LATE OCTOBER GRAYLING FISHING. 241 



pool, thanks to the fine points, as softly as 

 thistle down and is so delicately taken that it 

 must be by something very small. But the 

 strike alters all this. A fine run right up the 

 inlet at the head of the" pool carries plenty of 

 line with it, as well as the conviction that the 

 grayling which is ' on ' for the time being- 

 may be heavier than he seems. 



Being a case for gentle treatment I sat down 

 where I was and held up quietly to give him 

 ample time for tiring himself out. Away he 

 went right over to the deeper far side : then 

 ran rapidly down stream, obliging me to get 

 up and follow as the line was got in. In every 

 pool he would stop, turn, and bore down to the 

 bottom. After fully five minutes of this treat- 

 ment I got the net under him and dipped him 

 out, a game fish of exactly two pounds. 



At no time in his life does a large grayling 

 show to better advantage than when he smells 

 the net. Although pretty well worn down, he 

 does not give in just at the last, as a trout will 

 often do, but sets up his great cinereous back 

 fin and always keeps it at right angles to the 

 pressure on his mouth. It therefore becomes 

 the greatest folly for the angler to attempt to 

 pull the fish over the rim of the net; as he does 

 with careless confidence when mayfly fishing for 

 trout. More fine grayling have been lost in 

 that critical position than at any other period 

 of the playing process. 



From the same pool I got three others without 

 moving more than a yard or so up the bank. 



R 



