THE GRAYLING. 309 



shoulder : " Placing a book between your arm and body, just below the 

 elbow joint, is a sure test, and the only way I know of curing this 

 laborious style of throwing a fly." And he goes on to state: "The 

 hand should be raised up and down perpendiculary to a line drawn across 

 your breast ; and only in the case of having an extra average of line to 

 throw, the wind against you, should the elbow ever be raised in conjunc- 

 tion with the hand and wrist." 



As a sport, I certainly admire grayling fly-fishing before trout fishing. 

 At least, I think I do, perhaps, because it is only of recent date that I 

 had a capital day with this fish. 



Large grayling do not rise nearly so freely at the fly as do the smaller 

 sort, and in this respect they resemble trout, the larger of these fish 

 undoubtedly being taken with the worm, or bait other than the fly, 

 in the majority of cases. There is also a similarity between the fishers 

 of each fish, inasmuch as even as it is difficult to find a really clever 

 worm or minnow angler for trout, so is it rare that one comes across 

 a good and expert grasshopper or maggot fisher for grayling. I there- 

 fore desire to devote a few lines to the instruction of the tyro in 

 grasshopper fishing for grayling. 



The best rod for this business is one of tolerable pliancy, of about 

 seventeen (or a little less) feet in length this is for those anglers who 

 prefer a double to a single-handed rod for all purposes where available. 

 Personally, however, I prefer a rod that can be used single handed. The 

 gut should be drawn, and about two yards in length ; the hook a No. 2 

 or 3 Limerick, around which has been moulded a strip of lead foil, which 

 is, in turn, wrapped with pale green, a straw-coloured silk, and bound 

 with gold silk. The lead should not encroach on the play of the hook, 

 but be scooped away in the bend. A float made from crow quill, not 

 more than an inch in length, is next fastened to the gut line, and need 

 have but little reference to the depth, as it is always above the water 

 and simply serves the purpose of intimating surely to the angler's eye 

 the time when a fish has taken the bait. 



The grasshopper or cricket is the bait, and the former is easily obtained 

 in summer. Select those of medium size, and take off the two muscular 

 jumping legs before placing them in your live box. This may seem a 

 cruel proceeding, but it does not inflict so much pain as it, at the first 

 idea of the matter, might lead the uninitiated to suppose, judging from 

 the fact that grasshoppers often cast one leg themselves on being 

 captured. However, remove the legs as carefully as possible, and keep 

 the grasshoppers in a somewhat deep gentle-box, that they may not have 

 a chance of clambering out when the lid is lifted. 



The method of baiting is as follows : Pass the hook in at the back of 



