ON KISING AND HOOKING GRAYLING. 293 



time for him. He has always one of his little lozenge- 

 shaped eyes on the top of the water as well as the bottom, 

 and no matter whether there be fly on the water or not, 

 whether you see a fish break the surface or no, you have still 

 a chance with the grayling ; and my advice to the young 

 hand at grayling-fishiDg is fish away, never mind two 

 straws what the water may be ; fish the whole of it, and 

 fish it out, and never neglect the deep still reaches, as gray- 

 ling lie and take better in them (particularly early in the 

 season) than trout do ; if fish are not moving, search the 

 banks well, and you always have a chance with the gray- 

 ling. Of course I am not assuming that you will always 

 be certain of sport, but I have often had the best sport 

 when I have not seen a fish rise save at my own fly. 



A grayling rises very quickly, and also refuses quickly, 

 and when he does rise you can hardly strike too soon ; but 

 as, more particularly wi deepish water, he has to rise from 

 some depth, you should not hurry the fly in casting, but 

 make your cast rather drag. For this reason, fishing up- 

 stream and drawing down is not the best method of 

 fishing, because you do not give the fish time ; and all 

 experienced grayling fishers cast directly across stream as 

 close as possible to the opposite bank, where the best fish 

 of course lie, and let it drag slowly round down-stream, 

 bringing it round by so directing the point of the rod even 

 to their own bank. In bringing the fly round slowly like 

 this it will often become submerged, and the grayling 

 rising quietly under water will take the fly without being 

 seen, and reject it speedily. Many rises will thus be lost, 

 and these are often the best fish. To avoid this, the 

 angler should give a short twitch or strike at everything 

 in the least suspicious that may lead him to infer that a 

 fish has risen. A dimple or curl in the water where no 

 eddy exists, or stoppage of the line in its downward course, 

 &c., &c. 5 should instantly be attended to, and very often 



