78 AN ANGLER'S HOURS v 



doubt hurl Cotton at me here : " a grayling, 

 who is one of the deadest-hearted fishes in 

 the world, and the bigger he is, the more 

 easily taken." This looks as if Cotton had 

 only fished for the grayling in the trout 

 season, when it is in poor condition, though 

 he certainly does say later that it is a 

 winter fish. However this may be, I mean 

 that the dace fights uncommonly well, and 

 on fine tackle takes a good deal of landing. 



There is one point in connection with 

 this fish on which most of the writers on 

 angling seem to me to speak without duly 

 weighing their words. They advise the 

 young angler to practise fly-fishing for dace 

 as an excellent initiation into the more 

 difficult art of trout-fishing. Here I confess 

 myself at variance with them, for it is my 

 experience that, whether with wet or dry 

 fly, dace are far more difficult to catch than 

 trout. This is due to the lightning rapidity 

 with which they rise, seize the fly, and let 

 it go again, and also to their too frequent 

 habit of rising short. If a man fishes much 

 for short-rising dace, he will find that when 

 he turns to trout his tendency will be to 

 strike much too quickly. One can strike 



