THE FISHING GAZETTE 
406 
June 3, 1893] 
CON TE NTS. 
N.B.—All rights reserved in articles published in this 
paper. 
The Season and Fishing in Scotland .405 
Scotch Notes .40G 
Gentles .407 
A Fosse in Northern Norway .408 
More Fishing Notes from Chicago.400 
Notes and Queries .400 
An Afternoon in Labrador .400 
A Few' Words on the Otter .410 
New Fisliing Tackle, Catalogues, &c.410 
Dorsetshire : its Eiver and Sea-Fishing.411 
The Norw'egian Agents .412 
The Thames Fishery Bye-Laws .412 
The May-Fly on the Test.412 
The May-fly on the Darenth .414 
Else and Progress of Thames Preservation .414 
Waltoniana... 414 
Correspondence.415 
- NOTICE. - 
The Fishing Gazette is published ever Saturday, 
and can be obtained at Messrs. W. H Smith and 
Son’s Eailway Bookstalls and of the principal News¬ 
agents and Fishing Tackle Dealers in London and 
the Provinces. 
Communications relating to the Literary Department, 
Fishing Tackle for Notice, Books for Eeview, &c., 
should be addressed to E. B. Mabston, Editor of 
the Fishing Gazette, St. Dunstan’s House, Fetter- 
lane, London. 
Correspondents are requested to write on one side of the 
paper only, and give their real names and addresses, 
not necessarily as signatures to their letters, but as 
a guarantee of good faith. Unless this rule be 
adhered to, no notice will be taken of such com¬ 
munications. 
of Su'bsox*l.p4;iox>. 
The Gazette can be had by sending Postal Order or 
Stamps to Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, and Co., 
Limited, the Proprietors, St. Dunstan’s House, 
Fetter-lane, London, to whom all money payments 
should be made. 
For One Year, post free to any part of Great 
Britain and Ireland . 10s. 6d. 
,, Six Months ditto ditto 5s. 4d. 
,, Three Months ditto ditto 2s. 8d. 
To America and the Continent, annual sub¬ 
scription, including postage... . 12s. 6d. 
Applications respecting advertisements should be ad¬ 
dressed to the Manager of the Fishing Gazette, St. 
Dunstan’s House, Fetter-lane, London. 
Telegraphic Address.—’‘KIVSAM, London.” 
TELEPHONE No. 2679. 
— mt — 
WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED 
ANGLING AND CLUB GOSSIB. 
SATURDAY, JUNE 3ed, 1893. 
THE SEASON AND FISHING IN 
SCOTLAND. 
OBSERVATIONS THEREON. 
By W. Murdoch. 
Ui’ to date the trout fishing in Scotland this 
year, to speak of it in an all-round sense, has, 
except on the lochs which are considered, early, 
been a good deal under the usual standard of 
quality. Nor is this cause for any wonder, since 
everyone who takes an interest in trouting must 
perfectly well know why. Most genial weather 
very early “ advented,” and as a consequence of 
this, the larger and earlier lochs of the lower and 
better sheltered districts, fished really well for 
a considerable time, but latterly, and arising 
principally from the continuance of the extreme 
drought, the keenness of the trout in them for 
taking has become sensibly, and from the angler’s 
point of view, prejudicially impaired. What, for 
such fishings (as for most others), is now more 
than ever required, is a drastic change of weather 
conditions, a regular downpour of rain for a tew 
days with softer w'eather to follow it, and this, 
even though it might for the time operate against 
the fishing, would be bound to eventually 
improve it, and soon on many of the lochs now 
pretty stale bring it up to something like what it 
was a mouth or so ago. 
Owing to the water being so low, so clear, and 
so much above normal temperature, the trout very 
early took to the hard run streams and rapids of 
the crack early rivers, such as Don and Deveron, 
and although when the weather suited—-whieh, 
bad luck, it precious seldom did—they gave good 
sport, and besides were found to be better forward 
in condition than their usual for the early season, 
they yet were never right keen on the take, and 
having much sooner than is their wont become 
extremely shy it was found, even before the 
season that is reckoned best for them was half 
done, that they could only be got with the tiniest 
of midge flies. Matters have worked from bad to 
worse, to ivorser if the word is permissible, hence 
it is only by par-tail and minnow fishing at night, 
and clear water worm fishing during the day, 
that any fair baskets of large trout, or trout of a 
good size, can now be secured on even the cream 
of the early trouting lengths of the choicest early 
rivers proper of the country, at all events north 
of the Forth and Clyde. 
The lochs of the northern, remoter, and higher 
Highlands have not fished, nor would they, even 
with conditions extremely forward, yet be fishing 
quite their best, except, perhaps, in one or two of 
the better sheltered and drier districts. Never¬ 
theless, sport of a fairly gratifying nature is now 
being had upon them as a general rule, and pretty 
much all round; further, it would seem that 
hosts of anglers are forward, despite the Chicago 
boom. The lochs of Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, 
Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness shires, 
.should now, since the beginning of the best 
season for most of them has arrived, do pretty 
well, notwithstanding that the present weather 
conditions are not the most favourable; but 
without rain, and. that, too, sufficient of it to fill 
them up considerably, coming soon, the shallower 
and smaller of them, which as a rule contain the 
best trout and the trout of best average size, 
will not fish well should the weather become 
stormy, as then the peat will get stirred up to 
such an extent as to greatly impair the sport. It 
may here be remarked, for the guidance of the 
uninitiated, that the fishing on the lochs of the 
counties named is best as a rule—and also pretty 
much all over—during the period between the 
middle of June and the end of July. 
Sea-trout might now be expected in consider¬ 
able numbers to ascend the rivers of the districts 
earliest for them; but this, however great their 
inclination, they will be kept from doing as long 
as the water remains so terribly low, heated up, 
and impure. True, a few, with the instinct 
characteristic of the Salmo trutta, may run up 
under cover of the darkness, but where nets are 
plied they will most likely all be netted, since 
the nets of a small mesh, now taken on, in small 
clear waters “ Icep again ” all, small and great. 
Low water is, however, more favourable than 
otherwise for fishing in sea pools and 
estuarial and tidal lengths such as the Kyles 
of Tongue and Durness, Loch Laxford, &c., 
which now ought to have lots of fish in them, and 
to be commencing to fish well. The low water 
keeps the sea-trout—as it does the otherimigratory 
fishes—from running inland; whilst drought 
continues they continue to accumulate in those 
tidal expansions where the bottom and food 
products suit them, bub immediately a spate 
comes they—if their season for ascent has arrived 
—nearly all “honk it” away up and onward to 
the farther inland now freshened waters as fast 
as their fins will carry them. 
Less inclined for pushing inland “far or fast,” 
and more inclined to hang, and to feed, in the 
tideway and nether reaches, the yellow fin, and 
finnook of the season, are meantime very scarce 
in such waters, save of an occasional river which 
seasonally they affect. As a rule the yellow fin, 
and the summer stock of whitling or finnock are 
most plentiful between the middle of June and 
the end of July in the lower non-tidal reaches, 
the sea pools, and the estuaries of the short 
seasoned rivers (possessing one or not more than 
two migrations) in the Highlands and islands. 
Generally smolts, although in many cases they 
have cleared out well, appeared to be hanging on 
later than usual in large numbers in the lower 
reaches in consequence largely, it is presumed, of 
the absence of those nice little freshes brought 
about by warm spring showers, which infinitely 
more readily than the tearing floods, erroneously 
supposed and stated by some to be the best, induce 
them to descpiid to the tideway, and anon make 
their header into the ocean, if they escape the 
cods and coals lying in wait for them in serried 
ranks from side to side of the river’s outlets, as a 
rule just where the salt and the fresh water meet 
when the tide is full out. 
Kelts are still lying in great shoals in the 
rivers of many districts, entirely land-locked from 
want of sizeable freshets or a spate to clear them 
out. And worse still, disease is spreading 
amongst them, and will no doubt become more 
marked should the always threatened rain much 
longer hang fire. Any fresh fish that do now get 
inland—past the netters—and manage to swim 
with the water there is, catch on the disease in a 
few days’ time, no doubt from contact with the 
diseased land-locked kelt, and as they move on 
they carry it with them right away up to the 
small pools of the upper waters, whither the mass 
of the early season and spring fish have already 
ascended and now are cooped up, and where, 
usually in June, the pest becomes a perfect 
epidemic. 
Relatively the grilse are more slack than the 
sea-trout in coming forward to the inshore waters 
this year with the object of ascending the rivers. 
Like salmon they will not appear in any qaantity, 
most likely now, until the streams are thoroughly 
purified and freshened by spates caused by heavy 
rains ; unless perhaps a decided change of climatic 
conditions should come about, the weather get to 
be of the dark driving description, with strong 
winds from favourable quarters. At pre.sciit 
there is no encouragement for fish to run inland; 
indeed in many rivers there is scarcely enough 
water to allow them. Last week before the 
showers came to move the water there was not 
enough of it in more than three rivers in all 
Scotland, to enable a 101b. fish to navigate all the 
fords and garths. 
For the time being success in salmon angling 
has reached its lowest ebb. Almost everywhere 
the salmon are the one thing or the other— 
either very dour and distrus ful, or else very 
dainty in their feeding. Even in the Dee, where, 
despite the low water, they kept on doing 
splendidly, farther, perhaps, into the year than 
usual, they a short time ago all at once went 
about completely off the take—at least, during 
the daytime proper. On this, as in all other 
rivers, nothing that is tried will now bring 
them up readily, and anglers in conse((uenc6 
are about at their wits’ end. By a fluke a fish 
may be dropped on, but it is only the great 
expert that can go on scoring, and it more 
frequently than not takes him all his time to 
get one fish per day unless, indeed, he is fortunate 
to be on the best plenished and most broken of 
water. Even in such water, to get fish day after 
day with the fly, it takes skill of no ordinary 
kind. Dry fly fishing may, as its votaries main¬ 
tain, be the essence of science in angling, but for 
the present, successful salmon angling with the 
fly will by many be regarded from experience as, 
scientifically, not far behind it. In truth, even¬ 
ing fishing, light and fine, with trout size of flies 
on fine trout gut, gives the only chance 
there is for the fly-fisher. Minnow, gudgeon, 
phantom, spoon, are all completely out of it at 
most times and under most conditions of day and 
weather. It has, indeed, come at last pretty 
much to this, that prawn and trout flies are 
found to be the only tolerably effective lures, and 
they even only on bits and widely apart catches 
of just a river or two, about the coming on of the 
mirk and at most unearthly hours in the morn¬ 
ing. On clear evenings the prawn—and it must 
be of small size and on fine tackle—now brings 
the greatest success it is capable of securing the 
angler, like, as at other seasons, it does in the 
forenoon, with the water quite clear and the sun 
very bright. All the bad-used rivers, such as 
Findhorn, Beauly, Spey, Deveroii, Ythan, Don, 
North Esk, South Esk, Tay, Earn, Teith, and 
Tweed, have been entirely without fish getting up 
them to the angling waters for more than a 
month past; hence there need be no astonish¬ 
ment over their having yielded no sport with 
fresh-run salmon, nor some of them sjiort to 
speak of even with salmon of any kind. 
