GRAYLING. 25 
inches and sunk again; every likely place being 
thoroughly searched by means of this sinking 
and drawing up. Grayling rise to a very large 
number of flies, and in dressing his lines the 
angler is guided by the flies which he sees the 
fish are taking. In midwinter, when the Ephemere 
are absent, it is difficult to know what to try. 
Iron-blue, claret and orange-bumbles, grey-palmer, 
red-spinner, silver-dun, and Wickham are all 
good flies; though light and dark snipe, dotterel, 
and hackles have often brought big fish to our 
pannier. Hampshire fishermen seldom fish with 
anything but dry-fly, whilst northern anglers are 
partial to hackle-flies. In the rapid and broken 
waters of northern streams, the latter represents 
the appearance of a drowned fly far more truth- 
fully than the upright-winged one of the dry- 
fly fisher; and on the smooth, deep waters of 
the south, the dry-fly in turn counterfeits the 
natural floating-fly better than a hackle would. 
The practised angler, however, does not rely on 
any hard-and-fast rule ; from the character of the 
river, he sees at once what is best likely to serve 
his purpose. He has no absurd prejudice, and 
even condescends to use the worm when the 
fish invite him to do so. In fly-fishing the cast 
should be made across and slightly down-stream, 
the rod point being brought round as the flies are 
