Fishing
In 1968 there was a drought and very few fish were caught in the Fleet. Correspondence about the siuation was exchanged between Mrs Murray Usher and local "fisher folk". In this small booklet she publishes some of the verses.
Fish Pie
This fish is the now almost extinct European Sturgeon.
The aricle below appeared in the Dumfries & Galloway Standard & Advertiser on 29th April 1857
A SHARK STORY - On Wednesday morning last, the inhabitants of Gatehouse were thrown into a state of considerable excitement by a report that a great sea-serpent, or some other strange denizen of the deep, was at the mouth of the river Fleet. Out rushed the natives, armed with such weapons as could readily be obtained, but too late to be at the death, as the monster's fate had been suddenly terminated by some seamen. When first seen, the fish was ploughing his way up the river, evidently in pursuit of some prey; and upon getting into a shoal, he tore a path for himself through the gravel and mud with apparent ease. On coming over the quay, the animal seems to have been startled by the boats lying there, and in his fright, threw himself high and dry on the shore, where he was attacked by a son of Neptune armed with a hand-spike, and after a vigorous mauling was finally destroyed. The fish when first seen was thought to be a shark, but upon a more intimate acquaintance, proved to be a sturgeon of an enormous size, measuring seven feet six inches in length, and apparently in good marketable condition; but owing to the ignorance of the captors of the value of the royal fish, it was gazed at by the curious, abused, and eventually thrown in a ditch.
This fine specimen of a fish is a tope. It is being displayed in what used to be the malt whisky bar in the old Anwoth Hotel.
It weighed 34.5 lbs and was landed at Portpatrick by ' Cloudy ' Pickthall of Riverbank. (date unknown)
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This is Robert Carson with his catch in about 1980. Father Bobby looks on jealously at the Cally Hotel.|
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