174 MAKING A FISHERY. 



the favourable or calm days they rise well, and 

 even in November and December, in all but 

 exceptionally severe weather, there is more or 

 less chance of sport for the fly fisherman with 

 the grayling. 

 Sporting As to their gameness, no one who has killed 



■qualities of . 



grayling, a 3ID. grayling on a fast-running Test shallow 



could indorse that oft-quoted dictum of Cotton 

 as to their being " dead hearted." When hooked 

 they show the best of sport, and even when 

 apparently tired out will, at the first sight of 

 the landing net, start off for a fresh rush, of so 

 sudden and rapid a character as to fairly 

 astonish the angler and sometimes destroy his 

 presence of mind. Of course, if his attendant 

 gillie is provided with an abnormally large net 

 fixed to an absurdly long handle, he may 

 succeed in scooping out the fish before it 

 realises the full extent of its danger. It is true 

 that they are very capricious, and as a rule 

 take only the smallest of flies on the finest of 

 gut, and frequently come short. After all, 

 however, do not these very difficulties constitute 

 in a considerable degree the greatest charm to 

 a sportsman ? 



Probably the chief reason why grayling are 

 not fully appreciated as sporting fish is their 

 comparative rarity. In a chalk stream they are 

 quite equal to trout in gameness, and certainly 



