202 THE GOOD POINTS IN THE GRAYLING. 



he requires much more tender treatment, and is far more 

 liable to part company with you than the trouf, his play 

 after a very short time is too often composed of a series of 

 rolls and tumbles, which are less graceful and pleasing 

 than the rapid motion and sharp resistance of the trout ; 

 in fact, though now and then one will fight very boldly and 

 well, too often they behave as a trout might be imagined 

 to do if he had been drinking success to the May fly rather 

 too freely. 



Grayling should not be fished for till August ; they are 

 not worth eating before that, and not very good then. A 

 September fish is better than an August fish, October 

 bett er than September, and November best of all. AH 

 through the winter, on a warm, sunny mid-day, you may 

 get sport ; and even if it be not a warm sunny day, you 

 need hardly despair, as the fish are in condition in winter, 

 and must needs feed at some time, though certainly a 

 glimpse of sunshine serves to bring out the flies, and to 

 bring up the fish wonderfully. 



Another good point in the grayling, too, is, that he is 

 not like the trout in his method of feeding. When a trout 

 is feeding at the bottom, as a rule, he will not look at the 

 top, and when the rise of the fly is over on very many trout 

 rivers, there is an end of your trout-fishing, pro tern. ; on 

 others, if you see no trout moving, it is useless to whip the 

 water. When fly is rising, trout take up a position favour- 

 able to rising at the fly, and favourable to their securing 

 it with the least trouble, and in the least possible depth 

 of water which they can conveniently rise through. But 

 whether it be that the huge dorsal fin of the grayling 

 permits him to rise much more rapidly through deeper 

 water than the trout or no, I cannot say ; but these con- 

 ditions do not always exercise the same control over the 

 rising of the grayling. It is (barring bad weather, when 

 nothing could be expected to move) always a favourable 



