the angling waters above the obstructions, to 
occupy for the reproduction of their species the 
spawning grounds which for many years past 
have never once been occupied to a fourth or 
even a sixth of their capacity. 
That these facts ought to call for an Act being 
framed requiring all mill owners to take no more 
than a certain proportion of the water of the river 
out of its natural channel to supply their works, 
and thus cause to be left such a volume in the 
regular course of the river as would alwaj's keep 
the salmon ladders supplied to an extent that 
would admit of the migratory Scdmonidtv 
regularly ascending or descending whenever 
inclined that—and further the Secretary of State 
for Scotland, who would be the official to take the 
matter on hand, should be memorialised anent 
the urgent necessity that exists for an enactment 
being passed into law instituting a close time for 
trout same as exists for salmon, large numbers 
of trout of the Don and its feeders, as everywhere 
else in Scotland, are destroyed during the spawning 
season every year, and as matters stand this 
destruction cannot be checked, even although it is 
of fish entirely out of season, and on the eve or 
in the very act of reproducing their species. 
This alone proves the urgent, not to say common 
sense, necessity for an annual close time for trout, 
bnt that close time would have to be varied in 
order to cover the time of the trouts’ out of 
condition’s state which such conditions as altitude 
and locali’y account for. 
Taking Unseasonable Salaion fkoa[ the River 
Nith. —In the Dumfries Sheriff Court last we6k, 
before Colonel Shortt, honorary sheriff-sub- 
stitufe, Robert Fildes, labourer, and Michael 
Trainor, pavior, both residing in Dumfries, were 
found guilty of gaffing a salmon from the Nith 
on Dec. Ih. Fildes, who had been previously con¬ 
victed, was fined i.'.'l 17s., and Trainor ,C2 17s. 
Thomas Anderson, labourer, Moffat, was found 
guilty of having a gaff in his possession on the 
Annan at Moffat for the purpose of taking spawn¬ 
ing salmon from the river Annan opposite the farm 
of Dyke. A fine of £2 173. Od. was imposed. 
An effort is being made to arrange for a grand 
re-union at the World’s Fair of surviving 
“ ‘19-ers ”—the men who left their homes in the 
East in 18-19 to become gold hunters in California. 
It is thought that several thousand of them are 
still living, and that all would make an extra 
effort to go to Chicago next year, were a re-union 
arranged as is proposed. Many of them remained 
in California, but the majority returned, and are 
now scattered throughout the States east of the 
Mississippi. 
^coid) iTofcs. 
By Mac. 
Mr. Donald Ferguson, Stronachlachar Hotel, 
Loch Katrine, writes: “ The fishing on Loch 
Katrine last season may be said to have been 
excellent on the whole, and, indeed, it might be 
considered to be about the best season experienced 
for some years. Though it has to be noted that 
it was not so good towards the end of the season, 
and it may also be remarked that it now begins 
earlier than formerly, especially for fly. At my 
station more fishers patronised the loch than in 
any previous year. The best baskets were from 
three to six dozen, but the latter number was 
only caught by one gentleman. What might be 
considered a fair average would be from one and 
a-half to two dozen, that is to a gentleman fishing 
with one fly rod. The average weight would be 
fully one half pound; but trout have been 
frequently caught weighing from one to four 
pounds. Pike netting has been prosecuted for 
several past seasons, and the streams closely 
watched during the spawning time, which must 
have tended in some measure towards the 
improvement of the trout fishing on the lake.” 
Cor North Esk correspondent writes: “The 
river for several days over a week past was in 
splendid ply for spawning. The fish, therefore, 
were very busy, and I noticed that being heavy 
fish most of them, they were spawning in strong 
water, well out from the bank. Their spawn con¬ 
sequently will be quite safe from frost at any rate, 
as the water will never leave it, no matter how low 
it becomes. I could see a good many were 
touched with disease, yet they seemed strong and 
lively in spawning. Of very bad cases we are 
getting a good many dead that have finished 
sjAawning, and the others that we are taking out 
are dying spent fish. The weather has again 
become bitterly frosty, and put the spawners all 
into the deep water once more. There is a heavy 
stock of them in most lengths of the upper waters, 
but I much fear they will yet be greatly thinned 
by the disease.” _ 
The Altnacealagach fishing notes for the past 
.season are : “ Cama Loch yielded 4900 trout, 
l(i201b.; Urigill (3639 trout, 21201b.; Yeyatie 2434 
trout, 8711b.; Boarlan]595 trout, 48()lb.; Mheallan 
240 trout, 791b. Streams 107 trout, 321b. Total 
15,015 trout, weighing 52021b., killed from May 10 
to Sept. 17. Heaviest ferox of the season was 
killed by Mr. P. W. Campbell, Perth, on June 17, 
on Loch Yeyatie, and weighed 121b., and also a 
basket of eighty trout weighing 28lb.; his total 
basket for the day being eighty-one fish weighing 
401b. Heaviest basket of the season was made by 
Mr. 1’. D. Malloch,Perth, being 146 trout weighing 
461b., and the other fisher, Dr. Donaldson, in the 
same boat, having secured a basket of sixty-one 
trout weighing 271b. The best individual basket 
for the month of July was taken by Mr. .J. Hills 
on Cama, sixty-seven trout, 21 lib. The best for 
August by two rods from same boat (Messrs. 
Ensor) on Urigill, ninety-five trout, weighing 2611). 
The best basket in September was taken by Mr. 
and Mrs. Quarton on Loch Urigill ninety-one 
trout, weighing 301b.; this basket was taken on 
Sept. 17. They also took the best average basket 
of Loch Boarlan for the season ; on Sept. 14 they 
had a basket of fifty-six trout weighing 22-1-lb. 
These facts should show that fishing can be had 
here all the year over. The average weight of 
trout was much better this j'ear. Last year 
the number of trout Ui,.57ri, weighing 4526flb; 
this j’ear the number of trout 15,015, weighing 
520211). 
A GENTLEMAN Writes me: “I have had much 
amusement over your Helmsdale’s man’s natural 
history notes on the salmon. Whoever he is 1 
know not, but I can see that he has yet a good 
deal to learn about salmon matters. “Theii' 
with regal’d to Mr. Harper, I should like to- 
know if ever he saw a male salmon digging the 
spawn bed F If he has, then he has seen more 
than most people. I am well aware that it is a 
very general opinion that the male fish digs, but 
I never yet in my own long experience have 
seen one at the operation. If Mr. Harper had. 
