40 PRACTICAL FLY-FISHER. 



than in any of the other well known rivers, and averaging 

 a fair size ; though not so large as those of the Rye, at 

 Helmsley; the Aire, at Skipton; or the Beck at Driffield. 

 The fishing is here indeed all that the accomplished 

 Angler can desire, being one continuous succession of 

 streams and pools, and the banks unusually free from 

 wood. The scenery is wild and picturesque ; the well- 

 known Kilnsey Crag forming a striking feature in the 

 landscape. Good fare and comfortable accommodation 

 are to be had at the head quarters of the Club the 

 Tennanfs Arms, at Kilnsey. Strangers are allowed to 

 purchase day-tickets. The river next passes the villages 

 of Grassington and Burnsall, flows past Barden Tower, 

 and enters the enchanting wood of Bolton Abbey, one 

 of the estates of his Grace the Duke of Devonshire. 

 Here the fishing is good, the Trout being numerous, 

 but the river being hard fished they run small. Grayling 

 are also found, but they are not very numerons. Stran- 

 gers can procure permission to fish by taking up their 

 quarters at the Devonshire Arms Hotel, or Ked Lion 

 Inn. Even if not always successful in filling a creel, the 

 true sportsman (who should be a lover of nature) will 

 be the better for a day spent in this delightful locality. 

 He will have something like nine miles of river to ramble 

 along ; may meditate as he passes the Ruins of Bolton 

 Abbey, or rest awe-stricken as he watches the foaming 

 waters of the far-famed Strid. From below Bolton Bridge 

 to the market-town of Otley, (in which course it passes 

 the villages of Ilkley, with its Hydropathic establish- 

 ment and Burley,) the river is preserved by the various 

 landed proprietors, and the gentlemen resident on their 

 estates, viz., C. L. Kay, Christopher Dawson, Peter 



