CHAPTER IX 



GRILSE 



" Alas ! regardless of their doom, 

 The little victims play ! " 



GRAY, A distant prospect of Eton College. 



EARLY in the season, when fresh salmon are 

 running every tide, and the year is young and 

 every rising fish may be a monster, grilse are 

 regarded as a nuisance. " It is only a grilse," 

 shouts your comrade in an injured tone, as 

 his bending rod shows that he is fast in some- 

 thing. And apart from the dissatisfaction one 

 may feel with the grilse for not being the 

 hoped for " stor lax," he will, unless tightly 

 held and promptly dragged ashore, be a posi- 

 tive disadvantage ; for he will splash all over 

 the pool and perchance scare his betters. But 

 in the dog-days, when the sun is bright and 

 the water warm, and salmon are scarce and 

 sulky, the grilse sometimes assumes an impor- 

 tance more nearly answering to his merits. 

 We may then even go so far as to take out a 

 small rod and fine tackle and angle for him of 



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