252 ROD AND RIVER 



My own private opinion is that grayling are no 

 more culpable in this respect than other fish, for I 

 believe that they all offend in like manner when 

 they get the chance. If it were not so the 

 rivers would be overstocked nay, choked up 

 with fish. If grayling are not innocent of the 

 crimes laid to their charge, at all events they 

 suffer in a similar manner from the depredations 

 of other fish, and so the matter is pretty equally 

 balanced. 



In Yorkshire it is very much the custom to fish 

 for grayling with horsehair casts, and flies tied on 

 the same material. As the fish there do not run 

 large, this is found to answer very well ; but it 

 would be quite inadequate for the larger fish in 

 the Southern chalk-streams. 



The flies used in Yorkshire are, for the most 

 part, of the spider kind, tied on small, very light 

 hooks, and very thinly dressed. I have some few 

 patterns of these, but I would advise anyone 

 desiring to fish there, or in other streams, for gray- 

 ling, to procure the flies locally. Those I possess 

 were obtained from Mr. Croisdale, in the Briggate, 

 at Leeds, and are very well tied. Doubtless, any 

 of the Yorkshire tackle-makers can supply them. 

 I mention Mr. Croisdale because such tackle as I 

 purchased from him when in Yorkshire proved so 

 excellent, and he is the only Yorkshire tackle- 

 maker with whom I have had dealings. 



