BAITS FOR GRAYLING. 223 



spring with the same imitation of flies as the 

 trout ? 



HAL. The same. As far as flies are con- 

 cerned, these two species feed alike ; though I 

 may say, generally, that the grayling prefers 

 smaller flies; and the varieties of the ephemerae 

 or phryganeae, of the smallest size, form their 

 favourite food. Yet grayling do not refuse 

 large flies ; and in the Avon and Test, May 

 flies, and even moths, are greedily taken in the 

 summer by large grayling. Flies, likewise, 

 that do not inhabit the water, but are blown 

 from the land, are good baits for grayling. 

 There is no method more killing, for large 

 grayling, than applying a grasshopper to the 

 point of a leaded hook, the lead and shank 

 of which are covered with green and yellow 

 silk, to imitate the body of the animal. This 

 mode of fishing is called sinking and drawing. 

 I have seen it practised in this river with as 

 much success as maggot fishing : and the fish 

 taken were all of the largest size ; the method 

 being most successful in deep holes, where the 

 bottom was not visible, which are the natural 

 haunts of such fish. In the winter, grayling 



