158 ELEMENTS OF ANGLING. 



be very small, ooo hooks being often required for 

 -dry-fly work. The gut also should be as fine as 

 one dares to have it, for grayling are in general 

 more gut-shy than trout. 



The method of wet-fly fishing with three flies up 

 stream, as for trout, is the right one for grayling in 

 mountain streams, but it is always extremely 

 difficult to see a rise. Now and again a fish will 

 come up with a splash, but it generally proves to 

 be a small one. Often I have found the bigger fish 

 take very quietly under water, without breaking the 

 surface at all : therefore I almost always adopt the 

 plan recommended earlier for trout in quick, broken 

 water, of watching the line and tightening when- 

 ever it stops. Nothing can be more enjoyable 

 than fishing in this way where the water runs about 

 2ft. deep from a shallow into a pool. Often there 

 are several yards of gentle, steady-flowing ripples 

 at such a point, and there grayling are almost sure 

 to congregate. A very short line can be used, and, 

 as the fish are generally in a shoal, one can often 

 catch several without moving a foot. The very 

 swift water is usually not so good for grayling as 

 for trout, and the very slow water is difficult to fish 

 except with a dry fly, and even with it unremunera- 

 tive. In the smooth, steady glides of moderate 

 depth, also excellent places, one can sometimes see 



