Fishing Anecdotes And Catching Fish In River Ugie 1860 A Manuscript Copy Of Fishing On The River Ugie By Patrick Whyte Of Inverrugie. Manuscript

101pp of manuscript followed by 288pp blank pages + 10pp of unrelated manuscript. 29cm x 19.5 cm a ruled note book bound in original ¼ brown cloth over marbled paper boards, surface rubbing to the boards and spine edges. The contents are a manuscript copy of a fishing diary beginning in1860 followed by the following years noted 1861/62/67/69/71/73/76/8081/82/83/84/85/86/87/88/89/92/93, most entries with date and month recorded. The handwriting in black ink is legible and easy to read and follow all pages used are filled with text. A great deal of detail is given regarding the fishing, the fish weights, the river and water conditions, weather, places fished, people met with etc. Much of the fishing is for Sea Trout, in 1889 he lists fish caught each month from 1882 to 1889 "some 3301 fish of the Salmond species", he laments that 1889 has been a bad year " I suppose due to overfishing and the Salmon disease". There have been pages removed in the book but text runs through. I would imagine the compiler used a part used book filling it with his writings. The pages at the end have no reference to the diary, it's mostly a list of who sent Christmas cards over the years in a different hand there are 2 contemporary loose pages re sea trout and fishing etc. Loose in the diary is a typed letter dated 2010 from Tom Spender to Ronald (R. I. Lewis-Smith) noting he is researching two annual diaries by Patrick Whyte for the Aberdeenshire Museum Service. There is also a 3-page copy of a letter published in Leopard Magazine March 2010 by Lewis Smith. Detailing the diary and Whyte "and records his fortunes and misfortunes on the river from an early age." Whether the diary was copied out by Whyte or someone else the book is certainly circa 1890s and more research is needed. The river Ugie is a spate river and recognized as one of finest Sea Trout in Scotland with a good head of Brown Trout and Salmon. £680