CHAPTER VII. 



TEE GRAYLING, UMBEB, OB OUMER. 



Habits and Haunts — Flies^^Dry and Wet Fly-fishing — The 

 Grasshopper — Swimming the Worm. 



F in a trout-stream you catcli a fish, having- 

 the fatty or adipose fin, but differing in 

 almost every other respect from trout and 

 salmon, call it grayling without hesitation. 

 In addition, you will note a huge dorsal 

 fin, violet- coloured and purple-spotted; 

 peculiar eyes, with pear-shaped, indigo 

 pupils ; head and back a purple- black, 

 shading to a steely blue ; golden streaks and grey lines (hence, 

 perhaps, its name) on the side, with (usually) black spots ; and a 

 small mouth, having a projecfmg upper lip. The fish may look 

 to you like a very beautifully-coloured yet somewhat grotesque 

 dace. Grayling are not nearly so widely distributed as trout,* 



* The largest are found in the Hampshire and Wiltshire rivers, notably the Test, 

 Itchen, Avon, and Kennet, where they grow to 41b., or even more, in weight. The 

 principal English rivers, besides those mentioned, are, says Dr. Hamilton, the Lug, 

 Wye, Irvon, and Arrow, in Herefordshire ; the Teme (where yearling flsh are termed 

 "pinks," and seoond-year fish " shutts," " shots," or *' sheets "), Clun, and Corve, in 

 Shropshire ; the Trent, Dove, and Wye, in Staffordshire ; the Dove and Wye, in 

 Derbyshire ; the Dee, in Merionethshire ; the Derwent, Ouse, Wharfe, and Wiske, 

 in Yorkshire ; and the Eden and Esk in Cumberland. They are said to be 

 found in the Orkneys (contradicted in the " Field," Oct. 13th, 1888), but have only 

 been introduced into other parts of Scotland (viz., the Tweed, Ayr, and Clyde) 

 in recent times. In Ireland, grayling are wanting and wanted. In parts of Ireland 

 grilse are termed grayling, and in the markets of the Midlands pollan, an Irish 

 lake-fish, is sold as Irish grayling. {Vide " Angling for Coarse Fish," page 127. ) 



