OCTOBER 161 



in October on a Red Tag or some other grayling 

 absurdity. Some anglers take a pride in landing these 

 fish only to return them ; but this is hardly good for the 

 fish or sportsmanlike. Of course, the grayling fishers 

 have no chance at these fish during the season, as, by a 

 very shortsighted policy, the Committee of the Hunger- 

 ford Angling Association have stopped the issue of daily 

 or weekly permits for trout-fishing from May 1st to June 

 30th, after which date Hungerford trout are, as the 

 ghillies say, " gey and dour." The stopping of permits 

 during the Mayfly rise has been an old custom and quite 

 understandable, as no subscription water can stand 

 heavy Mayfly fishing; but the stopping of all permits 

 till July 1st has driven away a number of good 

 sportsmen from the river, and has made some of the 

 winter fishers a little careless about the handling of 

 trout. 



Below the little footbridge runs a long, slow, weedy 

 canal-looking reach, where I am told some good grayling 

 are to be taken with wet fly, although it appeals to me 

 mainly as a haunt of big trout or pike. It is indeed 

 full of the latter, as unfortunately the rest of the river 

 is getting to be owingto the restrictions of the Committee. 

 Several grayling fishers have sought permission to take 

 to pike-fishing when the grayling are not on the feed, 

 but this has been consistently refused. It is hard to 

 discover what useful object the Committee can have in 

 view in preventing the destruction of pike in a river 

 where the annual trout permit is valued at 10 10s. 

 a rod (the day ticket when issued was 5s.) and the gray- 

 ling ticket is 2s. 6d. per day. 



Above the town bridge a fine stretch of water runs up 

 to the mill, and here, especially near some stumps in 

 midstream, some good grayling lie and these occasionally 

 rise freely to the dry-fly. 



In fishing wet in any of these situations the fly should 

 be cast across stream and slightly down, and worked 

 deeply round to the angler, a firm strike being made 

 at the least resistance. Try at once and get below the 

 fish as the big back fin and the tender lip combine to 



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