Georgina Ballantine and The Fish
Despite being a keen and accomplished angler, she had caught her first salmon at the age of eight, Georgina Ballantine had no plans to go fishing that day. Then fate stepped in. The laird had sent word that he would not be fishing that day and there was her father, the ghillie on the Glendelvine water, and one-eyed Marvin the boatman waiting in the boat. Georgina took the third seat and history was made.
The trio fished through the afternoon and by teatime Georgina had landed three good fish, at 25, 21 and 17 pounds but it was time for Melvin to head home, so Georgina and her father paused for tea at their cottage on the bank of the river. It was the first Saturday in October, and “daylight saving”, introduced during the First World War, would mean the clock going back an hour that evening, - there would be no more opportunities for evening sorties again that year, so the pair decided to go back onto the river for one last session.
They began “harling” – trolling baits astern of the boat, one rod with a fly - a Wilkinson, the other with a minnow trace baited with a dace. Just upstream of the “Bargie stone”, as the sun was setting, her father said “We should see him here…” something took the spinning bait. The reel spun and Georgina’s “Homeric struggle” began.
The trio fished through the afternoon and by teatime Georgina had landed three good fish, at 25, 21 and 17 pounds but it was time for Melvin to head home, so Georgina and her father paused for tea at their cottage on the bank of the river. It was the first Saturday in October, and “daylight saving”, introduced during the First World War, would mean the clock going back an hour that evening, - there would be no more opportunities for evening sorties again that year, so the pair decided to go back onto the river for one last session.
They began “harling” – trolling baits astern of the boat, one rod with a fly - a Wilkinson, the other with a minnow trace baited with a dace. Just upstream of the “Bargie stone”, as the sun was setting, her father said “We should see him here…” something took the spinning bait. The reel spun and Georgina’s “Homeric struggle” began.
The fish was hooked at 6:15 and for the next two hours, from the boat, on land and from the boat again it was played and fought. At one point Georgina came ashore hoping to beach it, but it ran under the Jubilee bridge, fortunately on the shoreside of the bridge pier, and her father had to run to fetch the boat to take to the water once again. It was at 8:20 that her father gaffed the fish and got it into the boat. At 64 pounds it was, and still is, the heaviest rod caught salmon in British waters.
The first account of “The Fish” was the one written by Georgina herself, published in the Fishing Gazette on the 22 October 1922, with the encouragement of the management of P. D. Malloch. It was Malloch’s who were asked to make a cast of the fish before the laird, Sir Archibald Lyle, donated it to the Royal Infirmary at Perth. It is a shame that P. D. Malloch himself had died the previous year and didn’t live to see this marvel. Georgina also wrote a second version of the story at the request of the laird whose habit it was to self-publish his own episodic autobiographies, full of anecdotes and stories from his own life and the estate, appearing as it does in a volume he titled “Fragments”.
You can read this version of the story on the Glendelvne estate web site HERE
You can read this version of the story on the Glendelvne estate web site HERE
So, what was the tackle she used?
There were also two contemporary photographs of Georgina with her quarry, and it is from these that we can learn a little more about the tackle that she used. Look carefully at the rod she is holding here. You can see it is in three sections, with a relatively stout tip. It is in fact a trolling rod as you would expect from the account of the fish. You will also see that the photo has been helpfully captioned to show that the rod and tackle came from Malloch’s. Malloch’s 1925 catalogue offers a range of three grades of trolling or “Harling” rod, one basic model, another expressly for Loch Leven and a third recommended for salmon and ferox trout, “selected greenheart throughout”. |
The reel in the picture bears close attention too. If you look at the handle you can see it is clearly quite bulbous. Now all of Malloch’s reels came with a tapered handle of wood or horn, all that is, except one, one important exception and that is Malloch’s own patent “Sun and Planet” reel. Typically thought of as a fly reel, the Sun and Planet was patented in 1880 it still features prominently in the same 1925 catalogue. The reels particular appeal is that when a fish runs, the winding plate remains still, it is only the handle that turns.
Terminal tackle consisted of one of Malloch’s “invisible” minnow mounts on a gut cast, baited with a dace “with an attractive curl on its tail”. Georgina doesn’t tell us if the bait was fresh or preserved, - there are plenty of dace in the Tay, but I suspect it was more likely to be a preserved specimen also courtesy of Malloch’s.
The fish made Georgina a celebrity, but she had already established herself through her wartime service as a nurse, both at Perth and in France, for which she received an award. She would go on to forge a reputation for her knowledge and hospitality to the anglers that regularly fished the Glendelvine water. Such was her popularity that these worthies arranged for the installation of electricity at Victoria cottage. The river, it banks and its fishing remined a passion for Georgina, but the arthritis that had affected her even at the time of her triumph took its toll, eventually leading to her losing both of her legs. However, she remained at her home on the banks of the river until her death in 1970 and was fondly remembered by many in the village of Caputh for many years.
Georgina’s fish retains the record for heaviest rod caught salmon, a record unlikely now ever to be broken, but it was caught on a deadbait. To find the heaviest rod caught salmon on a fly however, we don’t actually need to look far either in time or distance. Two years after the events discussed above destiny struck again, this time on the river Deveron.
The Mountblairy beat on the Aberdeenshire Deveron was owned and fished by the Morisons of Mountblairy House. Both Alick Morison and his wife Clementina regularly fished the water, and on this particular day, 21st October 1924, it was Clementina who was to have all the luck. Clementina Morison (known as “Tiny” to her friends) had already taken two 16 lb fish, both had fallen to the same 1¼” Brown Wing Killer. She hooked her last fish of the day in the Low Shaw pool, accompanied by their river keeper Sim. Unlike Georgina’s fish, the battle seems to have been a fairly sedate affair with the fish eventually being gaffed by Sim though its weight made it difficult for him to bank, so “Tiny” herself pulled it ashore by the gills.
Both Sim and Mrs Morison agreed that it was a big fish, and a horse and cart was sent for to remove it from the riverbank. Because suitable scales were unavailable, it was 24 hours before the fish was weighed, by Mr Harper of W Garden of Aberdeen, who were asked to make a cast of the fish. He reported the weight as 61lb but added that it had probably lost “a pound or two” since it had been landed. After the cast was made, the fish was smoked and distributed around the Mountblairy estate.
Georgina’s fish retains the record for heaviest rod caught salmon, a record unlikely now ever to be broken, but it was caught on a deadbait. To find the heaviest rod caught salmon on a fly however, we don’t actually need to look far either in time or distance. Two years after the events discussed above destiny struck again, this time on the river Deveron.
The Mountblairy beat on the Aberdeenshire Deveron was owned and fished by the Morisons of Mountblairy House. Both Alick Morison and his wife Clementina regularly fished the water, and on this particular day, 21st October 1924, it was Clementina who was to have all the luck. Clementina Morison (known as “Tiny” to her friends) had already taken two 16 lb fish, both had fallen to the same 1¼” Brown Wing Killer. She hooked her last fish of the day in the Low Shaw pool, accompanied by their river keeper Sim. Unlike Georgina’s fish, the battle seems to have been a fairly sedate affair with the fish eventually being gaffed by Sim though its weight made it difficult for him to bank, so “Tiny” herself pulled it ashore by the gills.
Both Sim and Mrs Morison agreed that it was a big fish, and a horse and cart was sent for to remove it from the riverbank. Because suitable scales were unavailable, it was 24 hours before the fish was weighed, by Mr Harper of W Garden of Aberdeen, who were asked to make a cast of the fish. He reported the weight as 61lb but added that it had probably lost “a pound or two” since it had been landed. After the cast was made, the fish was smoked and distributed around the Mountblairy estate.
The glory days of monster salmon are past, as are the days of Mountblairy House. The house was requisitioned by the MoD at the outbreak of WWII and never fully recovered. The roof was removed in 1946, and the house finally demolished because of its unsafe condition in 1962. The Mountblairy beat of the Deveron is now in the hands of a corporate agency.
One final note that links both stories. Everyone with an interest in fishing read The Fishing Gazette. Published weekly it carried news, advice and articles by the most respected members of the angling community. It was in the October 22nd edition of 1922 that Georgina wrote of “The Fish”, and it was in her copy of the 8th of November edition of 1924 that she pencilled in the margin note “Dangerously near the mark” beside the report of Mrs. Morison’s fish…
One final note that links both stories. Everyone with an interest in fishing read The Fishing Gazette. Published weekly it carried news, advice and articles by the most respected members of the angling community. It was in the October 22nd edition of 1922 that Georgina wrote of “The Fish”, and it was in her copy of the 8th of November edition of 1924 that she pencilled in the margin note “Dangerously near the mark” beside the report of Mrs. Morison’s fish…
References: Salmon & Women, Paterson and Behan, Witherby 1990
Fishing Stories, Various, Everyman 2010
Fishing Stories, Various, Everyman 2010