HAUNTS OF TROUT. 211 



of the hole rather than at the tail that large trout 

 lie. So at a high fall of water, as over a weir, 

 it is rather under, than in the fall, or else close 

 under the adjacent sides or banks, that they 

 " hold their court." Grayling, on the contrary, 

 are ever found, in both these instances, at the 

 tail end rather than at the head of tlie hole, unless 

 they be on the shallows above. At a large weir, 

 little is to be expected in trout-tishing with a fly ; 

 because you must fish much deeper than the rush 

 of water will allow, and there, spinning or bait- 

 fishing comes in with good effect. But if there 

 be a gentle glide of water, having a sloping fall, 

 and causing no very great depth of hole, then, in 

 the rapid ripple it creates, is the place of all 

 others I should prefer for trout. Where deep 

 water shoals up into shallow at the tail end of a 

 weir, there lurk the grayling ; and, if at the ter- 

 mination of the deep hole, which the fall of water 

 causes, there are beds of weeds, — which gene- 

 rally happens, — then the trout, and good ones 

 too, will be there also. At night-fall large trout, 

 becoming more bold, sport themselves as much 

 on shallows as smaller ones have done during the 

 day-time ; because there it is that they find food 

 of all kind more readily. Minnows are there in 

 abundance ; and, if the fish seek flies of any 

 kind, they can lie nearer the surface, down which 

 the winged prey floats, and they have the quiet, 



p 2 



