432 SALMON AND TROUT. 
river contains, in addition to some remarkably beautiful scenery, 
probably the best grayling water in the world—certainly in 
England ; and the Teme grayling has the reputation of being 
the first in the market. It was in the neighbourhood of the 
Teme, at Downton, that Sir H. Davy wrote his ‘Salmonia, or 
Days of Salmon Fishing ;’ and I have enjoyed some excellent 
sport on this river through the kindness of its owner, Mr. 
Boughton Knight, of Downton Castle. 
In weight the grayling rarely exceeds 3 lbs., and by far the 
greater number of fish taken are under 1 lb. Occasionally, 
however, they are even met with of even a larger size than the 
above-named: Mr. T. Lister Parker took three fish in the 
Avon, near Ringwood, which together weighed 12 lbs. ; a gray- 
ling of 44 lbs. weight was killed in the Test, and one of 5 lbs. 
is recorded to have been taken in the neighbourhood of 
Shrewsbury. 
Bowlker, in his ‘ Art of Angling,’ says that the largest grayling 
he ever knew weighed 53 lbs., and Mr. Jones, who was well 
known to Ludlow grayling fishers as a most skilful and inde- 
fatigable angling attendant, tells me that he never knew or 
heard of a bigger. He himself caught one weighing 4 lbs. 5 ozs. 
in the presence of Mr. Walcott, of Bitterly Court. This was 
with a single hair and a gentle. The fish was stuffed by 
the late Dr. Buckley, of Shrewsbury. It is curious that though 
Bowlker was a Ludlow man, and doubtless a good grayling 
fisher, he does not mention the artificial grasshopper at all in his 
book. Jones claims to have been the first to introduce it, at any 
rate in the neighbourhood of Ludlow. In the Leintwardine Club 
there are only certain days of the year on which, if I remember 
rightly, grasshopper fishing is allowed, a precaution that may, 
perhaps, be necessary on club water which is liable to be 
assiduously and closely fished. The limit of size under which 
the Club used to permit the taking of grayling, either with bait 
or fly, was 10 inches. 
In connection with this, the limitation of size, naturally 
occurs that of the growth rate. 
