THE WELSH BORDERLAND 



a characteristic of the imported grayling and un- 

 developed in the indigenous species ? Indeed, it is 

 hardly too much to say that in September, providing 

 the water is clear and not too high (a condition they 

 abominate), grayling are always to be caught upon the 

 Lugg. Till almost this moment of going to press, I 

 should have said with confidence that whether the 

 wind is east or west, warm or cold, whether the skies 

 are grey or sunny, you might count at the worst upon 

 a basket of, say five pounds, including a pound or so 

 of little fellows filling in the chinks, and retained for 

 reasons already stated. I never fish dry for grayling 

 myself, as it is I think seldom necessary. On the other 

 hand, my friend and host on the river usually does, as he 

 prefers it for its own sake. A grayling doesn't gener- 

 ally lie near the surface like a trout, but dashes up at 

 the fly from near the bottom. Indeed, it is an axiom 

 on the Lugg that the bigger grayling, those between 

 one and two pounds, are more often caught by a deep- 

 sunk fly fished down stream in the heavy pools. But 

 the best ordinary grayling water is in the smooth, 

 gentle glides from two to three feet deep which are 

 so abundant on the Lugg between the pools and stony 

 shallows. 



It is no use pretending that the grayling is as shy 

 or as hard to catch as the trout, when he means taking, 

 for he is not by a long way. You may often, for 

 example, see them lying in clear water and catch two 

 or three with a wet fly. When they are really on the 

 take, too, you may fish a streamy pool down and 

 without moving kill three or four big grayling, the 

 disturbance made in playing the first victim or victims 



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