OPEN FISHINGS IN THE HIGHLANDS.

THE TAY, AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

(Continued from page 400.)

UR last paper brought us as far up the Tay as Kinfauns, which

OUR

as we stated is the lowest point on the river at which angling is practicable. Above this point, for scores of miles, the Tay is a very wide and deep river-so broad indeed that it is totally impossible to reach the pools by casting. Fish indeed are to be caught from the banks, at certain "plies " of the water, but the best pools can only be reached by the aid of a boat. And as the method of angling with boats on the Tay is peculiar to that river, and has been sometimes ignorantly condemned, as unsportsmanlike, we need not offer an apology for giving a pretty minute description of it.

The boats in use are light but strongly built cobles, with two pairs of oars, and cost, when built by a first-class man, like Campbell of Dalguise, some 6 or 7 guineas each. They sit well out of the water at the stern, which is essential, and are very handsome. The stern has a shelf which is sunk a little below the gunwale of the boat, whilst below that is another shelf for holding fly-books and tackle, and, it is to be hoped, also a fair supply of mild Havannahs and venerable brandy. A seat is placed across the boat about 3 feet from the stern. It is capable of holding three gentlemen, but two manage better and this is the usual number occupying a boat. They sit, when angling, with their faces to the stern of the boat and their backs to the rowers. Some of the noblemen and gentlemen who fish the river have their boats luxuriously fitted up with backs to their seats, which are very easily removed when a fish is hooked, and all available room in the boat necessary. The seat itself is also moveable, and can be unshipped at once when it is advisable to "clear the decks."

Three salmon rods are required to do justice to the water. . Suppose that two sportsmen are fishing together, the modus operandi is as follows:-The rowers, of whom there are two, put out the

boat into the stream, which in most places being very strong would rapidly carry it away. To prevent this the boat is pulled against the stream, and according to the strength of the current the rowers pull gently or strongly. At some places it is hardly necessary to use the oars at all to keep the boat up-at others the strength of two men is insufficient to keep her from going down too fast. Whether the water be fast or slow, the boat must descend in a very gradual manner, and while allowed to do so she is edged across from side to side of the river. So soon as the boat is out into the stream, the two anglers having put on the flies they prefer, proceed to pay out 30 yards or so of line on each rod. A small stone is placed with a turn round each line, and the slight resistance which this offers, serves to "strike" the fish when he bites. The butt ends of the three rods are placed quite close to each other in a wooden socket fixed to the bottom of the boat, under the seat occupied by the anglers. One rod is placed over either corner of the stern, and the third one right in the centre. By this means the points of the rods, and consequently the flies, are kept as far apart as possible.

The whole three lines being out, as far as necessary, and the anglers seated close behind the rods, and within easy reach of them, the rowers begin to edge the boat across the river, all the time keeping her head up-stream, and allowing her to drop down by inches as it were. The flies which are borne away on the current are thus zig-zagged across and across the stream, and every inch of water carefully fished. Each stroke of the oars against the stream gives the flies the gentlest possible pull, imparting to them a highly life-like appearance-which experience has proved to be very deadly.

Here then are two keen anglers afloat on the bosom of the rapid and magnificent Tay-surrounded by scenery of the most romantic description, while over the face of the water plays that gentle ripple so dear to the angler, and so deceptive and deadly to the salmon. Though the sportsmen are laughing and talking in the most jovial manner, they are earnestly watching the points of their rods, knowing well that at any moment a 40-pounder may dash off with one of the flies. A shock more potent than electricity thrills through you when the little stone on your line spins off the stern-when the point of your rod bends to the surface of the water, and the excited "There's him" of the boatmen, tells that a fish is "on," while all the time your reel screams its approval! The angler on whose line the fish is, instantly grasps his rod, and

holds it well up. Although thus slightly "giving the butt" to the fish, he allows him to take as much line as he likes-only careful of the "slack" so apt to bother one when a wild fish suddenly turns and dashes like a race-horse up the stream. While one angler is thus managing his fish, his friend is busily employed in reeling up the other two lines, lest they should get foul of the fish, and the boatmen pull stoutly up stream in order to prevent as far as possible the pool being disturbed. So soon as the lines are reeled up, the boatman pulls for the bank, where the angler leaps ashore, and plays his fish exactly as if he had hooked it from the

bank.

This may seem at the first blush to be rather a tame mode of fishing, but in point of fact, it is the reverse. The constant watching of the three rods, all of which may at any moment become endowed with life, keeps the angler in a constant state of pleasurable excitement, and when a fish does take the fly, the greatest skill and tact are necessary to work him clear of the other two lines, and get ashore to play him. When it is borne in mind that there are not unfrequently two, aye even three huge salmon "on" at once, causing the three reels to shrick like mad, it will be seen that so far from being tame the mode of fishing on the Tay is the most exciting that can be indulged in. On more than one occasion last season fishing alone from the boat we had three salmon to contend with at once, on as many rods, and after we had with an hour's hard work luckily on both occasions grassed all the three, and sat down beside them on the bank to take a pull at our flask, we thought the sport anything but tame-a conviction that would have been shared in by any angler in similar circumstances. Tame indeed! imagine even three anglers (far less one) in a boat, each with a salmon on, and all the three fish dashing hither and thither in the wildest confusion, every few seconds springing 3 or 4 feet out of the water, and say whether a fish in these circumstances is as easy to land as one hooked from the bank, with the whole river to yourself in which to play him. We love, and what angler does not, to cast a long line from the bank of a salmon stream, and send the steel into the fish as he rises to our fly-but it is useless to fish in this style a river from 200 to 700 yards broad, unless indeed the angler be willing to sacrifice to his love of "casting" his chance of killing.

The style of fishing we have described, and which is universal on the Tay for about 20 miles of the best of it, is known as "harling," and although at first it does seem strange to those unaccustomed

to it, it soon becomes passionately liked. With angling, it combines the genial converse of friendship, while it gives you an opportunity of seeing how mayhap a better angler than yourself works his fish. Should your friend be a "crack," you may perhaps get a useful wrinkle from him, and if he is not, you may have the pleasure of giving him a lesson in the "gentle art" which may keep your name lovingly in his memory for ever. Many and many a happy day have we spent in thus angling on the beautiful Tay, while pleasant conversation, when little sport was going, beguiled the long summer day, or laughter and chaffing when sport was good, "made musical the breeze" and re-echoed from the bosky river side. These days can never be forgotten-their memory serves to gild many a dreary day of close time, and they will live with us long after we are unable to wield the hickory or tempt from his watery lair the monarch of the stream.

Having described the method of fishing on the Tay, we now proceed to the places where it is practised and see the sport. Some few fish are to be picked up about Kinfauns (Lord Gray's place) after the nets are removed from the river towards the end of August (the exact date is not yet settled.) The water all about here is quite free to respectable persons. Kinfauns is about 3 miles down the river from Perth, where boats and boatmen can easily be had for the purpose of fishing. Boats on hire are charged about 6d. an hour, and men to row them from 2s. 6d. to 5s. a-day each. The men also expect a good dram of whisky if they have a hard day's pulling. At those parts of the river where the current is slow one man can manage a boat quite well-on rapid streams two men are absolutely necessary. The streams about Kinfauns are quite fishable with one man. Passing up the river about 2 miles, Friarton is the next place where there is anything to be done. At a certain ply of water the Friarton Hole is not a bad cast from the bank, and with the boat a few good fish are here caught. The water is quite free to anybody. Half-a-mile above this, the ancient city of Perth is reached. It is a dull town of 25,000 inhabitants, but contains some of the best anglers in Scotland. For such Perth is a very good centre of operations. Close past it flows the Tay, on one side of which, from Kinfauns to near Stanley, a distance of about 9 miles, anglers are welcome to fish from the river bank. The Earn is within 3 miles, on some parts of which leave may be had to fish; and there are many excellent trouting streams within easy distance which are free to anglers; while the railways now pene

trating in all directions, open up no end of lochs filled with trout from lb. to 30 lbs. weight-the latter affording sport almost equal to salmon fishing.

Opposite the city and up to the bridge of Perth, the salmon fishings in the river belong to the Earl of Kinnoull, who owns also a considerable stretch of water on the River Earn, near Perth. On the part of the Tay we are speaking of he allows anyone who likes to fish, both by boat and from the bank. A little below the bridge is a deep pool called the Pat Hole, which, after the nets are off, swarms with both salmon and grilse, which may be often seen leaping out of the water in great numbers. As ferry boats cross it, however, all the day long, no one thinks of fishing it, unless at dawn, or towards dusk. Sometimes a fish is picked up in it, but not often, owing to the way in which it is disturbed.

From the Bridge of Perth to about half way up the famous North Inch, a distance of nearly half-a-mile, the fishings belong to Sir John Richardson, Bart., of Pitfour Castle, who also allows all and sundry to angle with boats and from the bank, which is here very beautiful. The North Inch is a magnificent park dipping down to the water's edge and affording a capital bank for casting. In days of old, when salmon were more plentiful, or anglers fewer than now, a good basket of sea trout, with an occasional grilse or so, could be got here any autumn day; but now it is never fished from the bank, unless by some bewildered stranger, whose dress boots and glossy black hat, combined with the faculty of making his line at every cast fall in a heap some 3 feet out on the water, proclaim him to be an amateur of a very particular shade of verdancy.

The first stream that deserves notice above the bridge of Perth is just above Sir John Richardson's Upper March. It is called the "Saw Mill Stream," and is the property of the Earl of Kinnoull. Numerous anglers try their luck here with boats, and are never interfered with by the proprietor. Many a capital salmon is killed in this stream during September, and the first turn over it at early dawn towards the end of that month is sure to produce a run or two and very likely a kill. It is very curious to watch this pool early on a fine morning in September. Half-a-dozen boats are "harling" at it or about it. The whole length of the stream does not exceed 100 yards, and as soon as one boat is over it another goes on at the top, and so on for an hour or two, till the sun comes brightly out, when the sport is given up till afternoon. This poo!