31G 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
[May 13, 1893 
any more than the Scotch Fishery Board will 
not admit this, albeit the facts are all convincing. 
Both may rout and rant, and parade about how 
the fishing is keeping up. but they have not 
themselves the least credit for it. Find one nets- 
man that does not cry out about too many fish 
getting into the rivers—past him—and you will 
have found a ram avis. Body bulk the netsmen 
rave about far coo many fish “ getting away up ”; 
they contend that the weekly close time should 
he of shorter duration, and that both earlier and 
later in the seasons than at present there ought 
to be netting wherever there is the strength of 
fish running that would pay the expenses. Being 
a united body they may push for and get what 
they want. They intrigue on every hand; they 
dominate the Scotch Fishery Board being there 
themselves the dominant power. There is, there¬ 
fore, no saying what they may attempt or what 
they may accomplish, they know that anglers 
have no direct powerful representation ; no hold 
upon Parliamentary representatives, no organisa¬ 
tion—not even the shadow it—and they hesitate 
not to declare that so long as this continues they 
will have it all their own way and do with the 
fisheries just as they please. 
to the present, so that they must be late this 
year—three weeks, at any rate. The smolts are 
still going down the river in great numbers— 
some of them pretty large. Sea-trout are not 
improving fast in numbers, but the quality is 
excellent, and a very good sea-trout season is 
expected. The average weight of the ones gob 
in the sea is Iflb., and those in the river l^lb. 
There is nothing else noteworthy that I hear of 
at present. As regards catching any diseased 
fish coming right in from the sea, I may say I 
never saw any; but this I know from my expe¬ 
rience of them that should fish with fungus on 
them reach the sea their improvement towards 
health is very rapid.” 
in this quarter for many years. The Dee and 
Don both yield pearls, but the Ythan takes the 
palm in this respect in preference to all others in 
the North. Mr. Stewart, stationmaster, Dyce, 
has just added to his collection of natural 
curiosities, including Don trout, stuffed otters, 
&c., a white mole found on the banks of the Don. 
Like anglers in general, Mr. Stewart is an enthu¬ 
siastic student of nature.” 
§cotc^ ^ofcs. 
By Mac. 
The circumventing of the ferox would seem to 
have been successfully engaged iu at Overscaig of 
late, to judge from the following:—“Mr. and 
Mrs. Archibald, of Edinburgh, fished Loch Merk- 
land on Saturday last, and as the trout did not 
seem in the friskiest of mood for the fly, they 
resolved to have a try for ferox. The trolling 
rods were put out, and in a jiffey Mrs. Archibald 
had a great ‘rug,’ when whirr went the reel and 
a goodish ferox jumped clean out of the water 
.^me fifty or sixty yards off, behind the boat. 
Mere seemed a pretty fix, for Mrs. A.’s rod was 
only an 8 ft. ‘Anderson,’ but all the same it 
turned out that it was fit to do the work, and 
after some exciting runs/eroa; was safely landed 
and weighed, turning the scale at 81b. Hardly 
was Mrs. A. reseated in the boat when off again 
went the reel, and what appeared to be a huo-e 
Jerox showed himself, this time on the trolling 
rod. Both for fish and fisher the work was 
now cut out, and after many savage tun's 
and wild bursts, and a great deal Sf 
skilful manoeuvring per contra, a monster 
/emc was grassed. It was found to be the largest 
that has been taken off Merkland for twelve years 
past, and it weighed just 151b. Messrs. R. Ander¬ 
son and Sons, Edinburgh, have had it sent to 
them tor preservation, and it can be seen in their 
place. Mr. Archibald’s turn now came, and he 
was successful in landing two very nice fish, one 
of 51b and one of ^Ib.; both fought well. There 
was also a basket of good trout, seventeen of 
them weighing 81b. This day’s work for so early 
in the season was not a bad one, I think.” The 
writer of the aboye. Miss Jeanie Mackay, 
the daughter of the jovial and esteemed pro¬ 
prietor of the anglers’ paradise of Overscaig, is 
herself a keen and accomplished angler, and she 
takes a great interest in the visitors having the 
be.st of angling that can be got on the hotel 
waters. 
Mr. Duncan Forbes, of Inveroran Hotel 
iyndrum, writes that sport in his district with 
trout gives promise of looking up well very soon. 
Ihe other day,” he says, “Mr. Hardy, of 
Llasgow, fishing from the hotel, had two trout 
weighing 21 b. each, and one dlb. and one 11 b., off 
Loch lulla; whilst I myself had three, weighing 
respectively 2> lb., Hlb , and 11b. The salmon ari 
hardly so far up the river as Inveroran yet, but 
i expect a splendid season, with lots of fish and 
lots of water to follow this unusually prolonged 
and severe tract of drought.” “ 
An Aberdeen correspondent writes: “ The 
fishing has not much improved since last week, 
stiB the salmon are keeping up both in numbers 
and quality. The average weight at present is 
•lb.; a few have been got weighing up to 201 b. 
Ihe quality is beautiful. There has only been 
three grilse heard of either south or north up 
McBouncer writes: “In resuming my gillie 
anecdotes, I may here offer a few explanatory re¬ 
marks in case I may unwittingly be giving offence 
where none is intended. It is not for a moment 
to be supposed that only gillies commit blunders 
when speaking English, though I confine myself 
principally to gillies, knowing that many readers 
of the Fishing Gazette come a good deal in contact 
with that class. Mistakes are made by more pre¬ 
tentious people than gillies. Even School Board 
members come in for their share. I know one who 
entered a schoolroom during school hours and 
with pompous suavity told the teacher he hoped 
he was ‘ imbibing eddication into these 
youngsters.’ Another School Board member, 
when discussing the desirability of having a 
children’s treat on Hogmanay night, referredl^to 
that time - honoured Scotch institution as 
‘Mahogany night’; and, if I remember well, it 
was the same member who, in reply to an inquir¬ 
ing friend, said: ‘ The fushing-rod is not mine 
at aal, man, I only got a perusal of it from 
Mr. MaePherson.’ This is analogous to the 
blunder made by the crofter who so elo¬ 
quently described the beautiful rowan tree 
that grew previous to his door. A volunteer 
corporal drilling recruits, who stood in two 
ranks close to each other, shouted, ‘ Rear rank 
tak’ twa steps forrit ’; but this was not quite so 
startling as the order given by a west coast 
volunteer officer, who roared to his men, 
“ Prepare for Calvary ! ” I once heard a minister 
in the pulpit, quoting from the Psalms, say, ‘ And 
make a noyful joys,’ but he corrected himself 
immediately. Slips like these may be a little 
amusing, but there is nothing outrageous about 
them, especially when it is borne in mind that the 
English is, to most Highlanders, an acquired 
language—practically speaking, it is to them a 
foreign tongue Despite these disadvantages, 
the average Highlander of to-day speaks English 
as well as---if not indeed better than—the average 
rural Englishman. I find I have spun out this 
explanatory note to such a length that the gillie 
story I meant to give you must be left over till 
next week.” 
Mr. David Murray, fishing tackle maker, 
Brechin, writes: “ Rivers North and South Esk 
and West water are still small and clear as ever. 
Tuesday last Professor Lindsay, Edzell, fishing 
the West water, had, with the par-tail, three 
beautiful trout, the largest of which weighed 
over 41b. Many anglers assert that there are no 
large trout in the West water now, but this is a 
fallacy which the Professor’s success clearly shows 
up. The trout were not only large, hut they were 
well formed and in good condition. Mr. Watt, 
a young and enthusiastic follower of Old Isaac, 
went up the North Esk for a night’s par-tail fish¬ 
ing. ‘ At the wee short hour ayont the twall ’ he 
put up his rod, drew the line through the rings, 
affixed a trace with par-tail bait attached, threw 
into a pool and awaited the result. In no time 
there was a fearful ‘ rug ’ which gave Mr. W.’s 
nerves quite a shake. The line ran out with a 
vengeance suggesting not unlikely that Water 
Kelpie him.self was on. After a stiff battle a 
monster eel was landed, over 3ft. in length, and 
of proportionate girth. In a short time three 
of these huge fellows were drawn in by Mr Watt, 
who will now be prepared to angle for the sea 
serpent should he pass Edzell on his way up the 
Glen. Not a thing doing in salmon fishing. It’s 
all to shites at present. Yesterday I went over 
to the South Esk below Brechin Castle and saw 
salmon and sea-trout kelts lying in shoals in the 
shallows. Some of the kelt sea-trout were feeding 
on the small flies and rising to a great height, 
then falling clumsily back in the water. Several 
salmon kelts were touched with fungus, one in par¬ 
ticular, a fish of 61b. or 81b., being spotted all over 
so regularly that he might have taken the cake 
for ‘even marking.’ This unprecedented con¬ 
tinuance of severe drought is bound to do uncal- 
culable mischief. Fervently do I hope that a spate 
will come soon to allow the foul fish to clear out 
and to bring the streams into ply for anglers.” 
G. M. M., Deeside, writes : “ The work of the 
past week on the lower half of the Dee has been 
the poorest since the season opened. Seven fish 
for six days’ angling in open weather on over 
(both sides of) twelve miles of water! Could any¬ 
thing be flatter than that .P The upper half of 
the Dee, especially about Ballater, continues to 
fish grandly under existing conditions. By-the- 
hy, the heaviest fish of the season got to the fly 
on the Dee was killed on the Invercauld section 
the week before last by Mr. Potter, a beauty of 
301b. I note this specially for two reasons. 
First, because Mr. Barry is credited in last week’s 
issue with his top weight of 271b. as being the 
heaviest for the season in a par evidently from a 
Windsor contributor ; and, secondly, to correct a 
misprint in last week’s “ Dee ” report giving Mr. 
Potter’s fish as a 39-pounder in place of the 
authentic 301b. Mr. E. P. Tennant, lessee of the 
Carlogie water, had a run over to the Duff House 
water on the Deveron last week and made some 
record baskets of yellow trout. The “ Professor ” 
was the favourite fly, and of the tiniest shape. 
Saprolegnia ferax is getting more and more 
en evidence as the season advances. The latest 
arrivals up river include a heavy percentage of 
fish. The high temperature aggravates 
the disease no doubt, and the small clear waters 
make the affected fish more readily observable. 
Mr. George Macdonald, pearl fisher, Aberdeen, 
found & pearl in the Parkhill water weighing 
IO 3 grains. It is one of the best specimens found 
Our Tay correspondent writes : “ I hope you 
are praying for wet weather ; all of us anglers in 
this cjuarter are. We have our rivers about dried 
up, and fishing of every description seems as if 
almost a thing of the past. Tay angling is stag¬ 
nation itself, and we will not get even a fair day’s 
fronting until we have a fresh. Some fish are 
being got in the Tummel, and Loch Tay still con¬ 
tinues to yield, through the fish, from want of 
water, having not yet gone up the Dochart. At 
lots of stations the netting has been stopped be¬ 
cause it will not pay the working expenses. There 
is indeed an unprecedented absence of fish. 
Nowhere hereabouts has a grilse been seen yet. 
Kelts and smolts both going down seem ex¬ 
tremely plentiful. The sea-trout have begun’to 
come, low even though the water keeps, and* a 
few nice ones were got on Saturday, weighing 
about 21b. a-piece. Loch Tay has begun to fish 
for trout. The other day the Breadalbane 
Angling Club had their first competition of the 
season on it, when six boats were out, but all 
returned with light baskets. One of the compe¬ 
titors, however, secured a fine 4-lb. trout. I hope 
to goodness we have a big splash of rain soon to 
thoroughly saturate everything, make the rivers 
tear down and sweep out all filth, and to keep 
them running for a good while thereafter in 
sufficient volume. So far the season on Loch 
Leven has been very good, and of late some 
exceptionally heavy catches have been made.” 
Ox Loch Katrine, which is one of the most 
beautiful, as it is one of the most accessable 
lochs in Scotland, the trouting has proved very 
good this season, and latest reports indicate that 
it continues as good as ever. The average basket 
to one rod in a day usually runs about 1.51b., and 
the trout, which are very gamesome and of fine 
quality, are as near as possible the .'>lb. average. 
The anglers from Stronachlachar’Hotel have 
mostly all done very well indeed. 
