54 AN OPEN CREEL 



did not get another fish all day. The big grayling 

 seriously disappointed me when I got him on to the 

 spring balance, as he just failed to touch the two-pound 

 mark. But in the water he was all that fancy painted. 

 On 5X gut and a lissome six-ounce rod he gave 

 magnificent sport, and it must have been nearly five 

 minutes before he was in the net. There was one 

 moment of the combat when he was within two yards 

 of the bridge, and I was holding at all risks in which I 

 credited him with three pounds. To me grayling always 

 look bigger in the water than they are, whereas trout 

 generally seem smaller. But I was glad to get him, 

 though he was below the estimate. He took, as did 

 the others, Brunton's fancy fished wet in the manner 

 described. There is no better grayling fly, and I do 

 not think there is a better way of using it, where one 

 can get behind one's fish and watch them. Unless the 

 fish is in sight, a rise under water in sluggish streams 

 is very difficult to detect. One can seldom feel it as 

 one can in a quick stream. When the line is seen to 

 stop it is usually too late to strike. 



The second white-stone day I owe to my good friend 

 Hyandry. The story which he related to me was 

 frankly incredible, and I told him so. He had, he 

 asserted, visited the fishery on Easter Monday, and 

 had the remarkable experience of finding the big 

 Rennet trout rising whole-heartedly at small flies, 

 olives, and trifles of that sort. He hooked, he said, 

 no less than four of the real old stagers, besides the 

 smaller fry of about a pound, which do not really count 

 as Rennet fish. I knew all about those trout, for in 

 the year when I got the big dace I fished for them 



