For some twelve years I have been trying experiments on lochs on my ground in the North of Scotland, and have written what follows mainly because I hope and believe that the result of these experiments may prove useful to some of those who love trout-fishing as I do, and have the means at hand, possibly without fully realising their opportunities, of increasing their sport and that of their friends. I have spent much labour and a good deal of money in attempting to improve the fishing in various lochs. In some cases these efforts have proved useless; in others the labour and money expended in stocking the lochs and increasing the food supply have been altogether out of proportion to the results obtained, but in one case, and one case only, the results have been phenomenal, not only in my own experience, but also in that of my keeper, who, like myself, has all his life been keenly interested in and familiar with trout-fishing in the North. In the case of those lochs where no good result has been achieved, I have at least learnt something from my failure. The loch upon which I experimented with such wonderful results must have been a veritable larder of food for the trout when I put them into it, for there was a large quantity of water lizards, leeches, frogs, and above all, fresh-water shrimps; there were also various kinds of insect life, water beetles, notably the coch-y-bundhu, and a smaller beetle with a silver body which moves with a swift darting movement. It is impossible for the trout to spawn effectively, as there is no burn coming into or going out of the loch and no water continually moving over a shingly bottom. The loch is not more than six acres in extent, and is about 500 feet above the level of the sea. At the time, just thirteen years ago, when I began to put fish into it, there were no fish in it, and so far as I know there never had been any, except some years ago when a few trout were put in, but these had no doubt been caught or died long before I began my experiments. I am also quite certain, for the reasons already mentioned, that they had left no descendants. Every year, in May or June, about 2½ acres of the loch are covered with a common kind of rush, the “Horse-tail,” Equisetum maximum, and about one-quarter of an acre with grass, which, I believe, is a species of Scirpus. In the rushes and round them are patches of a kind of surface weed which is common in Highland lochs, and which, as every fly-fisher in the Highlands knows, is a great danger to him. This weed, the scientific name of which is, I am told, Potamogeton polygonifolius, covers an area of some 20 square yards. Lastly, and most important of all, there is in the loch a considerable quantity of the well-known Water Milfoil or shrimp-weed, Myriophyllum verticillatum, which in this water produced quantities of fresh-water shrimp.

AN AUTUMN DAY, LOCH CARRON—LOOKING WEST.

By Mrs. Schroder of Attadale.

By August and September the rushes have, of course, largely increased, and extend to nearly four acres, leaving a comparatively small part of the loch which can be fished. The depth of the loch is about 3½ feet all over with the exception of two places, a very small part of it, where it is about 5 feet. Its bottom is for the most part fairly hard ground, but on one side there is soft mud, and on another side, for about an acre and a half, the bottom is rocky. I began stocking the loch in 1910, and during the first three years put into it small trout from burns and other lochs on my ground, but in 1913 and 1914 put into it 150 and 200 Loch Leven yearlings respectively. These yearlings were supplied from one of the well-known hatcheries. In 1915 I put no trout into the loch, but since, and including 1916, I have put in every year on an average about eighty small trout taken entirely from burns—one of which runs into the sea and contains the young of sea-trout as well as small brown trout. The following table shows the exact numbers of fish put into the loch, showing a total of 1062.

1910.Aug., Sept., Oct 62 (20 fair size)
1911.July, Aug., Sept 61 (16 fair size)
1912.July, Sept., Oct 20
1913.April150
1914.April200
1916.June, July104
1917.June, July105
1918.June, July 96
1919.August 74
1920.July 96
1921.July, August 44
1922.July 50

I have taken care that the loch should not be fished too much, and nothing has been used but the wet fly. It has only been fished in May and June and in August and September. In May and June, which are, of course, the best months of the year, it has only been fished for two or three weeks, and in August and September it is very difficult to persuade the trout to rise, and a rare experience to catch one. It has been suggested to me that I should introduce rainbow trout into the loch, as they would rise freely in August and September, when the large brown trout will not do so.

In May and June there is a hatch out of flies from the weeds on the loch and from the heather on the adjoining moorland. In particular there is a hatch out of a large fly, of which I have caught specimens. These I have sent south for examination, and am told that they are all sedges, the largest being the large red sedge, Phryganea grandis, those next in size being cinnamon sedges. I have had flies dressed in imitation of these, and if one is fortunate enough to be on the loch when the sedges are hatching out, there is grand sport to be had, and sport which is greatly increased by the presence of so many troublesome weeds. The loch was not fished until 1913, three years after trout were first put into it. Every fish caught under a pound, with very few exceptions, has been returned to the loch, but it is a curious fact that the fish rise very little until they reach about a pound in weight, and so we have not been troubled much by catching the smaller fish which would have to be returned to the loch.