31 THE GRAYLING.—(SALMO THYMALLUS.) The flesh of the grayling is held in very high estimation for its superior delicacy and flavour. In Switzerland, it is accounted the choicest of all fish.* It is taken in some of the Italian rivers and in France; in the last of which, the Loire is celebrated for producing it in great perfection. In some countries the grayling is so much admired, that the lower orders are forbidden, under severe penalties, to fish for them, they being reserved for the tables of the great. England produces this fish in some plenty, though still it must be classed among the more local species+; for, though they breed in the same rivers with trout; the majority of our streams are without them. Grayling are abundant in the upper portion of the Severn in Montgomeryshire, and in the streams that fall into it in North Wales. * There is a river called the Grand Eau which falls into the Rhone near Bex in the Valois. We have taken immense numbers of grayling just at the point where the two rivers unite. There must have been some thousands congregated at that one spot. We hooked large fish at every throw. It was in August. Flies a light dun, and coch-y-bondy. This capital spot is about eleven miles from Vevay on the lake of Geneva. Pass the Castle of Chillon, Velleneuve, Roche; when near Bex, turn off the high-road by a path leading through a wood, and you will arrive at a fine open space of sand and gravel, with the Grand Eau on your left and the mighty Rhone in front: go to work directly; it is a place worth the whole journey from England. † The Avon, near Salisbury, and the rivers of Hants and Derbyshire, are well stocked with grayling. They are also found in the Wye and its tributaries ; very plentifully in the Lug, and also in the Dee. The quaint and curious writer whom we have already quoted more than once, has the following original remarks on the nature and manner of angling for this fish: umber or grayling is an amorous fish, that loves a frolic as he loves his life, whose teeth water after every wasp, as his fins flutter after every fly; for if it be but a fly or the produce of an insect, out of a generous curiosity he is ready to entertain it. Smooth and swift streams, more than any thing, enamour him, notwithstanding he declines the force of a torrent: nor shall you persuade him to quarrel with the gliding streams, provided they be sweet, clear, and shining. It is from these clear translucid waters, that the hackle and the artificial fly court him ashore. But of all natural insects which accommodate the art, the green drake is that sovereign opthalmic that opens his eyes, and shuts them again, with the hazard of his life, and loss of his element. Yet for this fly admirer, there is another bait, and that is the munket, or a sea-green grub, generated, as I take it, amongst owlder trees. The like product issues from the willows, so does it from the sallow, nor is the primp fence denied this vegetable animal, save only they are different in splendour and colour, as also as different in shape and proportion. Take then this insect from the alder tree, to refute the hypothesis of the incredulous angler; which, if ingeniously cultivated by the art of angling, will upon proof of a well managed examination, invite umber or grayling from the top, or mid water, to kiss your hand, or I'll break my rod and disclaim the art. Well then, as we consider the umber not over curious of deeps, we must consider him also, not over curious of shallows, contenting himself with a middle fate that directs him to the smoothest and stiffest streams, dedicating and devoting himself to motion, because a great admirer of peregrination; and though not so generally understood as the trout is, yet, give me leave to tell you, if you fish him finely, he will keep you company either in Clwyd or Conway, or in the glittering silver streams of Wye. Pray, therefore, when you fish, fish him finely, for he loves curiosity, neat and slender tackle; and, lady-like, you must touch him gently,- for, to speak plain English, he is tender about the chops, otherwise perchance you defeat yourself, and so lose your design. A brandlin, if any thing, will entice him from the bottom; but the gilt tail of all worms, if upon change of water, will invite him ashore, though it cost him his life! "Umber or grayling in the streams he'll lie, Fond of a feather; you shall see him rise THE CHUB.-(CYPRINUS JESES.) The chub is a native of Europe, and is, in some measure, peculiar to large rivers, where it lies in D holes, and the most shady and retired places. It is of a shy and retired disposition, subsisting on worms and insects. This fish is in no esteem for the table, being coarse and full of bones: it grows to a moderate size only, a chub of five or six pounds being very unusual. The colours vary a little, according to the season of the year. They are numerous in the Wye and Vyrnyew*, and take the red and black palmer flies. They afford no sport, being a cowardly, dead-hearted fish. "The chub, or chevin, is a fish of a supine nature, yet of a robust and rural disposition, had he but a heart to manage his strength; that upon examination is, by every one understood, better by half for diversion than diet· a coarse feeder, and himself as coarse to be fed on; yet of such a voracious appetite, that he scorns to see any thing he cannot eat, if other fish can; but my modesty constrains me to forbear mentioning it. Now the spring approaching, every thing enamours him, for then he haunts the fords for fashion. It is true he is an early riser, that will sport the angler at break of day, provided he furnish him with cod worms, cankers, caterpillars, cow-dung grubs, gentles, pastes tinctured with gambogium, &c. But then you must cautiously obscure yourself, and appear like an angler, least in sight; yet still there's another way much better to surprise him, which is by dibbling on the surface of the water, if circumspectly you conceal yourself behind a bush, or the more private and solitary shade of trees. But your engine for this * Montgomeryshire. encounter is a natural fly—either the flesh fly, the bank fly, the grey or green drake; but the green munket of the alder-tree excels all the rest, as the sun in excellency outlustres the stars. Moreover, you shall find him gaping after grasshoppers, or any other insect that presents in season. And, since nothing comes amiss, so nothing distastes him: and where the locust is, there is he; which, if well examined to the centre of the calms, he shall recompense the examinant with the reward of his life; always provided he but separate the body from the leatherish wing, which, by reason of its viscuosity, is but rarely digested; nor is it otherwise by him well accepted. It is true with green cheese some anglers do treat him, but then it succeeds best at the tail of a stream; at the fall of fords into the solitary deeps. And that you may know he affects variety, let the artist, at discretion, change the dairy-maid's commons for the beauty of a bright well-scoured redworm, or the head of a frog in April and May, or a black snail sometimes in a dewy morning. These invitations make his teeth stand a water. But for salmon spawn, if you bring him that novel, you do your business, and his too; and shall have no cause, I assure you, to repent it, when, upon so fair an exchange, he trucks away his life for a trifle. But September approaching, you must bring him beef pith, for which he shall sacrifice all he has, and give you his carcase in exchange for his commons. What's more to be desired by the rule of dis |