218 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



for him. He has always one of his little lozenge-shaped eyes on 

 the top of the water as well as at 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- 

 fishing 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 grayling 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 grayling. 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 in 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 your own bank. For the same reason, a little bit of 

 tinsel is often used in grayling flies, which in all other respects 

 do not differ from those used for trout. Grayling are very 

 partial to the little blue and yellow duns and spinners, and 

 these always prove the great piece de resistance in the choice of 

 flies for grayling. A grayling, though he is not difficult, unless 

 very much whipped over, to rise to your fly, is scarcely so easy 

 to basket. It is not at all uncommon for him to rise four or five 

 times, sometimes refusing altogether, and sometimes taking 

 after all. A trout seldom rises fairly above twice, and if he 

 refuses twice you may leave him, as you do more harm than 

 good in casting over him. Not so with a grayling : after three 

 or four rises, give him a minute, and then come over him again 

 either with the same or a fresh fly, and he will as often as not 

 fasten. 



When you have hooked a grayling, your next job is to land 

 him ; and here though his play, as I have said, is by no means 

 so lively and varied as that of the trout, yet is the kind of 

 resistance he makes more dangerous to the hold you have of 

 him than the running to and fro of the trout, for your grayling 



