108 
THE EISHING GAZETTE 
[February IS, 1893 
gcofcl) ■glofcs. 
By Mac. 
Our North Esk correspondent writes :—“ The 
river has been in splendid order ever since the 
ice cleared away, and now there is into it a 
very great strength of spring salmon, of which 
largo numbers are to be seen iust below the dykes. 
Lots have been trjing to pass these obstructions 
for some days, but hardly one of them, I much 
fear, will ever get to the upper waters. It is 
only too well known, and is much to be deplored, 
that the thousands of fish which enter this river 
in spring, almost to a fish fall to the net. Last 
year’s old fish are very plentiful in the higher 
reaches, but are now a'l finished spawning.” 
JunoMENT in the Ardoe (Dee) fishing case was 
pronounced by Lord Wellwood in the Court of 
Session, Edinburgh, last Wednesday. This case 
was to settle a standing dispute over a bit of 
water which, along with the Ardoe and Heathcote 
reaches of the Dee, has been rented from the 
pursuer by Dr. Stewart, of the Deeside Hydro¬ 
pathic Establishment for several years past. The 
defender was Lord Provost Stewart of Aberdeen, 
and of Banchory House, and the pursuer his 
neighbouring proprietor, Mr. A. M. Ogston, of 
Ardoe and Heathcote, manufacturer, Aberdeen. 
In consequence of the decision pronounced, the 
right to the fishing is now entirely Mr. Ogston’s, 
and from this date, so long as the whole of his 
fishery is held on lease by Dr. Stewart, none but 
bond-Jide residents at the Hydropathic will be 
able to obtain tickets to fish. This is a new 
arrangement, and one which it is expected will 
give much more satisfaction to Hydro, residents 
than did the old, whereby a number of parties not 
staying in the establishment fished, either out of 
grace, or through having made payment for the 
right. _ 
The action was one of declarator and interdict. 
The pursuer asked that it should be declared that 
he has the sole and exclusive right to the salmon 
fishings in the Dee ex adverse of the lands of 
Ardoe, and also ex adverse of that portion 
of the glebe lands of Banchory-Devenick ex¬ 
tending eastwards from the point where the 
glebe lands meet the lands of Ardoe, to a point 
opposite the office houses of the manse. Inter¬ 
dict was also craved against the defender fishing 
in the river for salmon between the points men¬ 
tioned. The Lord Ordinary granted declarator 
in terms of the above conclusion, and found the 
pursuer entitled to expenses. He founded his 
judgment principally on the defender’s leases, 
corroborated as these were by t.he witnesses for 
the pursuer, and not disproved by the defender’s 
witnesses. 
Mr. Charles Mann, of Mann’s Hotel, Aberdeen, 
and proprietor of the Grand Hotel, which is in 
course of erection and will be opened early this 
coming summer, is to connect with his establish¬ 
ments superior salmon angling. He has rented 
for the spring and summer of this year the 
Crathes Castle water of the Dee from Sir Robert 
Burnett, Bart., of Leys and Crathes. This fishery 
is four and a half miles in extent, and it is to be 
divided into four beats, to be fished by four rods, 
each rod to have one beat to himself for the day, 
and to fish the beats in rotation. The fishing will 
be let by the month or for longer periods. In a 
usual season, February and March are the best 
spring fishing months; but April, after severe 
frosts in February and March, is found to prove as 
go )d a spring fishing month as any. It is, too, the 
besD month of the year for finnock andyellow trout. 
J uue and July, when the fishing will be free, are 
the best months for grilse and adult sea-trout, of 
which, in a good year, a fair number should be 
caught by fishing with fine tackle. I know this 
water intimately, and what it can do—from long 
experience of it. Mr. Mann, it may be men¬ 
tioned, is looking out for something really first- 
class in the way of autumn salmon angling. Miss 
Reid, of the Imperial Hotel, Aberdeen, is also 
doing the same. She has rented for the spring 
and summer the Culter water of the Dee from 
Mr. R. W. Duff, M.P., of Fetteresso and Culter. 
Concerning this stretch, I may mention that what 
I havp said with respect to Crathes will pretty 
nearly apply. Under ordinary weather conditions 
the first month of the season is best for salmon 
fishing; and than the finnock fishing in Anril on 
this stretch there is none better to be had on the 
Dee. The enterprise of both these hotelkeepers 
is much to be commended, as it gives what I have 
often recommended, and which comes within 
the reach of, suits, and is much sought after by 
many a one, namely, salmon fishing for short 
periods at a moderate cost. It is only those who 
have long purses, and at the same time little else 
to do but engage in sporting, that can take on ex¬ 
tensive and expensive fishings for a whole season 
and do justice to the fishing of them. Wherever 
good salmon angling has been rented by hotel- 
keepers, and managed by them judiciously, it has 
never failed to prove remunerative. 
Writeth JiIcBouneer: “A great number of 
Gaelic proverbs inculcate diligence as well as 
patience in angling. From ‘ Bidh rud rud aig 
fear na coise fliche,’ The man with wet feet will 
get something, and ‘ Cha dean brogan tioram 
iasgach,’ Dry shoes won’t get fish, it would appear 
that wading was considered necessary in order 
to be successful. The latter proverb, it may be 
remarked, has its equivalent in the Spanish and 
Portuguese languages. ‘Bu cho math dol a 
dh’iasgach gun mhaorach’s dol do’n chuirt gun 
sporran,’ As well go fishmg without bait as to court 
ivifhout purse, is very true, and must have been 
first said by some Celt who learned from experi¬ 
ence the necessity of £ s. d. when going to law. 
‘ Breac a linne, slat a coille, ’s feadh a fireach, tri 
meirle as nach do ghabh duine riamh naire,’ A 
trout from the gjoel, a tree from the wood, and a 
stag from the hill—three thefts of which no man 
ever felt ashamed, is one of the moat well-known 
and frequently-quoted phrases in the Gaelic 
language. It is a pet p’nrase with spouting Land 
League orators in advocating the abolition of the 
Game Laws, and yet that old proverb proves 
that even in the Highlands both fish and game 
were preserved at a remote period, otherwise the 
taking of a fish, a tree, or a deer, would not be 
called theft. The free doctrine, however, that 
there is no disgrace attached to those offences, is 
still held in the Highlands. The wonder is, the 
proverb was not completed by adding, ‘and a 
drop of one's own untaxed mountain dew! ’ ” 
A commencement in salmon angling has been 
made on the Naver, but particulars not yet to 
hand. On the Borgie, Mr. Hugh Bruce, keeper, 
killed two salmon lately, 91b. and 101b. respec¬ 
tively. The Carron and all other rivers falling 
into the Kyle of Sutherland are now open, but 
nothing has yet been done. Anglers are, how¬ 
ever, expected shortly, so that the favourable 
prognostications of local experts will soon be 
put to the test. Anglers at Altnaharra Hotel 
have already been successful, both on River 
Mudale and Loch Naver. As early as the 18th 
of last month, a large adder was killed in Strath- 
naver, Sutherland, about four miles from the sea., 
by Angus Mackay, shepherd, Achargary. It is 
very rare for adders to be seen so early in the 
season. __ 
G. M. M., our Deeside correspondent, writes : 
“ Saturday was no exception to the rule that the 
unexpected happens. The weather had been so 
settled up to the very last hour that it was 
chalked down as a certainty that everything 
would be all right on the opening day. Yet 
everything was all wrong, and a more unpro- 
pitious opening has not been experienced for 
many seasons back. Mr. Cholmondeley, who is 
the guest of Mr. Edward Drummond, lessee of 
the Ballogie fishings, had the honour of drawing 
“ first blood ” on the Dee, as far as known, on the 
middle reaches. A little after 10 am. he had a 
beauty of 81b , and later on added other two fish 
of the same weight besides having to do with 
numerous kelts. He had also the best score yet 
reported. Sir Herbert E. F. Lewis landed nine 
kelts, and had to do with other five on the open¬ 
ing day on the Commonty water. He had only 
one clean fish. This gives an idea of the general 
run of things all up and down the mid reaches. 
Fish are not far into the upper waters in great 
numbers, and there was a general growl all round 
as to their scarceness all over. But this is a 
state of matters which will mend rapidly with 
fair waters and open weather. As I write a 
heavy frost prevails, while six inches of snow 
lies on the ground which fell ’twixt Saturday and 
Sunday. It has been a sudden transposition 
back to the lap of winter. Two clean fish were 
got in the Glen-Tana reach on the opening day. 
With such a storm of frost and snow suspended 
in the atmosphere, the surprise is that the opening 
day was really so good after all. Mr. George 
Davidson, of Wellwood, has again taken the Paj k 
water at the old rent—a sum close on £300. This 
is not so good a spring water as it is an autumn 
one. It is usually divided into three beats, and 
sublet accordingly. Here is a cutting from an 
Aberdeen daily, in its article on the opening of 
the salmon season: ‘ There are plenty of salmon, 
but they have recently been running up stream, 
and have taken up their quarters in the higher 
reaches. A rainfall and a consequent stronger 
stream will bring them down in due course.’ The 
due course is a handy saving clause, but it does 
not save the ‘ staff ’ responsible for this ignorance 
from the charge of knowing as much about 
salmon as a cow knows of chemistry. I have 
advised the ‘ staff ’ to have this sublime edition 
framed. Mr. Davidson, Edinburgh, has rented 
the Sluie water. On Saturday the proprietor, 
fishing this water, landed a beauty of a 161b. 
salmon—the heaviest fish of the day.” 
Our Speyside correspondent writes:—“The 
Duke of Richmond and the Spey Fishings.—Such 
formed the subject of a question in the House 
of Commons the other evening by Mr. Seymour 
Keay, the member for Moray and Nairn. The 
Secretary for Scotland was asked by the hon. 
member whether there was any objection to grant 
a return of all persons now possessing rights of 
fishings or foreshores in Scotland, acquired 
before Oct. 10, 1851, showing the nature of the 
consideration received by the State, and of the 
titles under which such rights are held; and 
whether he would inquire under what title and 
for what consideration the Duke of Richmond 
and Gordon holds almost eight miles of salmon 
fishings at the mouth of the Spey. The Lord 
Advocate, who replied, said he feared it would be 
impossible to grant a return such as asked for. 
To prepare such, it would be necessary to examine 
all the recorded titles, back to the earliest times, 
and even then the desired information would not 
be complete, because, according to the law of 
Scotland, prescriptive possession of salmon 
fishings and foreshores upon certain kinds of 
general titles may make good rights not expressly 
granted in them. As to the second part, he 
pointed out that anyone desirous of such infor¬ 
mation has the same means of obtaining it as the 
Crown, viz., the public registers, and that a return 
of fishing grants made since Oct. 10, 1851, 
when the Department of Woods and Forests was 
separately constituted, was given in 1889. Last 
year Mr. Keay put a question of a similar nature, 
so that it is to be feared proprietors will not make 
much of it by this means. Will not the Scotch 
Fishery Board now move? I fear not, and that 
the only thing left is a remedy by private or local 
enterprise. The opening day for rod fishing is 
now a thing of the past. I hear of no first blood 
being drawn, and little wonder, for more unsuit¬ 
able weather for sport on an opening day could 
scarcely be conceived. It rained heavily up to 
mid-day, and the water was like—as the Scotch 
saj—‘ sowens.’ Monday was better. The water 
had gone back and was better coloured, but an 
intense frost prevailed, accompanied, however, 
with a bright sunshine which might tempt “ a 
rise.” I understand the Delfur water or beat 
leased by Lieutenant-General Sir Reginald Gipps, 
K.C.B , has been sub-let by him for three or four 
years, commencing this season, to Colonel Vivian, 
who is a well-known angler on the Duke of Rich¬ 
mond’s water, a few miles further down.” 
A Reay Forester writes: “ Since my last note 
there has been really nothing of interest to report. 
We have had excellent fresh weather for the past 
three weeks, so that the deposited ova ought to 
be doing well. I hear that lobsters are very 
numerous along this coast, and that the crews 
engaged fishing for them are having good takes. 
I trapped an otter last week which had paid the 
river a visit.” 
