THE GRAYLING 



rivers, they have multiplied prodigiously, so much so that measures have 

 been talcen in the Tweed to reduce their numbers by netting, in the belief 

 that they devour the spawn of salmon and trout.* 



The angling season for grayling is brief, for they are in their prime 

 only from the middle of September to the middle of February. 



A grayling in prime condition, say in the month of October, is of truly 

 gallant appearance. In form it is peculiarly graceful and in colour changing 

 according to the light, the scales reflecting purple rays shot with gold and 

 silver. No idea of this fish's beauty can be obtained from the wretchedly 

 coloured plate in Couch's " British Fishes," nor even from the better 

 likeness given in Professor Smith's fine work on Scandinavian fishes. 

 Neither of these writers has succeeded in getting artist and printer to 

 do justice to the grayling's grace of form and colour, which are so con- 

 spicuously enhanced by the bold outline of the dorsal fin, which stands 

 up like the lug sail of a fishing boat and is finely stained with violet. The 

 best representation of an October grayling is the fine plate forming the 

 frontispiece of Mr T. E. Pritt's "Book of the Grayling," reproduced 

 from a drawing done by the author at the waterside. 



Izaak Walton's statement that the grayling "grows not to the bigness 

 of a trout, for the biggest of them do not usually exceed eighteen inches" 

 may be taken as generally correct at this day, though subject to exceptions. 

 Grayling greatly abound in the Douglas Water, a tributary of the Clyde, 

 where their average weight is certainly greater than the little trouts 

 that inhabit that stream. In the Hampshire rivers grayling weighing 

 between 2 lb. and 3 lb. are far from uncommon. Referring again to the 

 journal of the Houghton Fishing Club, which is the longest consecutive 

 chronicle of angling extant, ranging for ninety years, 1822-1912, the 

 following entry appears at the end of 1862 : 



•♦ The fourth decade of the Club ended in 1862. 



1823-1832 I ^'^^ trout, weighing 2,788 lb., average 1 lb. 10| oz. 

 1 1,087 grayling „ 1,671 lb. „ 1 lb. 8J oz. 



1833-1842 

 1843-1852 

 1853-1862 



(1: 

 (1; 



f 2,451 trout „ 4,571 lb. 



I. 661 grayling „ 1,1611b. 



631 trout „ 2,986 lb. 



100 grayling „ 1,805 lb. 



864 trout „ 3,537 lb. 



150 grayling „ 2,000 lb. 



1 lb. 13i oz. 

 1 lb. lOi oz. 

 1 lb. 14i oz. 

 1 lb. Ill oz. 

 1 lb. 13f oz. 

 1 lb. 12 oz.* 



The pretence of ^rayliag in the Clyde dates from 1855, when three dozen were brought from Rowdey in Derby- 

 shire. 



157 



